The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps
Getting to Nagasaki From Fukuoka to Nagasaki “Two bus tickets to Nagasaki, please. Via Hakata.” The ticketing officer at Fukuoka Airport looked at us in bewilderment. Then, he tried his best to explain in English that it was a bad idea. Upon his advice, we …
Dajia River flows through the districts of Taichung City and at the southern river mouth lies Gao Mei Shi Di (高美湿地, Gao Mei Wetland, “Gao Mei”). There used to be many wetlands at Taiwan’s west coast but many have been replaced by new developments. We …
Following our stop at Lavender Cottage, it’s more flowers appreciation at Zhong She Tourist Flower Garden 中社观光花市 (“Flower Market” or “Flower Garden”). With the colourful array of flowers, your eyes will be in for a treat. Get your camera ready too!
Our itinerary was: Rainbow Village, Carton King, Lavender Cottage, Flower Market, Gao Mei Shi Di, and Fengjia Night Market.
Flower Market has three sections: Sea of Flower Zone (花海區), Potted Culture Zone (盆栽區), and BBQ Zone (烤肉區).
If you hire a driver and are on a standard Taichung Itinerary like us, you probably will not be eating at this BBQ place. However, if you have the chance to try their BBQ, you have to make reservations. Adult price is either NT280 (S$13) or NT320 (S$15) for Oct-May, Jun-Sep respectively. Price includes admission to the Flower Zone. More information at www.flowerjs.com.tw/?page_id=3621.
The potted zone is free to enter because it’s more of a nursery for people to buy potted plants back home. Something like Singapore’s Far East Floral. After visiting their flowers zone, this section pales in comparison.
In the flower zone, it is further sectioned into different garden plots. These beautifully curated gardens are grouped based on flower types. The rows of flowers are well manicured and taken care of. To admire the flowers in this zone, you have to pay for admission.
After a disappointing trip to Lavender Cottage, I was not expecting much from Flower Market. Hence, we assumed our driver’s 1-hour time limit was more than enough for us (reason for time limit).
Boy, were we wrong. We had to rush ourselves and even with that, we exceeded the time by 20 mins. First step in, and a pretty sight was set before our eyes. The whole place is bursting with bright colours. The cheery palette and fresh flowers smell have the effect of lifting one’s mood. Good first impression!
We whipped out our camera in no time. These blossoming flowers in their vibrant hues definitely make a good backdrop for photos.
To let visitors take better photos, Flower Market has thoughtfully added boxes and step ladders at the different spots along the garden’s border. These are for the photographer to step up and take photos from a higher angle. It’s a better angle to take while you pose in the midst of the flowers.
Based on the above photo, I believe you would agree that these flowers look better than those at Lavender Cottage. Lush and bushy. :P Oh and if you are walking into the sea of flowers for photo taking, be aware that your shoes might get a little dirty from the soil. And please don’t trample on the flowers as you step in.
Flower Market has also smartly added props, such as piano and swing, for their visitors to pose with. I guess with only rows of flowers, the photos would turned out to be boring after a while.
Imagine yourself playing on a white piano in a sea of purple. Sounds dreamy already? Do you want to capture such a scene? I do, and so do others who were there. Thus we had to queue for a chance to pose with that fake wooden piano even though it’s a weekday. Same goes for a few other spots.
Instead of simply rows of flowers, magnificent floral structures are also set up to make the place more fanciful. Walk under and through them, get mesmerised by the world of flowers.
There were also other interesting finds. Mini architecture, such as windmill, or metal stripes structure that form the shapes of a heart, bird cage, stick man musicians, etc. All these added a nice touch to the whole place.
Because of these nice additions, it’s no wonder Flower Market is a popular destination for pre-wedding photography. However, once the wedding couple hogged a place, it might take some time for them to be done. I was waiting to take photo of this particular spot, but they took up so much time, I gave up and left.
Flowers are usually more of a thing for ladies instead of guys. Hence, at the fish pond area, I found quite a number of guys hanging around. A few of them even bought fish feeds to feed the fishes.
According to Flower Market’s website, “We are the only flower market that succeeded in growing tulips in low altitude areas of central Taiwan. About 150,000 tulip bulbs with differing varieties are planted and in full bloom from January to March each year.”
Even though we were there during April, past the Tulip season, we managed to catch a few surviving Tulips.
I like this place and would recommend Zhong She Tourist Flower Market if you have not been to such places. It’s lovely even if you are not into flowers. However, it did felt a bit man-made, transplanting or purposefully planting flowers into this plot of land. Can’t compare to flowers flourishing naturally in the wild.
