Travelling with kids to Taiwan 2016 (PART 1) - Farmstay at Flying Cow Ranch (MiaoLi) + Sato Castle at Taipei

Details of our trip with kids (3 years old & 1.5 year old): 

Location- Taiwan- MiaoLi & Taipei

Duration- 5 Days 4 nights

Time- Mid January

Temperature -10-15 degrees. Perfect weather.

 We spent the first two nights at a farm called Flying Cow Ranch at Miaoli and the next two nights at a themed hotel called Sato Castle in Taipei.

The trip is arranged in the way that it is uncomplicated, easy and comfortable for our sunshine boys.

Our Farmstay at Flying Cow Ranch in Miaoli

How to get there:
1)From TaoYuan airport, take the railway train station to Tong Hsiao Station (1 hour 30 mins), then either take a shuttle bus or a taxi right to Flying Cow Ranch (15 mins ride at around NT250).
2) Or else just hail a taxi from the airport to go straight to the farm. The fare ranges from NT2500 to NT3000 (SGD$100-$130). Journey time will also be approximately 1hr 30 minutes.

We took a morning flight and by the time we reached the farm, it was in the evening. Our room was pretty decent with all basic toiletries and well-equipped with hot flask, fridge and etc.

In this photo, Rboy's crankiness was driving us up the wall. But I've forgotten why....either he was mad that he couldn't go out to see the animals or he was complaining that he didn't want to put on his jacket. Oh well...

They have a daily timetable that shows us all the DIY activities which we can participate using the vouchers given to us on the day of our check-in. After our dinner, we were just in time for the last activity of the day; pouch making workshop at 8pm. Basically is just a simple cut and paste activity and it was easy for the kiddos to complete.

The next morning, the kiddos were thrilled to begin their exploration . After our breakfast, we checked the timetable of the farm activities and proceed to the barnyard to visit the animals.

The barnyard was a 20 minutes walk away from our accommodation. As mentioned earlier, the cooling weather was simply perfect, so we took our time to get there ,enjoying the green pastures and taking selfies with the cattle.

 The boys only get to see farms from storybooks and TV programme...finally they get to see (or smell) a real one!

While waiting for the cow milking and ducks parade sessions, we spent some time feeding the goats and sheep. Rboy was more caution and made sure he kept a good distance from the animals. BabyK was the opposite. This little daredevil even attempt to pry open their mouth to see if they have any teeth. The next moment, I've to stop him from trying to pull the long tongues of the poor animals.

I was so paranoid and imagined that babyK will get chewed alive by the cattle, so I constantly kept a very close eye on him.

The boys were contented with themselves for completing the tasks assigned to them, awesome! Rboy participated in the milk feeding and was so pleased that the cow finished all the milk from his bottle.

The farmer scattered food around us so we can have close contact with the white fluffy ducks. As expected, my paranoid Rboy clinged on to me like a koala. At the same time, I was trying to grab hold of mischievous BabyK and stopped him from riding on the ducks.

Our morning at the farm was fulfilling and filled with lots of shrieks and laughter...mainly comes from me though.

We walked back to the restaurant to for their signature fresh cow's milk hotpot for lunch. Soup was flavourful and healthy-tasting, complements well with the soft cabbage.

The boys savoured every last bit of rice immersed in the milky soup.

We were provided with vouchers to redeem their daily milk and the boys always finished them up on the spot. Rboy loves the malt flavoured one which was a tad sweeter than the original milk, whereas BabyK just love anything related to dairy!

After our lunch, since the boys were too energetic for their nap, we decided to forgo naptime and proceeded straight to the strawberry farm!

How we get there: We got the hotel staff at the reception to recommend us the nearest strawberry farm and arranged a taxi to bring us there. The journey is around 40minutes and we paid NT1500 (SGD $65) for 2 ways transportation.

The boys were each given a basket and we wasted no time because the boys automatically knew what to do.
Either because we didn't come in the morning or it wasn't really a good season, the strawberries were miniature and the kids have to really dig and look for larger red ripe ones. Each time they found a good spot with more ripen strawberries, they would call out for each other to come over. Very good team work indeed.

I was absolutely impressed by babyK. He needs no instructions and can carry out this job independently. This 1.5 year old baby somehow knew that he should only look for the red ones to pluck. He loves this strawberry picking activity so much tat when I told the boys that we were leaving, BabyK began his tantrum and hysterical cries to stay longer.

