happydl:

taz:

Hi happydl, where did u stay at Hanoi and sapa ? Which train did u book ?

How much u spent for your family trip ?

I'm on budget. I stayed at B&B Hanoi Hostel and Fansipan View in Sapa. I asked the Hanoi Hostel to book the train ticket for me, I think is King Express or Orient Express. The Orient Express train is different from the expensive orient train.

I spend around SGD2724.94 for the whole trip (9d8n).

Hi happydl, I have sent you a PM.

Fantasy_Kitty:

Gooby:

Just travelled from 花莲 to 太鲁葛，和欢山 and residing at 日月潭 today. A total of 8 hrs. The scenery and weather is good but the mountain journey is really no joke. Me and my two sons were nausea and not feeling well at the winding stretch and the stretch towards 清静 even though we took motion sickness pills. Only my hubby felt ok and he didn't even take the pills. Travel there once is enough for me.

Did they vomit in the car?

Yes in the car, lucky I prepared plastic bags. My driver also offered his plastic bags too.

MUMMYOF3:

Gooby:

Just travelled from 花莲 to 太鲁葛，和欢山 and residing at 日月潭 today. A total of 8 hrs. The scenery and weather is good but the mountain journey is really no joke. Me and my two sons were nausea and not feeling well at the winding stretch and the stretch towards 清静 even though we took motion sickness pills. Only my hubby felt ok and he didn't even take the pills. Travel there once is enough for me.[/quote


Hi Gooby,

How's the weather there? We'll be going there next week. Do we need to bring long john for the kids?

So far my trip no rain. 和欢山 was 9.7 degree. It's cold but ok due to sunny. But if rain will be damn cold. We are at 日月潭 today and we wore light with slippers. No problem. Hualian, Taipei, 日月潭 not too cold, no need long John.

windows:

mckenzy:

[quote=\"Gooby\"]Just travelled from 花莲 to 太鲁葛，和欢山 and residing at 日月潭 today. A total of 8 hrs. The scenery and weather is good but the mountain journey is really no joke. Me and my two sons were nausea and not feeling well at the winding stretch and the stretch towards 清静 even though we took motion sickness pills. Only my hubby felt ok and he didn't even take the pills. Travel there once is enough for me.

Your hubby probably plays xBox /Playstation games..

Yes, it is 'no joke'. Get a good nights sleep. The rest of the trip should be fine. The Hualien to the Mountains road is one of the worst, so can't be helped. The truly worst one is from the mountains going north to Yilan.

Got see snow anot?

The mountainous road is referring to the route fr hualian to cingjing, or in general the road up to cingjing is winding? We will probably be going fr Taichung to and fro cingjing and hehuanshan. Is it as bad?[/quote]The winding road starts from 天祥 to 碧绿神木, is the worst part of the mountain journey. From 碧绿神木 to 和欢山 was slightly better. Then journey down to 清静 and the rest was bad again due to the air pressure.

I bought the Blackmores motionsickness pill from Guardian which didnt help at all. Before the journey, my driver recommend us to take the liquid type of med as the pills type not effective but we didn't follow. The liquid type can buy from pharmacy in Taiwan. You may want to take the liquid form instead for your journey.

Even though from 台中 up is less winding but still quite winding in my point of view...

mckenzy:

Gooby:

Just travelled from 花莲 to 太鲁葛，和欢山 and residing at 日月潭 today. A total of 8 hrs. The scenery and weather is good but the mountain journey is really no joke. Me and my two sons were nausea and not feeling well at the winding stretch and the stretch towards 清静 even though we took motion sickness pills. Only my hubby felt ok and he didn't even take the pills. Travel there once is enough for me.

Your hubby probably plays xBox /Playstation games..

Yes, it is 'no joke'. Get a good nights sleep. The rest of the trip should be fine. The Hualien to the Mountains road is one of the worst, so can't be helped. The truly worst one is from the mountains going north to Yilan.

Got see snow anot?

No leh, he is not a fan of box games..

No chance of seeing snow as still early...temperature at 和欢山 was 9.7 degree ytd.

Just travelled from 花莲 to 太鲁葛，和欢山 and residing at 日月潭 today. A total of 8 hrs. The scenery and weather is good but the mountain journey is really no joke. Me and my two sons were nausea and not feeling well at the winding stretch and the stretch towards 清静 even though we took motion sickness pills. Only my hubby felt ok and he didn’t even take the pills. Travel there once is enough for me.

piyo88:

Can someone pls advise if this route is possible to cover in two full days?


Day 1 :
Taipei HSR->Hualien->Taroko Gorge->Hehuanshan-> stay 1 night at hotel
Day 2 :
Hotel->sun moon lake->alishan-> Chiayi HSR -> Taipei

Any advice where to stay for a night on day 1 that's convenient?

Hi Piyo88,

I am planning almost similar like you with added cj. Now I have to replan as so difficult to find rooms in cj for my date. Most of them can't book from tripadvisor so very tough.

- I thought can only take TRA to hualian which is my plan as well.
- Not possible to go Alishan on day 2 cos the bus to Alishan only have 2 timing which is 7am & 9am. Will take about 4.5 hours ride.

When are you departing for your trip?

snggy:

Gooby - if you plan to go hualien from cj, you will pass by taroko gorge on the way. The journey itself takes 3 to 4 hours without stopping I think. So it makes no sense for you to go TG next day. You might want to replan this part.

Now my 9D plan is the other way round:

Day 1 - Tao yuan to Taipei take TRA to hualian.

D2 - visit taroko gorge from 9 to 5pm. （古小姐quote 5k just for this trip for 7 seater. Is it reasonable? Also if need the chain for snow, néed top up 1k) will stay at CJ.

D3 Tour CJ then take cab or bus to SML (think journey is 80mins)

D4 SML 9am bus to Alishan.

D5 Alishan afternoon back to Taipei

D6,7,8 Taipei

D9 home

* it seems really rush for us at CJ to SML. If going to 九族文化村, CJ or SML nearer?

Perhaps I will stay two nights at CJ and skip SML, anyone knows how to go to Alishan and how long?

mckenzy:

Not many people seem to plan for the Formosan Aboriginal Village.


I find this place a must-visit if you're around the SML/Cingjing area, especially with kids.

http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attractio ... antou.html

is this the 九族文化村? Will put this into consideration, thanks a lot!

mckenzy:

[quote]Day 6 Visit taroko gorge. (should i press on to taipei or stay 1 more night?)

Based on this question, would advise you to stay one more night in Hualien if you have not arranged transport via Driver. If you have a Driver that is willing to help you tour Taroko, then try to get him to drive you to Taipei just after Taroko, you will save a day, not too tiring.

If no driver then you have to figure how to get back to your luggage after your Taroko tour (presuming you left it at your Hotel), transfer to to Hualien station, get your tickets and train to Taipei, transfer to your Taipei lodging... this can be a little tiring...[/quote]thanks mckenzy. I will be getting a driver to drive us in CJ and hualian. I suppose when i visit taroko gorge i can bring my luggage along and the driver can drop me at the train station back to taipei. Since you mention the driver can drive me back to taipei, I will explore this.