Some people say that it’s a waste of time and money to bring the little ones on a holiday since they won’t remember it after. But I think that’s impossible because we take so many pictures and videos of Melody – we’ll keep reminding her of the fun times we had in Taipei and in Yilan! 
Yilan is lovely because it has a lot of farms we can bring the young ones to… where they can really get super CLOSE to the animals. And it’s all so inexpensive. In general, Melody got to enter all the farms for free, and we paid S$12.95 for a pair of tix to Zhang Mei Ama’s Farm, S$12.18 for a pair of tix to Yinong Ranch, and S$10.47 for a pair of tix to Bambi Land. Interestingly, I managed to plan our schedule so perfectly that we went from the farm with the most visitors to one that had a lot fewer people… and then one we almost had the whole place to ourselves. Thank God for the lovely weather too. At the farms, we did not encounter rain (the downpours came later in the day). Anyway… will let the pictures do the talking:
And as all parents know, the aim of taking your kids out in the daytime is to get them so tired that they totally KO for their afternoon nap. Melody did not disappoint. Also… since hubby’s gonna be reading this: THANK YOU for being the hero who carried her for most of the trip since she’s so freaking heavy now and my old back injury doesn’t allow me to carry her for extended periods of time! Luckily she takes after you and can fall asleep easily in the weirdest / noisiest of places.
We also celebrated Hub’s birthday at Bambi Land. This is the only farm which offers perks for people who pop by on their birthdays, or two days prior to / after their b’day. You get a pin, and discounts for F&B and at the giftshop, and also extra animal feed for free.
Bambi Land was really lovely. Perhaps we should have put Melody in some sort of Princessy costume. Ahahaa…
10/10 would recommend people with young children to visit Yilan. The farm entrance tix are SO affordable. You can spend as much time there as you’d like. Plus these are experiences we won’t easily get in SG or even Malaysia.
As for the hotel… I selected CHECK inn MAGI kids because they are known for having lots of kids vehicles to choose from. So we’d expected Melody would have a whale of a time here.
They really have all sorts of cars, motorbikes, trucks, etc. But here’s a tip: If your kid is really young, and you have to be the one controlling the vehicle (via remote control), pick a car that isn’t too fast.
The first vehicle Melody chose was this blue BMW and WTH it was wayyy too fast. We tried to steer it properly but kept crashing the car. Super hard to manoeuvre as it’s damn fast so unless you have the quick reflexes of a Formula 1 driver or pro gamer, don’t try lah.
And if your kid is much older than Melody is… and can drive his/her own vehicle, wah shiok. Go sit yourself down in one of the massage chairs next to this ‘track’. It costs just NTD10 (~50 Singapore cents) for a 3-minute massage. LOVE LOVE LOVE it.
And if you’re lucky… the pretend play kitchen area will be nice and neat:
Love the hotel’s buffet breakfast. You have to let them know in advance which 1-hour timeslot you want, e.g. 7am to 8am.
Our room was ginormous. We suspect they used to allow kids to drive the police car round the room… but for fear of excessive noise and damage to property, now the car cannot be driven and can only be used for phototaking. Bummer.
And the other in front of the beds…
And a standing shower… and toiletbowls for adult plus kid…
That steak place was in Luodong Night Market. Wouldn’t recommend it. But we didn’t have much choice. The rain wouldn’t stop and we were hungry and cold, plus I did not have plans to dine at any particular place. So yah… better than nothing lah.
And hahaha… this last pic:
I think one of the reasons we enjoyed this Taiwan trip was because we got away from the Labubu craze in Singapore. We did not see a single person with a Labubu during our trip. Like the Taiwanese have other better / more important things to be concerned with, e.g. impending typhoon. We are so lucky that our trip was untouched by the typhoon. Heng ah!