Following Hukou Old street stop, our hosts told us that we will be having lunch @ The One 南园 which they claimed is just ahead. The just ahead by Taiwanese standard means driving a good 30min up and down a mountain before we reached the destination.
Turns out, our hosts had booked a package which includes a tour around Nanyuan and a lunch within the premises. Nanyuan was built by a Taiwanese newspaper magnate (Mr Wang Tiwu) whom which me and Mr Love dunno. Its was supposed to be his retirement villa up in the mountain but somehow along the way, he passed on and never got to enjoy it seems. So The One, which is a Taiwanese lifestyle brand took over the operations of Nan Yuan and begin giving tours and retreats.
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| The peacock welcoming us |
I was a bit dizzy by the time we reached Nanyuan since it is in the middle of a mountain. We were greeted by a gust of fresh air as we got down the car. The buildings were inspired by the Hokkiens, Hakkas and of course traditional chinese style.
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| Entrance |
We were given light refreshment (fruits and grass jelly drink) as we settled in the study room of Mr Wang which has a big painting of himself on the wall. Hot towels were also provided for us to freshen up.
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| Fresh jambu |
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| Grass jelly drink-Super bitter |
After the light refreshment and rest, we began our tour around the villa. It started by giving us a brief history of th owner Mr Wang and how luxurious his study room is given that real 999gold were painted on the cravings. I was still joking to Mr Love that we should scraped some off for ourselves and the tour guide was talking about the various CCTV in the room. Haha
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| Gold were painted on to the cravings of the building |
The study room is named 南楼 (South Tower) and is the main building of the whole villa. This is also the central point where from here the tour guide would take us around the whole villa.
Following Chinese feng shui style, the mountains to the left forms the 左青龙，and the mountians to the right forms 右白虎. And there is a big man made pond/lake in the middle of the villa and viola it fulfills the 坐山望水 theory.
As the right mountains 白虎side is much taller than the left 青龙 side, the owner also planted a row of tall pine tress to counter that. Reason being chinese believe that 青龙 represents male while 白虎 represents female and thus it is not allowed for the 白虎 side to be taller so as to imply that woman in the household commands a higher authority.
Oh well, beauty of olden chinese days, sexist thinkings.
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| View from 南楼 (South Tower) |
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| Every roof side has a special craving& meaning |
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| Long cover walkway |
I must admit, much of the things that the tour guide mentioned makes me lost, Mr Love is much worse. Haha 姗姗姐tried her best to explain to me in simplified chinese terms while I tried my best to explained to Mr Love in simplied Singlish terms. Haha
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| Group shot in a pavillon |
I think we are the most clueless pair in the whole tour group. To us, its like visiting a old chinese style house only. But you can really see others appreciating the architectures of the villa. I told 姗姗姐 that this is what the 80s Singaporean children are like, kantang. Haha
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| Some resting corner |
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| Old door that leads to a garden |
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| Big sponge paint brush |
There are some interesting things about the villa too. Like how some door are shaped like a bottle which in chinese is called 瓶 and has a similar pronunciation as 平(safe). Therefore the name of these doors care called 平安门.
In the days where telecommunications are not that advance, the servants will have to watch these doors for a code. Should the owner bring his guests walking through all 9 of the doors, it would meant that they would be staying for dinner and the servants would prepared the food. Else, it would meant that the guests would be sent off before meal time. Cool huh.
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| 平安门 |
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| Man made pond/lake |
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| Bamboo in the garden |
There is a show stealer here in the ponds- Mandarin ducks. Previously most are a pair (i.e hubs & wife) and should 1 party passed away, they would stay alone till death and refuse to have another partner. Faithful ducks I would say.
However the pair now in the pond are a pair of brothers. I dunno how to determine their gender but this is what the guide told us. The are both called O-Mua-zi （黑嘛记）which literally means black mochi. Muhahah. You can stand there and shout their name and if they are happy they will respond and glide near to you hoping that you will have food for them. Lol.
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| Black mandarin ducks |
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| View of South tower from the pond |
We moved on to lunch at the restaurant overlooking the pond. They only have 2 types of main course to choose from- A duck meat kway teow soup or pan fried cod fish with rice.
While 姗姗姐 ordered the kway teow soup, the rest of us chose Cod fish.
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| Cutleries nicely placed |
Once I saw how the cutleries are placed, I immediatetly asked 姗姗姐 whether this is fine dining. She didn't get what I was saying so I ended up telling her "Big plates, miserable portion of food" She had a great time laughing at my explanation.
But when the starters is served, I got my confirmation and she got my meaning. Haha It was a super big plate alright which a piece of broccoli and half a stalk of corn, 1 berry, 1 small piece of cabbage, 3 stalks of baby spout, 1 cube of dunno what jelly, 5 peas and a chessy paste in between. See how I can count the veggies? Haha
I didn't touch most of the things on this starters since I am a self proclaimed carnivore. I past most of the veggies to Mr Love.