Although the strawberries were not as pretty as I expected, they tasted sweeter and creamier than those tat I often bought from Singapore NTUC. BabyK loves the berries and finished all we've plucked, and that's like 2 baskets of loots!

Our taxi driver was waiting for us outside the strawberry farm the whole time. Before returning back to our hotel room, he brought us to a DaHu WineLand Resort (5 minutes drive away from our strawberry farm), which looks like a town market that sells mainly their local food and strawberries products.

There were many unique food made from or with strawberries, such as the strawberry sausage, strawberry pizza, strawberry fish fillets, strawberry popcorns and deep fried strawberries drizzled with chocolate sauce! It's like a challenge taken up by the stalls, the one who can come out with the most creative food ideas with strawberries will attract the most customers.

DaHu Wineland resort is not as big as it sounds, as we took like less than an hour to complete visiting almost all the shops there. However it's a nice place to explore or to shop for their local products, especially if you intend to visit the strawberry farm.

On our second morning, we planned to participate in one more DIY activity before we leave.

Our last activity happened to be one of their favourites... ICE-CREAM making !

All the ingredients were already measured and provided, so it was really an easy task of mixing and stirring only.

The best part is of course eating the ice-cream they made themselves

Click HERE for the PART 2 of our trip...

travelling down to Taipei and our castle stay, showcasing Spiderman room and Pirates room!

Staycation with Kids at The Canopi, Bintan Island

The attractive factor of The Canopi is definitely their crystal lagoon;

 an enchanting man-made beach with treated sea-water that is gorgeously turquoise clear.

 

Ever since I posted the first picture on my Instagram (aderearian), I received at least 4-5 texts on the same day asking where this place was. One even asked if this was Maldives!

Nobody guessed that we were only an hour ferry ride away from Singapore.

The Canopi offers a unique "Glamping" experience, which means "glamorous camping" or camping in luxury! We slept in huge spacious safari tents and at the same time, we get to enjoy the outdoor camping features. I described this as "camping cheating" , which is recommended for young kids though! You want the kids to experience a camping vacation but at same time you want to keep it safe, comfortable and enjoyable .

The poster bed and Victorian lamps bestowed the room a slight touch of luxury. The furnishing is interesting with wooden trunks as cabinets and attached with an open-concept rainforest bathroom. I can see their effort in bringing guests closer to nature as much as possible. The bed and pillows are really comfy and an extra day bed is provided in each room.

Rboy playing with his legos that we brought along .

 

This was actually a trip specially planned for Rboy and his friends for their yearly Xmas gifts exchange gathering. (We did not take BabyK with us but we'll make it up to him haha.) 

 

I was so looking forward to try most of the activities at their sports centre but were disappointed to be informed that most of the activities were fully booked or not available. All of their rides were under maintenance..zzz. What a great let-down! It was during the December holiday and probably since The Canopi is a newly opened resort, they are not really prepared for the sudden influx of visitors during the peak period. Only the AVT rides were suitable for the kids but the adults were not allowed to ride together with them. This was a new rule just made on the same day when we arrived.

 

The kids were jumping in joy once they saw the AVT and everyone cant wait to give it a try. However they were too young to handle the ride by themselves, so I was really upset that we were not allowed to ride on it together. Still, the kids were also happy enough to take turns on the AVT for that short 5 minutes "test drive" around the centre.

There is a distance from the sports centre and the reception area to our tent, so we made the right decision to rent an electric scooter on the second day to get around the resort. It was Rboy's first scooter ride experience and he LOVES the scooter so damn much that he didn't even mind riding under the sweltering heat.

So without the chance to book any activities on the first day, we decided to head straight to the beach! Very soon the kids got themselves very comfortable with the water and sand play.

The sand was not the white and powdery kind which I've expected, but no complains from the kids though. They were satisfied with whatever kind of play that were thrown to them.

 

The crystal lagoon was the main attraction of The Canopi and the kids love every single moment spent at the water. The heat from the sun was quite a killer but the kids were engrossed in their play so much to even bother about the sun.

We haven't got a chance to try this challenging floating platform because we thought it was too hot for the kids to go up on it. Another time then!

Our tents came with an outdoor Jacuzzi and it was also a hit among the kids! I was actually preparing a bubble bath for myself but the rising bubble foam captured the kids' attention and they began their own bubble fight with one another! Lots of play, screams and laughter makes a very memorable trip for the kids!

