On our second day in Taiwan, we went to the Sea of Flower Festival in Taichung from Nantou. We were particularly interested about this festival because from what we see on the internet, it looked like a massive flood of colorful flowers which is pretty amazing to the eyes. Thus, we wanted to see it for ourselves.

The festival is an annual event held every November and early December and is promoted by the Taichung Tourism Bureau.

For day two, here is our travel route so that you can visualize the order of places in our itinerary (this is a blank map downloaded from google):

To further give you information about our travel plan, here are the specifics which you can use as an easy reference:

Shouting Stop (Nantou) to Taichung

If you would look closely, the bus sign is placed just beside the road (opposite side, a few walk away from Spring ground B&B). You would know that it is the bus stop because of this sign in front of the Sunnydale B&B.

Here, we waited for the Nantou bus at 09:20 AM and arrived in Puli at 10:25 AM. The bus stopped for approximately five minutes for a bio break then at 10:30 AM, the bus left for Taichung (Gancheng Station). We arrived in Taichung at 12:00 PM.

Nantou Bus Schedule

I have highlighted in red the specific time we used for our trip. From the schedule below, the bus leaves in Cingjing Farm at 09:10 AM and arrives in Shouting Stop approximately after 10 minutes. YTB suggests that you visit the Nantou Bus website to get the latest updates on schedule and fare.

 

Getting Around Taichung

Taichung (Gancheng) Station to Zhongxingling

When we arrived in Taichung (Gancheng Station), we had to walk a few steps to the train station. In front of it is a bus stop where we took a ride to Zhongxingling, Xinshe District. Make sure to ride on Bus 31 going to Zhongxingling. 

On a side note, since we went straight to Nantou as soon as we arrived in Taiwan, we were carrying with us our luggage until this very moment. Hence, we looked for a locker where we can leave our stuff. Fortunately, they have big lockers which you can use at 60NT for three hours then additional 50NT for every hour thereafter. We left our luggage here and headed to the bus stop to catch Bus 31.

You would know that you are already in Zhongxingling when you see these landmarks: it wouldn’t be hard for you to know the specific location as well since it will be projected on the bus screen in front of you (both in Chinese and English characters). We arrived in Zhongxingling past 1:00 PM.

 

Zhongxingling to Sea of Flower Festival

As soon as we alight from Bus 31, we walked straight until we saw another bus stop. From here, there were free shuttles going to the festival with a 10-minute interval. Travel time from Zhongxingling to the Sea of Flower Festival is 20 minutes.

 

Sea of Flower Festival

Finally, here are the photos  that we took during the festival. The place was full of people even on a weekday (Tuesday in our case). People were free to roam around and there was a place designated solely for flower picking (which we unfortunately did not have time to visit).

Some photos were taken by my best friend (Weng):

View from the side

View from the front

Two photos of the same object taken from different angles yet, every side was equally captivating.

Customary pose in every place we visit

Look at these carpets of colorful floral field: they were like a bewitching piece of art!

Orchids were also hanging beautifully during the festival

Flowers were scattered everywhere in the area as you can see

Here are some of our individual photos that we took speedily to ensure that it would look descent without much photo bombers.

The theme for 2015 was Kaleidoscope. The area were filled with different flower designs that also served as an attraction during the festival.

We spent one hour to explore the area and headed back to the TRA Station in Gancheng to catch a trip to Taipei. We lined up for the free shuttle bus in the same spot where the bus initially dropped us.

 

Zhongxingling to Taichung TRA (Gancheng Station)

From this point, ride on either Bus 270, 271, 276, or 277 going to the train station. They have a detailed route and schedule in the bus stop which you can use to predict your trip going back.

Another destination was crossed off from our list. Here we go to our next adventure, the main city – Taipei!

I will be sharing with you the part 2 of our second day trip with the detailed itinerary and breakdown of expenses. For now, enjoy reading!