Itinerary 2020 5/13 – 5/15

Day 1

• 呂家傳統魚丸米粉
• 鐵杉林步道 Taiwan Hemlock Forest Nature Trail
• 太平山莊 (松柏小屋) Taipoingshan Villa

Day 2

• 翠峰山屋 Cueifong Villa
• 台灣山毛櫸步道 Taiwan Beech Trail
• 翠峰湖環山步道 Cueifong Lake Circular Trail

Day 3

• 望洋山步道 Wangyangshan Trail (Sunrise)
• 翠峰湖環山步道 Cueifong Lake Circular Trail (too foggy to see the lake yesterday)
• 見晴懷古步道 Jiancing Historic Trail
• 鳩之澤溫泉 Jiuzhize (Renze) Hot Springs
• Long face 臭臉甜點工作室
• 阿娘給的蒜味肉羹  mother’s love garlic meat soup

After the trail, we proceeded to Jiuzhize (Renze) Hot Springs to cook some eggs. Although hot spring is no alien to me, I’ve never tried cooking hot spring eggs before. We bought a bottle of apple cider, half a dozen eggs, a bag of sweet corn of two, and a NT$300 deposit bamboo basket for cooking. The hot spring was boiling hot, so I was a bit nervous about getting spitted. Fortunately, the man next to us taught us to put the handle of the basket on top of one stone to raise the height of the basket so that the food inside would not be pushed out, and put the other one on top of the handle so the basket would not move. 

The eggs were cooked for about 12 minutes, and corn for 20. They both tasted nice. We added some salt that came with the food. 

After messing up hot springs food, we decided to take a mini-tour in downtown Yilan since we had already driven this far. We drove another hour to a French dessert shop called Long Face. It was so popular that there were only four kinds of pastries left, so we ordered one of each and a pot of berry tea. 

After dessert, we went to 阿娘給的蒜味肉羹 mother’s love garlic meat soup, recommended by the lady at Long Face for some savoriness. We ordered one soup and one with rice noodles, and Mom bought a ready-to-cook package afterward. After the meal, we drove home. 

Taipingshan was a nice place to retreat into nature, and I love the cold weather in the mountain. We saw some precious wild animals along the way like Mikado pheasant and Reeves’s muntjac. They moved so fast that I didn’t even bother to turn on my camera. I was quite contented with the trip, couldn’t believe I had never visited this place until recently, which also made me wanted to explore more about this country that I thought I was too familiar with.