Tag Archives: chen guang fa

Welcome to Taiwan! Stone House, Hua Lien (Part 2)

6 Dec
 Here is my latest review for Stone House Minsu and the Hua Lien cabbie that i engaged.

As usual, i did my booking via E-mail. Auntie Liu remembered me (Not after some reminders) and is all pleased about me bring my dad there this time.

We also asked her to help link us up with Mr Chen Guang Fa, our previous Hua lien cabbie guide. Although reviews of Mr Chen has been doing down slope, we decided to try him again since he is associated with Stone House, Auntie Liu whom we had a very good experience with the other time.

On that day, she was at Hua Lien Station to receive us…She informed us that our guide for the day was Ah Bin –> Mr Chen’s Brother-in-law –> his disciple. Hmm..why am i not surprise? I’ve read in forums that ”popular” Hua Lien cabbies are fond of introducing business to their so-called disciple. We decided to stay “Positive” and see how it goes.

Ah Bin was not as initiative as Mr Chen. FYI the rate that i paid was for Mr Chen (i did not get any discount when it turn out to be Ah Bin). It was more like a Q & A session. “Where is this place that we are going” ”What is the name of this place?” these are the basic that we should be told right. Not prompted. If you didnt ask then too bad. . .

 Let’s just put it this way.. Ah Bin is not all bad. He was kinder than he looks. He is always looking out for us, encourage us to “go to the limit”. Ask for his opinion on things in Hua Lien and he would gladly offer his 2 cents worth.

I’d rate him:  2.5/5 tour leading skill,  3/5 for his service, 4/5 driving skill 

However, Mr Chen made up for lost time by meeting us at the “Sashimi” place (Fish Port). He apologies and explained that he brought 2 girls to Taroko today, the road is difficult and he is not confident of allowing others to do it. So he insisted on bringing them personally. Well, totally understandable.

Mr Chen is really friendly. He recognises us immeidately.

  

For NT50 per person, you get to enjoy a set of Sashimi. In our case, we had NT1500 of servings. I warn you, i am not a raw eater but these fishes are good ! No fishy-smell! AND SO CHEAP !!!!! Dad was so in love with the fishes that he asked if we can order fried fish.They will do it when there is a min of 3 fishes (true lah, if order 1 fish only they waste their oil). The cost for 3 fishes is 350NT if i remembered.IT WAS HEAVENLY GOOOOOOOOD.  Again, i am not a Fish-fan. But hell, these are really naturally sweeten fishes.

 

Stone House Minsu

Stone house

Stone House was FULL HOUSE that day we arrived. All from Singapore. The power of word-of-mouth.

We have a family of 5, a young couple with 2 kids, 2 x a couple of youngsters, 2 girls …

 Auntie Liu was trying her best not to neglect anyone in the house. She is really hospitality. All of her guests are first-timers except us! We are like a walking advestisment because she kept telling eveyone in sight that this is our second time to the house. haha..

 This is our triple room. There is a sofa bed + queen bed. The toilet is very pretty! A cute bath tub~

The room has a balcony too.

P.s: I have introduced many of my friends/colleagues to Stone House and they all came back with good experiences. Quote my name when you are reserving a room, you might just get a cheaper rate O!

 i say might because it is my wisful thinking. ha

Initially, i was thinking if i should give other minsu a try since i have stayed with Stone house before. But because i am bringing dad this time, i don’t want anything to go wrong. I am certain that choosing Stone House would not go too wrong, hence i am sticking with it.

Of course, we tried the Fire Works too ! It’s totally the highlight !!!! This time, we bought NT1500 worth of stuff to put on the sky. We combined orders with 2 other girls, each of us paid NT300.

 Weather was a bit insane when we were there. As you can see dark clouds approaching. Thankfully, there was no major storm/rain, just light drizzling that would not bother anyone : )

At night, we went to the “largest” Hua Lien Night Market. Their formation is of a “triangle”. Maybe it was a weekday because it was not as happening as i thought it should be~

Hua Lien is famous for their “Muay Ji”. I personally don’t find it especially good lah. There are packed ones and freshly made ones that you can buy back.  

On your way to the train station, remember to buy 铁路便当 ! well, it’s just packet rice in Singapore terms. tsk tsk.

They recomend us a shop that is infront of the train staion (picture below).. buy it there instead of the 7-11 in the station!

There is even a promotion like buy before 1pm and you get a free Green/Red tea ! Super cool!

To book Stone House Min Su

Email: sutohome@gmail.com

Auntie Liu contacts: +886 933 485 552/ +886 932 345 151

Website:  http://www.netete.com/stone/

Remarks: a lot of you are confused at the rates stated on the website…  you just refer tothe charges for  假日 (weekends) 平日 (weekdays) :D

Taiwan Minsu – Stone House

25 Apr

  Stone House Minsu aka 石頭的家

    dsc015211

  This was my favourite place of all the 6 hotels i’ve stayed in Taiwan!

We communicated with the host of 石頭的家, Auntie Liu (刘阿姨) through e-mail. I bombarded her with zillion of questions and is always patient and prompt with her reply. Friendly host? check.