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| Starters |
Next up is bitter gourd pork soup. I must admit I had my reseverations before tasting the soup since it is cooked with bitter gourd. But to my surprise the soup is freshening sweet, I can only taste the pork broth but not the bitter gourd taste. Polished off everything in this bowl.
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| Bitter gourd soup |
The a big plate came again. This time with a bunch of veggies and a tofu in between. Faints, at this rate I am not going to be full since they keep serving veggies.
Veggies is called 水银菜 and it is pretty crunchy. The plus point of this dish is the sauce. Its salty and has a strong sesame oil smell. I like. While 1 might mistook the middle portion of the tofu to be meat, it is actually some yam or similar thing.
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| Tofu on a bunch of veggies |
When the duck meat kway teow arrived, I was commenting how lucky I didn't ordered since I can see 2 big cabbage and alot of carrots inside.
I did took a sip of the soup but found it a bit bland which is just what 姗姗姐 wants.
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| Duck kway teow |
Our cod fish came soon after and it is wrapped with some pandan leaves look alike. It is not pandan leave as I was told that there is no pandan leaves in Taiwan. Its a South East Asian plant it seems?
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| My cod fish lunch set |
The main course is served with a cup of olive oil or some other oil thing. I didn't catch what they were saying. The oil was supposed to be poured over our rice to make it more fragrant. Alrightly, I attacked the cod fish greedily. As small as it seems, it is actually a thick slice grilled to perfection.
We have nothing but praises for the cod fish and am glad I made the right choice.
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| The cod fish looks good |
Desserts were served lastly and we were told to eat in the order from left to right. The left hand corner is a mango flavoured yogurt or rather to me is a milk pudding.
Not too sour and has a heavy milky taste, love it..
The middle 1 is a passion fruit cake. Top layer is a thick passion fruit jelly paste which a mango flavour sponge cake. Passion fruits are sour by nature and I was a bit scared off by the taste since I hate sour stuff. Lastly is hazlenut chocolate mochi which has a slight bitter taste during the 1st bite.
I wasn't so sure of why we should in the the order from left to right but nevertheless did as we are told and is pretty happy with the dessets.
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| Desserts |
Following lunch, we were being brought a round to cover what we have missed out earlier and also to an art exhibition by a Chinese painter who is suppose to be famous but the sua ku 2 Singaporeans didnt know.
I cannot even appreciate his drawings and end up finding a stop where aircon is the strongest and park myself there to rest. The guide by then sensed that we 2 are not locals and chatted a bit with us. Haha I am a bit sorry towards her since we cannot really appreciate her tour.
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| View from the restaurant |
Then we ended the tour at the guest meeting area of the villa where a Hong Kong master would have his 古筝 performance. The room was intially filled with guests but soon all was gone except the 4 of us as their transport were leaving.
Again, we cannot really appreciate the music. It is nice alright but Mr Love was soon dozing off. No offence to the performer but we took a overnight flight to Taiwan and were worn out by now.
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| Performance by a Hong Kong muiscian |
After the 古筝performance, 姗姗姐 suggest walking around the premises since we have sometime to kill before our next stop-Night market in Hsinchu.
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| 围棋的棋子 |
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| Cravings on the wall |
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| Wrote using the sponge paint brush |
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| Fed this to the black mochi-Shhhh |
We came back to the stage area where operas can perform here. Its a rectangular stage and if you stand in the middle and speak out, you can hear your own echo. The four of us took turns to try and immersed in the miracle of the particular spot.
Since there are no opera performances anymore, the stage area has been converted into some sort of play area. There are 3 cupboard made rocking horse and we took turns to play on it all the while hoping it would not give way.
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| 光宇哥trying to take aim |
There is also an ancient games where you need to aim and throw into the holes with the makeshift "arrows". It is actually made using tree branches with some weight tied to the end. I tried a similar game in Korea when visiting Daechangguem filming site.
Anyways we all took turns to try our luck but to no avail, only 姗姗姐 managed to throw in once after countless tries. We moved on after that since 1 person already succeed.
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| 姗姗姐is the only one who managed to shoot in |
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| Butterfly? |
We then stumbled across what seems to be a bowling alley. The pins are all made of wood and is pretty heavy. It's a bit like chinese chess I think. You need knock down the pins according to the rank on the pins.
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| Mr Love arranging the fallen pins |
We did not give a damn on the rules and played according to our liking which is bascially just anyhow hit.
The bowling ball itself is damn heavy, think it is made of solid wood.
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| Nearly hit,but the ball just stopped there |
Again we spent quite sometime here as someone namely Mr Love refuse to go until he hit all the pins. It was tiring to see him running up and down to take the heavy bowling ball back to the starting point.
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| And he throws |
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| And throws |
By the time we left here, it's already 4pm plus. We decided to make our way to the night market where 姗姗姐 wants to introduce us to the specialities of Hsinchu.
Since there are no opera performances anymore, the stage area has been converted into some sort of play area. There are 3 cupboard made rocking horse and we took turns to play on it all the while hoping it would not give way.