 

 

 

During one of the nights, we arranged for a BBQ dinner right under the beautiful night sky littered with stars. The ambience was perfect for a night of buddies-chilling session, and that was what the daddies did, right after they completed the task of serving the wives and kiddos with the bbq food.

 

Another highlights of this trip for Rboy was our fireflies mangrove tour. While strapping on our life jackets ,I had second thoughts on whether to let Rboy get on the dubious tattered-looking boat. I was afraid that the darkness would scare him and began to imagine the worse fear that may happen, eg. the boat capsized into the mangrove swamp infested with crocodiles!

 

It was a mixture of excitation and confusion for my 3 years old. He did not understand and did not know what to expect from the mangrove tour, but he was very impatient and can't wait to get on to the boat immediately.

 

In the end, I was glad I was steadfast in my decision. Rboy showed no signs of anxiety even when we entered the dark mangrove. He was only very curious and kept asking repeatedly where the boat was heading. Very soon then, he was mesmerised by the surprised fireflies that floated out from the bushes and trees along the swamp. I was really touched to see that smile of awe in his face when he tried to hold the glowing fireflies in his palm. Overall it was an unforgettable new experience for us.

 The only blurry photo I got from our mangrove tour

 

Some "not-so-goods" of The Canopi

 

- No telephones are provided in the room therefore each time we need to make any room service request or enquires, we've to walk all the way to the reception area to do so. All bookings of the land and water activities have to be made personally at the sport centre too, which is NOT walking distance from the tents if you've kids. We need to walk to the reception area first and wait (at least 10 minutes) for the buggy to arrive and bring us there. This is rather time consuming just to make a booking.  

 

- Anywhere outside the tent is non-air-conditioned, even the lobby or the café which is really hot and stuffy during the day. You probably have to wait patiently and bear the uncomfortable heat at the non-airconditioned/no-fan lobby if you arrived there earlier than your check-in timing.

 

- The carpet is really rough and prickly , but no bedroom slippers are provided.

 

- No hot water in our shower and our Jacuzzis.

 

- There's only one café inside the resort which is infested with flies that terrorised Rboy (My spoilt boy is not used to sharing his food with flies). Food is mediocre and price is almost the same as Singapore's restaurants. (Average $15 for a pasta). Breakfast is included in our stay but you definitely wont miss out anything even if you skipped it. We tried the breakfast on the first day and was determined to forgo it on the second day.

 

- The Canopi advertised strongly on their broad variety of land and water activities but most were unavailable when we reached there. (Most of the rides were under maintenance...during peak period???..wth..)

 

- Lots of mozzies at night (because it's so close to "nature") , so bring lots of repellent!

 

The Canopi resort is truly an innovative resort great for some adventure fun with kids, especially if you're looking for a short and affordable getaway near Singapore. Nevertheless, it still has so much room for improvements which I hope for them to polish up before I decide to make my way back again.

 

Staycation with Kids At Hard Rock Hotel , Sentosa

Hard Rock is a fashionable hotel ideally situated very close to the top attractions in Sentosa Island. Their dark chic lobby is designed to fit the fashionable rock and roll theme.

 

Our lovely happy little sunshine boys ready to ROCK HERE!

 

The room looks young and spacious with cool and trendy interior. The bed is of a good decent size and as usual, Reagan automatically climbed up and snuggled himself under the covers.

Doing our happy dance again!

 

Hubs was prepared to give a really good thumbs up for this hotel until we realised that WIFI is chargeable and at a rip off price! $35 for 24 hours and only for one user. So if hubs and I want to tap on the WIFI, we got to pay $70 additional per day. Hotels that don't provides complimentary WIFI to their guests disgust us totally..yucks.

We got ourselves busy the whole night waving our mobile phones violently in the air and pinning ourselves against the window like Spiderman, in attempt to tap on some free WIFI around here. Sorry, it's not logical for us to pay extra for WIFI in Singapore...

 

On a lighter note, the breakfast buffet hotel is really reasonable priced and my boys get to eat free!

 

On the day before, we've just experienced the awesome brunch buffet at Shangri-La, so this was of course no match to it. Still, the breakfast choice of Hard Rock is pretty decent and really good enough considering the reasonable price that it's tagged with.

 

 If we to stay at Sentosa again and are lazy to go out far for meals early in the morning, we would definitely come back here again for the quick and decent breakfast.

 

"Anyone wants to play with the water and sand again...KI CHIEW (raise hands) haha!"

