From Taipei to Taichung and Zhongshe Flower Market in Houli District

_{A wooden piano in the middle of marigolds field with Huoyanshan in the background.}

Avisala!

Having this post exclusively for Zhongshe Flower Market would mean that I had to omit some interesting trip details. I would have to include the whole ordeal from Taipei to Taichung.

From Taipei City to Taichung City

We woke up on a chilly early morning in Ximending. When you're travelling with girls (@itskareninamoi and @ivanafrey), you have to wake up early to prepare because they have their never-ending rituals. Even with an hour and a half allocation, we almost had no time for breakfast. It's a good thing 7-Eleven food is always available. As with the previous days, our breakfast consisted of one hotdog and one onigiri. It's enough to sustain me until lunch. Besides, Taiwan's Sichuan chili hotdogs are so juicy and filling that I can't get enough of them.

_{Selfie at Ximen Station Exit 4 while waiting for our tour guide who didn't came.}

After breakfast, with all our luggage with us, we hurried through the almost empty Ximending streets to Exit 4 of Ximen Station. Like our North Coast tour the previous day, Karenina reserved a Filipino tour guide for a Taichung City tour. She found those tours in Facebook groups, and we liked that they don't require down payments or reservation fees. You just have to pay them after the tour.

We were confident about the tour because we had an awesome time the day before with our Filipino tour guide. We were in Ximen Station Exit 4 at around 7:57 AM, but there was no sign of any van or bus that would take us to Taichung. At around 8:15 AM, Karenina messaged the guide, but there was no reply. At 8:30 AM, we concluded that our guide stood us up. Since we didn't pay anything in advance, we didn't think much of it except that Karenina messaged the tour guide again about how disgruntled she was. Since the reservation was already acknowledged and confirmed, it would have been awesome if there had been a communication that the tour was cancelled. But there was none, so we thought the tour would still push through. We then decided to just take the Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) to Taichung since we were already two stops from Taipei Main Station.

_{At THSR train to Taichung City.}

We just took the Bannan (or Blue) Line from Ximen Station to Taipei Main Station. With all our luggage, it was fun and games until we reached the maze-like Taipei Main Station. Since all the train lines converged at the station, it became one hell of walking and transferring to different levels until we reached the THSR ticketing station. We bought a ticket to Taichung for NTD 700 or more than PHP 1200. The earliest departure time was around 9:27 AM, so we had a few minutes to spare.

It only took two hours from Taipei to Taichung. I'll never tire of expressing my amazement at Taiwan's transportation system. After reaching HSR Taichung Station, we took an Uber to our hotel, which was Twinstar Hotel. Since the check-in was still at 3:00 PM, we just left our luggage in the lobby and decided to visit Zhongshe Flower Market.

Zhongshe Flower Market

Since Taichung Train Station is just across Twinstar Hotel, we immediately went to the station to find a way to Zhongshe Flower Market. Since it's already far from Taipei, translations were scarce and we had difficulty finding the station where we should stop. I Googled the station and it said that we should stop at Tai'an Station and we would just walk to Zhongshe Flower Market. But I missed the note that we should be on a local train. Maybe due to hunger, we collectively agreed to hop on the next train, which was the Tze-Chiang Limited Express to we didn't know where. We were so confused when someone asked why we were in their seats. We immediately knew something was wrong, so we exited the train before the doors closed. It was a crazy and funny experience.

_{Zhongshe Flower Market entrance.}

We finally figured out the local train to Houli Station. For some reason, the train's last stop was Houli Station instead of Tai'an Station. We just rode another Uber to Zhongshe Flower Market. We finally reached the flower market after almost two hours of figuring out the trains and stations. We were so hungry that we immediately headed to the unlimited BBQ station for our late lunch. The unlimited BBQ with a pass to the flower park costs around NTD 385.

_{BBQ Station. I think it's a good idea to enjoy the flower park first before having the BBQ, but we were so hungry that we ate first before heading to the flower park.}

Maybe I'm just curious about a lot of things, but I followed a bunch of flower farm channels on YouTube, so I know a lot about cut flowers. "Cut flowers" are used for flowers famous for bouquets and decorations during events. Being in the middle of a field of lilies, strawflowers, and tulips is another dream come true. Those flowers are very rare in the Philippines.

_{Strawflowers. This is perhaps the most famous dried flower. They're usually dried because the colours won't change, and the flower itself doesn't wilt after drying.}

_{There's a whole field dedicated just for strawflowers.}

_{A bunch of orange lilies with Huoyanshan in the background will forever be iconic.}

_{They installed a frame in the middle of white daffodils. This is a great spot for photos.}

_{A field of white and purple cosmos.}

_{Beds of tulips. It was a season of tulips and they're the highlight of the flower park.}

_{They also have a lotus pond. Just imagine how big the flower park is.}

_{A field of spiny spiderflower.}

_{A field of small and delicate flowers that I had the problem of identifying even with the help of Google Lens.}

Of course, we took a lot of photos in the flower park for Instagram, and even if I do not upload them there, I might as well share them here.

_{In the middle of a sunflower patch. It's only a small patch, though, as it's still too early for sunflower season.}

_{It's giving gilded cage. 😆 The pink flowers in the background are snapdragons. They're one of my most favorite cut flowers and it was my first time to see them in person and even hold them.}

_{In the middle of Salvia splendens or scarlet sage fields.}

_{Of course, with the frame in the middle of white daffodils.}

It's not really obvious that we had a great time! We stayed at the flower park until it was time to leave, or we might have been left behind by the last train back to Taichung. I guess that's all for this post, but I'm not yet done with the flowers. See you in the next post!

Kim Ybañez

_{Welcome to Kim's small corner in Hive. He is a chemical engineer by profession but a blogger by passion. He is a wanderlust and an adventure seeker. Join his quests as he visits remote destinations, climbs mountains, tries new and exotic dishes, and explores his country (The Philippines). He's also a trying-hard photographer, so stay tuned as he shares his photos and his thought process while creating them.}

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