This minsu actually needs no introduction. It is highly raved about in forums. To make a reservation, just e-mail her. Auntie Liu would really appreciate it if you are able to write in Chinese (if it is not of too much trouble). Because when we were there, Auntie Liu asked us to help her to translate some of the e-mails which were written in English. She was not complaining. She was checking word-by-word via the online English dictionary. :)

So to get your message across and for speedy reply, i would recommend writing in Chinese if it is not too difficult for you. Her reply will be in Chinese.

Mr Chen Guang Fa, taxi guide

Auntie Liu offered to pick her guests up from Hua Lian train station. Just give her a call when you reach. She will also recommend you a Taxi guide should you need a tour. We booked the taxi guide, Mr Chen Guang Faand just nice he was the guide that Auntie Liu will always help her guest to engage. They were good friends. He drives a 7-seater WISH so maximum is 6 passengers. We were squeezed like sardines at the back with all the luggage. –_–

He brought us to Toroko gorge, Yan Zi Dong, Qingjing farm (up on the moutains. you can see cute sheeps!)….and a lot places. He suggested us to go on a Hua Lian tour the next day with his discipline (hmm…he is fond of recommending his discipline o~) but we have to decline his offer because we intended to leave at about 12pm. Don’t worry about rejecting his kind offer, just work with your guts feeling~

Apparently,  Mr Chen is very popular with the Singaporeans and Malaysians. He speaks funny. Don’t try to guess his age because you can never get it… he is 70 years old ! What we didn’t know is that he is a bit hard on hearing so please be patient when you are conveying something to him…you might need to talk..LOUDER~ hehe. He knows that he is popular because of word-of-mouth, forum fame…so he is extremely careful in trying to please his customers. In fact, there are many other “famous” taxi guide who recieved good feedbacks as well.   

Sheep feeding. i likee

Sheep feeding. i likee

That was Mr chen in the background :P

That was Mr chen in the background :P

 In case you are wondering what’s so funny…the sheep is quite tickish lah.

  Contact info for Hua Lian Cabbie :

Mr Chen Guang Fa – +886937167779

Mr Lu Lai Fu – +886928569081 (can sms)

Meeky Yang – +886921915586.

Their charges varies and it is according to the number of passengers. Duration of tour is about 10 hours.

Stone House Minsu aka 石頭的家

Ok, back to Stone House. We were the only guests in the min su (woohoo!) Auntie Liu really make us feel at home. Totally. There was no “check-in” or “collecting of money”. She wanted us to settle down first and eagerly showed us our room for 6!

3 huge queen size beds

3 huge queen size beds

 Of course, we took the initiative to pay up lah. The house has some really beautiful dogs! My favourite was NIU NIU because she reminded me of my own dog ^^ 

Niu Niu

Niu Niulooks like Niu Niu doesn't give a heck about taking photo, with me

Oh…if it helps, Auntie Liu’s son is quite handsome ! (Waha, at least 3 girls in our group agree) No Photos lah…
 

Erhem. . . Back to topic. At night, Auntie Liu drove us to the most happening Night Market in Hua Lian (the minsu is a distance from the night market about 10 mins) and drop us there. She will pick us up when we are done ^^

  We roamed into this cafe in the Night Market. It is very prominent with many cute bears. Look, i am no fan of “Oh-that-bear-is-so-cute-i-want-to-get-one-home!”. But this really got me. The theme is really interesting.

Tatty bear restaurant

Tatty bear restaurant

everything is teddy bear themed

everything is teddy bear themed

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 Website: http://twbbs.net.tw/2465316.html

This teddy themed cafe is quite a hit. You can goggle and get many write up about the place.  Food there is pretty good. It comes in a set. I had cream spag, he had a steak, she had a goose liver.

 We returned to the minsu at about 11pm. Auntie Liu said that we can 放天灯! You know…the 天灯we often seen in drama! We bought the 天灯 from her at NT100 each (very big and a few of us shared)

It was at that very moment, when i wanted to pen down my wishes, i felt totally ashame of myself. Where has my A2 Chinese gone to…..

It was a very magical moment i felt ^_^

OOH…did i mention we put fireworks as well ?!  This was the highlight ! Mind you, Fireworks as in National Day Parade style..not your gay fairy wand sparkle.

Totally like this:

fireworks

fireworks!

Erm…not quite lah. But you know what i mean.. it is totally worth it. Mr Chen the driver bring us to this shop that sells the fireworks. You can decide the value of things that you wanna buy..all of us chipped in and share. about NT1200, we got fireworks, some funny thing that burst out sparkle, fairy wand…bla bla.

I suggest you to put in all that is in your pocket on the fire works and see it explode in the sky. HAHA !

Anyway, Aunite Liu is a super friendly host. She is always attending to us. The maid cooks nice breakfast too !
I have recommend her to my friends and all came back Thanking me. I am so happy that my friends enjoyed it as much as i do.

Website: http://www.netete.com/stone/
The photos on the website are true to actual image.

I don’t think she will remember us. But then again, maybe she will cause we were…quite rowdy. WAHAHA !
But if you read my blog and goes to her…do help me to ask after her :D

dsc01510

(Do check out Stone House Part 2 review for the latest update! )

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