Anyhow, have fun and be dazzled by the colours!~
* Children (3 to 12yo), Elderly (65yo & above), Disabled
Zhong She Tourist Flower Market is open from 9.00 am to 6.00 pm on Monday to Friday. Hours for BBQ area is extended to 9.00 pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Where else are you going in the outskirts of Taichung? Leave a comment below. I love to hear from you!
Two ladies left their jobs in Taipei and Kaohsiung to pursue their dream of owning a lavender field, a quiet place for people to relax and enjoy nature. Lavender Cottage 薰衣草森林 is where their dreams came into fruition after years of hard work. We came …
After Rainbow Village, we arrived at Carton King, the second stop of our Taichung outskirts tour. We first came across Carton King’s smaller branch at Cingjing Farm, near to the Swiss Garden. I didn’t know what it was about until hubby enlightened me. Most exhibits …
For a one day tour around the outskirts of Taichung, I’ll recommend booking a driver. Our driver is Mr Ye, 葉師榮 and if you are interested in engaging him, you can find out more in “Taichung Driver for the Outskirts“. But if you cannot find a driver at the last minute, you can consider this Klook tour (affiliate link) that goes to Gao Mei Shi Di, Rainbow Village and a few other places. It’s S$44.50 per pax.
Our itinerary was: Rainbow Village, Carton King, Lavender Cottage, Flower Market, Gao Mei Shi Di, and Fengjia Night Market.
After about 20 minutes drive from Taichung Central District, we arrived at our first stop, Rainbow Village, 彩虹眷村 (Cai Hong Juan Chun). I knew nothing about this colourful place, while hubby only knew that an old man painted this whole village to how it is today.
Sadly, I did not have time to research before the trip and our driver was not informative. It didn’t help that there was no information board at the village. I think we would have appreciated Rainbow Village more if we knew about its background.
Since we didn’t know much about Rainbow Village, it became just a place with many good photo taking spots. So to help you enjoy your trip, here’s the story of Rainbow Village (re-worded from this Taichung Guide):
Rainbow Village is one of the villages built hastily with cheap materials for veterans returning from China. In the past 20 years, the government slowly took back these villages for other developments and gave surviving veterans new apartments.
Similarly, Rainbow Village was due for demolition and in fact, houses were in the process of being torn down. One of the last village residents, an old veteran soldier, Mr Huang Yung-fu, now known as Rainbow Grandpa started to paint the village.
Using vibrant colours, he painted the walls and alleys with animals, dolls, airplanes, manga characters, etc, giving the whole place a surrealistic touch. These murals were then discovered by a few university students and soon started to gain public interest. With appeals from the locals and seeing the village’s potential to be a tourist attraction, the local government suspended demolition and preserved the village. So that’s how Rainbow Village came about.
The village is not huge, comprising of only a few houses. Moreover, a large section of the village was under renovation when we were there (as in the photo above). You can finish touring the place in just 10-15 minutes, or longer if you like taking photos with the murals.
Do be prepared to squeeze with the crowd for photo spots though. We went on a weekday and it was already quite crowded with tourists, can’t imagine the weekend.
Many people were walking in and out through this one door (photo above). So we went in and expected to explore the nooks and crannies of that one open house. But after a few steps, we came to a dead end with a small souvenir shop. The salespeople claimed that the sales go into Rainbow Grandpa’s living expenses.
Even though Rainbow Grandpa was said to live in the village, we didn’t expect to see him in person! He was at the souvenir shop signing his signature and taking photos with the tourists.
I too wanted to take a photo with Rainbow Grandpa until I witnessed him not letting people go unless they paid a token of sum for taking photos with him. The move felt so desperate and thus sad. Why did he become as such? Has fame and easy money make him lose sight of why he started this artistic project?
There’s no entrance fee. I don’t think I will pay to visit this place anyway. So I guess setting up a souvenir shop is a better way of milking money from this tourist spot.
Since Rainbow Village is not far from Taichung central District and on the way to other places, there’s no harm in making a stopover at this colourful place to take colourful photos for your Instagram. ;)
Where else are you going in the outskirts of Taichung? Leave a comment below. I love to hear from you!
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For a one day tour around the outskirts of Taichung, I’ll recommend booking a driver. We googled and found Mr Liu 劉錦鐘’s website. Based on online reviews, he seems to be a recommended Taichung Driver for the Outskirts. And since it was last minute planning …
If you are visiting Cingjing Farm (清境农场), I do recommend a night stay around the farm instead of making a day trip from Taichung. It’s more relaxing this way and you get to enjoy the good weather (at certain months of the year). We stayed …