January 5, 2016

Oilve Tree Accomodation at Nanzhuang, Miaoli County

Dominique Parenting and Kids, Recommendations, Travel, Wordful Wednesday Miaoli, Minsu, Taiwan

Olive Tree Accommodation

Olive Tree, an inn we stayed in Miaoli has to be one of the best decorated accommodation I’ve seen.

Side view of the inn

It has a pleasant homely feel to the place. Every part of the place was beautifully decorated.

A cute looking cat

I saw many cat related artifacts at the inn. In fact they could be see almost at every corner of the eating hall/ reception.

Tiger girl and me

Inside the coffee shop

Alfresco Dining area

Decorations on the table outside

We only stayed at Olive Tree for a night and arrived there extremely late at night so was not really able to explore the surroundings. It was raining heavily through the night making it one of the coldest night the kids and I experienced in Taiwan.

One of the family rooms that we booked- they had two queen size beds.

The sitting area of the room

The other family room

We booked 2 family rooms and had the whole 2nd floor of the inn to ourselves. It was a rather small place as there were only 3 floors of guest rooms in the inn.

The spiral staircase that led to the guestrooms

It was certainly a challenge to get to our accommodation that night as we had to climb the spiral staircase with all the heavy luggage.

The view from the window the next morning

It was extremely foggy the next morning as it had been raining the whole night. A lovely sight awaited us when we started out day. It was the first time for the kids to be so near the mountaintop. It was certainly refreshing waking up to so much greenery around.

The small alley leading to the breakfast area

As the main path was extremely wet and slippery we took the side path down the steps.

the kids examining the coins that they had

The table decorations

The yummy breakfast we had

The kids happily tucking into their breakfast

The breakfast portion served was really huge and the kids and I had trouble finishing our meal.

Waiting for our pick up at the entrance

This is certainly a place we would consider staying again if we visit Miaoli.

Olive Tree (橄欖樹戶外咖啡民宿) in Nanzhuang, Miaoli County

苗栗縣南庄鄉蓬萊村42份7-6號

December 29, 2015

Little Ding Dang Science Theme Park

Dominique Parenting and Kids, Travel, Wordful Wednesday science theme park, Taiwan

The water wheel

One of the fun things to do on a holiday is visiting a Museum or theme park. There are many different exhibits and items for the kids to try out. The kids are not into viewing Art exhibits so we decided on a Science theme park instead.

The kids looking at the kinetic exhibits

Water wheel with a connecting duct

Exerting some pedal power

At this exhibit the kids learned how water was use to generate energy to form Hydro-electric power. They also learned how water was transported from the stream to higher ground.

activating the hydro jet

Water Wheel

It was interesting to note the turning motion of the water wheel enabled water to be transported from one level to another. The creation of these devices back then enabled fresh stream water to flow into their houses.

The boys cranking up the water turbine

The boys had a race to see who could transport water from the bottom of the cock screw to the top in the quickest duration. The inventor who came up with this invention was really a genius!! Using a rotation motion one was able to move water against gravity.

Playing in the Labyrinth

Besides exhausting some of their energy cranking up the water wheels and activating the pistons the kids had fun running around in a Labyrinth. It was similar to being in a corn maze like the ones we have been reading in storybooks.

The kids took around 10 minutes to find their way out of the maze and had fun by going through it a couple of times.

Solar panels and energy generated

This was one of the exhibits on display. It was a solar power generated sculpture. As you can see 4.02 Watts of electricity had been generated by the solar panels that were around the structure and it had been use to make the sculpture move.

The kids posing for a photo with a yellow duck

Little Ding Dong Science Theme Park

Hydro electric power, Solar power and now wind power. In this section the kids were thrilled to see so many windmills at one spot.

wind chimes making music in the wind

Tiger girl in a sea of windmills

I loved listening to the tune that was generated by the wind chimes as the bells were turning around endlessly. The wind was rather strong that day and it was certainly a pretty scene with all the windmills turning together with the wind chimes.

Tin can Tiger Drum

The boys spotted many of these tigers near the musical notes. They were not only cute but can be banged on to add a rhythm to the music in the wind.

Traditional Holland Windmill

Tiger girl love the shade of purple on this windmill. It certainly was very attractive also. It certainly makes the place photography worthy with that structure in the background.

The entrance to the optical illusion house

Tiger girl looking at her reflection

Trick mirrors

Having an extra long jacket on

There were a couple of different sections in the science theme park. This is one section which the kids enjoyed and had the most fun with the different mirrors. They were laughing and giggling non stop to see their images inverted and distorted when they went through the fun house.

It was really interesting going through the fun house as it played on your sense of equilibrium. It really threw one off trying to navigate your way through. It felt that you were sinking or sliding to one side and hard to keep one’s balance moving through the rooms.

As we were so daze just going through it I didn’t take any pictures inside the house.

A decibel recorder

The chart for the acceptable range of noise level

This is a machine which I would like to have in my home to measure the level of noise disturbance caused by the kids. I’m sure it would easily reach 100 decibels or more on weekdays.

Have you visited a Science Theme Park before?

Little Ding Dong Science Theme Park

No. 199, Kanghe Rd., Xinfeng Township, Hsinchu County