Travelling back in 1920s - Today Cheongsam Experience in Taipei 天天旗袍體驗館

I was pretty skeptical of doing this as i believed that you need to be very slender to wear Cheongsam. 

So How did i ended up doing this? I happen to try to convince mister to try Han fu (aka the period drama costume that we see on chinese dramas). It was rejected by him immediately. Somehow, he saw a collaboration with the hotel, he immediately booked the hotel stay with the Cheongsam experience. 

He was so pleased with himself until i told him "I don't want to wear cheongsam!". 

However, this Cheongsam experience turned out better than expected. The location is quite a favourable too! 

It is within the vicinity of a Bopiliao historical block,Taiwan country education centre and Lung shan temple. All these buildings provided the perfect backdrop to the clothes that we wore. 

I am a usual size L (asian) and the clothes i tried are L and XL. Ladies get to choose their fit and design first before the male. The male chinese robe (male version, paofu) has to match to the ladies costume. I appreciate this gesture as ladies are usually the more particular one. 

I would definitely recommend to try this place with your significant other. Make up and hairdo can also be provided at additional cost. Shoes, earrings and clothes are included. The white artist cap and the shawl are our own. All else is included in the package. 

天天旗袍體驗館 Today Chi Pao Experience

Address: 10849, Taiwan, Taipei City, Wanhua District, Kunming St, 265號1樓

Taiwan, Yilan - Tai Ping Shan

Just a short 50 minutes drive from Taipei city. Its little wonder this is a highly popular hot spring place for local and tourists like. 

Tai Ping Shan

We encountered wet weather during our time at Tai Ping Shan. But i still considered ourselves quite fortunate as it began to snow a few days later. We had no experience driving in snowy conditions, it would have been quite a disaster if we were caught in the snow. 

There are suitable activities for everyone. For those who wants to soak in the natural hot springs, and for the more adventurous, hiking. 

Finding the attractions were easy as there is only one route. So if you are travelling from the foot of the mountain you will passed by the following attractions:  Jiuzhizhe Hot Spring -> Bai Ling Tree -> Jiancing old trail. After the Jian cing old trail, the road split into two. One will lead you to Cuifeng Lake and the other will lead you to the motel and also the Bong Bong train station. 

For us, the first day is spent driving around the area. Our first stop was the largest alpine lake on the island - Cuifeng Lake. Do note that the route to Cuifeng Lake is long and winding. It took us at least an hour to get to Cuifeng. But the views at the Lake was fabulous although foggy.

If time permits, you can also do the nature hiking trail. It was cold and wet so we stuck to admiring the views of cui feng lake.

Next up was the Jian cing historic trail walk. The trail itself was a very short walk but the walk from the parking lot to the beginning of the trail was longer than the trail itself. It was late afternoon when we reach the beginning of the walk and we were the only ones left. So it was quite a mad rush for us. 

Due to the wet and cold conditions, the area reminded me of a mossy forest. While time was tight for us, at the very least i did a short walk through the suspension bridge. The suspensionwas why i wanted to do the trail walk in the first place. 

Pro tip: for the ease of other companions, the driver should drop the other hikers at the beginning of the trial before heading to the car park if that is an option. 

The second day was primarily to take the Bong Bong train ride. We did book in advance our Bong Bong train and the redemption process was a breeze. Since we were early, we were able to have a cuppa at the cloud sea cafe. 

It was quite an experience to see the Bong bong train and see how the train managed to detached itself from the rest of the train body and made a u-turn. Timings for the return train was an hour away and you can spend the rest of the hour hiking around the area.