Needless to say, the highlights of our stay at Hard Rock is definitely the man-made beach again!

 

Since the last time that the boys visited here, they've been wanting to come back here again.

Cool breezy weather +Kids can play by themselves + Parents can chill and relax........life is good.

 

Staycation with Kids At Shangri-La's Rasa Hotel , Sentosa

Shangri-La 's Rasa is always a timeless classic, despite the fact that the exterior design of the one at Sentosa is lacking of the exquisite and luxurious touch to it. It looks more like a dated beach resort than a magnificent 5-stars hotel. But still, it gives you the feel of a tropical island far from the hustle and bustle of the city.

(Above photo taken before the pigeon-war began)

Anyway the first half hour upon arrival , I had a little tussle with the boys at the lobby. While hubs was busy with the hotel check-in, BabyK was busy in the game of chase with the pigeons at the lobby. At the same time, his older brother the drama-rama Rboy was screaming his lungs out for me to protect him from those harmless and surprised pigeons. With one kid running to attack the pigeons, and the other running away to escape from the pigeons, it was quite an amusing scene at the lobby.

We arrived at least an hour earlier than the stated check-in time but was thankful to be given a room immediately. The kiddos cant wait to conquer their new territory! As usual, the first thing that the boy did once they enter the room , they kicked their shoes off and attacked the beds first!

  I read from some reviews that some of the guests received complementary biscuits and fruits, but not for us though. But at least the first round of their mini bar is complementary (only beverages).

The kids-friendly pool's facilities is one of our reason to choose this hotel. Pools with slides and water play made BabyK squealed in glee! Lifejackets are also provided for the kids and lifeguards are stationed at almost every corner of the pool.

 

The pool area is neat, large and spacious. Rboy still needs to work on his water confidence, but BabyK is certainly a water baby! He scrambled to every water spot in sight. Overall, the boys had a blast! Right in front of the pool is the hotel's private beach, but after the kids were done with the pool, they (or in fact WE) were too exhausted to explore the beach.

Rboy helping his little brother to get out of the pool.

The second reason why we looked forward to our Shangrila Rasa hotel stay is their awesome breakfast buffet! The staff used a puppet in their hand to guide the kids to their table and that somehow made the boys very delighted. The spread is incredible and I'm impressed by the kids buffet corner they set up for the little ones to help themselves with the food. It was indeed a really nice touch for families with kids.

Other interesting selections are...egg benedicts, noodles soup, dim sum, Indian cuisine , Japanese sushi's, freshly baked confectionery and many more. Their variety is unbeatable, considering it's just the first meal of the day.

BabyK toppled a cup of juice all over his pants and so I had to let him go pantless throughout our breakfast time. Obviously I can see that it was not really an issue to him.

After breakfast, we still had some time to spare before the check-out time. And that was when we made a pleasant discovery! There is a Kids' Club just below our hotel that comes with a free indoor playground! Yes, FREE indoor playground right below us and we didn't realize till that morning. My boys are big fans of indoor playgrounds and they worship me each time I take them there. Usually I've to spend close to a disgusting $50 for both kids plainly on the entrance fee. So now it gave me a good reason to be as thrilled as the kiddos!

There's an art room for the kids to get involved in some colouring and craft work...for FREE too. And if the kids are older, they get to conquer the awesome treehouse slide inside.

There is another toddler playroom but sadly it was closed for maintenance. The mini carousel captured the boys' attention and here they were pleading to get into the play room. Look at Rboy's disappointed face when I explained the meaning of "closed for maintenance".

I took them back to the indoor playground again and because we went on a  non-peak period weekday, the boys were the only kids here. The entire playground just for them....for FREE! Oh how I love the word "FREE"... beautiful music to my ears.

So what we love about Shangrila Rasa Sentosa

(experience based on our one night stay)

1) The pool with kids' friendly facilities

2) Awesome buffet breakfast spread

3) Free indoor playground and activities at Kids' Club

4) Early hotel check-in (take note: it was on a non-peak weekday that we went)

5) First round of mini bar is complementary
6) Free Wifi

The minus side

1) Some of the rooms have sea-views but not ours. Not sure if that was an option given when they allocated our rooms.

2) The hotel is aging and do need a face-lift. They need to do something to deserve the 5 stars rating.

Lastly, there's nothing better than ending our staycation at Shangrila Rasa hotel with contented and worn-out kids :P