Standing at the Place of My Dreams: Qingjing Farm, Nantou, Taiwan

I didn't expect the blooming cherry blossoms at Qingjing Farm. I didn't even know what to expect at the farm. All I knew was that we would be in Nantou County, and that's enough for me.

Treat this post as the continuation of my previous post, where I fulfilled a dream of seeing the cherry blossoms for the first time. It turned out that the cherry blossoms of Yangmingshan Mountains were just the appetizer. The main course was in Nantou.

They say that to enjoy life to the fullest, you must practice the power of awe. It means you should treat every wonderful moment and scene just like you experienced it the first time. For example, you must be in awe of the sunrise or sunset like it was your first time watching it. So, that's what I did in the groves of cherry blossoms of Qingjing Farm. Even if I already felt the early signs of altitude sickness, like headache, catching my breath, and feeling dizzy, it didn't stop me from admiring what was in front of me.

There were so many emotions boiling inside me while I was there. The mountains in the background made me feel I was in another country. There's no view like that in the Philippines, even if we have a lot of mountains to climb. It was just a surreal experience to be in that spot. I was emotional because I only dreamed of that place before. With all the doubts about what I was doing with my life and the sleepless nights of being anxious about my path, at least I fulfilled another dream. The Filipino term, "Malayo pa, pero malayo na" (Still a long way to go but have already gone a long way.), really ringed true that time.

As I was writing this post on the plane going home, I couldn't help but feel the reinforcement of the universe to continue dreaming and manifesting what I want in life. Consider me overacting all you want, but I wanted to make this post as emotional as possible. I felt that no matter how much I tried to evoke my emotions through this post, it still couldn't compare to what I felt when I was standing in those hills. I decided to have this post first instead of Qingtiangang Grassland or the other spots we visited in the first three days in Taipei because I didn't want to miss any detail.

We were supposed to have a guided city tour in Taichung the day before this tour, but the guide didn't meet with us at the designated time and location of the pick-up. Instead, we went to Taichung via THSR (Taiwan High Speed Rail). It became a DIY trip instead of a guided tour. Good thing the supposed to be tour was not yet paid. We reached Taichung and decided to only visit Zhongshe Flower Market that day. The next day, the guided tour was in Nantou, and Qingjing Farm was the last destination. The other two are a lunch spot somewhere still in Nantou, and the other one is Old England Manor, all along the way to Qingjing Farm.

There's so much to see in Qingjing Farm that this post just scratches the surface. We arrived there at around 12:30 PM, and we only had four hours to see the attractions. We didn't visit the Swiss Garden because the guide said there were only a few blooming flowers. Our first destination was Qingjing Skywalk, which had an entrance fee of NTD 50. It faces Hehuanshan National Forest and the Nantou County section of the Central Mountain Range, so the view is nothing but spectacular.

Qingjing Skywalk is an elevated platform that crosses over Renhe Road and connects the upper and lower parts of Green Green Grassland. Often called "Little Switzerland", sheep can be found in those rolling pasturelands with high mountain panoramas. I said that was easily the best NTD 50 I've spent because of that view.

Since it's winter, the grassland is brown-coloured, but imagine if it's late spring or early summer. It would have been so green with sheep munching around.

At the end of the skywalk is the entrance to the main attraction of Qingjing Farm; Green Green Grassland. The entrance fee is NTD 200. This is where the Sheep Show and Horse Acrobatics Show are held.

It's in the Green Green Grassland where I took the first eight photos of this post. The grasses were not green because it was winter, but the brown grasses, pink cherry blossoms, and the blue sky were just so pleasing to the eyes. The main attraction really was the cherry blossoms at this time of the year. Be warned that I will bombard you with cherry blossoms in the next posts. I'll upload everything I took using my camera. These photos were just from my phone.

Qingjing Farm is just so big to squeeze the allocated four hours to visit all the attractions. I didn't care about the Sheep Show and the Horse Acrobatics show. It was the cherry blossoms that made me hooked. I would say Taiwan is now my top country to visit after that Nantou experience. Other countries might have better views, but I still have to visit them. ✨ Manifesting! ✨

I guess that's all for this post. I still have a lot to share, so stay tuned! I'll leave this proof of existence. Again, dreams do come true! Don't give up on your dreams; they will never give up on you.

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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