[Taiwan] Bed and Breakfast at Yilan 卡幄汀民宿

A few months ago while visiting my parents in Taiwan, a couple college friends invited me to a weekend trip to Yilan. I was super excited about the trip because for one, I haven't been to Yilan since I was a little girl, and two, it had been quite a while since college, going on a weekend trip would have brought back all the good old days of college dorm! Better yet, my friends planned everything! So today’s post is the first of a mini series on this particular Yilan trip, which I'm going to start with the bed and breakfast we stayed at, Kawoting B&B (http://kot.hotweb.com.tw)

[偽單身旅行ㄧ]
這次回台灣大學同學邀我去宜蘭玩, 我當然一口答應囉
真沒想到姐年紀這麼大了還有機會跟大學同學過兩天一夜的旅行 ,真是難得啊~
尤其結婚了後真的好像就再也沒有跟朋友出去旅行過呢 
好像回到了大學時代 (笑)
這次旅行食衣住行都朋友安排的, 我只負責出現就好,哈哈!
真的很感激他們我才有機會第一次體驗到台灣的民宿
聽說週末民宿很難訂呢, 朋友打了十幾通電話才訂到

While one may think of bed and breakfast as an English thing, bed and breakfasts have been quite popular in Taiwan for the last 10 years, especially outside the cities. In fact, a coworker of mine who recently visited Taiwan told me her favorite thing to do in Taiwan was staying at the various bed and breakfasts. Believe it or not, this is my first time staying at a bed and breakfast in Taiwan.  Having nothing else to compare to, I'll merely share my experience at this particular one.

Yilan’s about 40 minutes outside of Taipei. Strictly speaking, it's an easy day trip, but since Yilan’s also known for hot spring, it's also a popular over night destination. On weekends the traffic can take up to 2-3 hours because of all the Taipei-ites escaping the city.  We had to leave Taipei early in the morning on Saturday, and return to Taipei right after lunch on Sunday.  

Kawoting is a big stand alone , modern Taiwanese house about 20 minute drive from Yilan train station.  It has a very spacious living room with large windows that fill the room with lights.

There are 8 rooms of various sizes.  We stayed at a room with two queen sized beds.  The restroom is on the smaller side, but very clean and has nice shower.  Each room has its own AC, which is nice.  Though in May it wasn't yet scorching hot, it was pretty humid, nice to have the AC on to dehumidify.

Our room has a balcony that looks out to the mountian.  I think this is why Yilan is so popular on the weekends with Taipei-ites, it's one of the closest place to get away from the bustling city to enjoy nature. 

In addition to the living room downstair, there is also a common small sitting area on the second floor.

The house has a pretty big yard with a few lounge chairs.  We sat on them a little when we had the afternoon snack outside.

We were served snacks upon check in.  Hard to see in the picture, but the two dishes behind the cake was some Yilan sweet specialties.  Taiwanese are very big on "local specialties", wherever you travel in Taiwan you'll find desserts, small eats, dishes, etc, that are "local specialties" unique to the area.  There will be more on this on my next post.  

Btw, apparently the house has appeared in several Taiwanese dramas, as seen on this page  http://kot.hotweb.com.tw/p01.php

我們住的卡幄汀似乎小有名氣,曾經出現在好幾部偶像劇,我當時照片放在FB上馬上就有人猜出來了
像”醉後決定愛上你“ “敗犬女王” “阿博ㄟ後山”
這幾片我只有看過敗犬女王, 剛剛再回味一下影片片段, 又再讓我想起單無雙幹嘛不嫁給學長啦!!!

We were greeted by the proprietor at the door, very friendly and talkative.  He told us he used to be an engineer, then decided to build this house and run bed and breakfast instead.  Later that night he took us to the backyard to see fireflies.  I may have seen one or two fireflies in my life before, but never as many as that night.  Unfortunately my attempt to take pictures of the fireflies failed completely.

民宿老板人很好, 跟我們講了很多蓋這棟房子的故事,  晚上還帶我們去後院看螢火蟲
身為都市小孩, 這還是我第一次看到那麼多螢火蟲呢, 真是太奇妙了
經老闆講解我才知道原來螢火蟲之所以會亮是為了找“一夜情”的對象啦!等找到了燈就熄了!
所以看螢火蟲要傍晚至八點左右, 太晚螢火蟲就都去開房間了 

Breakfast was traditional Taiwanese congee and side dishes (not in the pictures), though there was Belgian waffle as well.  Simple but filling to kick off the day.

早餐是稀飯配小菜水果, 不吃稀飯的話也有鬆餅
雖然我不太吃稀飯, 但看到這麼台的早餐還是滿感動的
畢竟是平常吃不到的啊

So that is it for Kawoting Bed and Breakfast.  It's a clean and comfortable place to stay if you're ever in Yilan and would like to experience some genuine Taiwanese hospitiality. 

Not too far away from Katrina is a lake , which seems to be a semi-popular tourist spot as well, because of some TV drama.  Be sure to stop by.

離卡幄汀不遠處有個叫做望龍埤的景點
去之前我一直以為我們是來看一個 “碑”, 心裡一直納悶這個碑到底有什麼了不起?
結果是我不識字, 原來是“埤” 啦!
什麼“埤”呢?大家看一下這篇長知識吧
http://www.wetland.org.tw/subject/water/water_1/index.htm

There's a walkway around the lake, takes about 10-15 minutes to make a lap.

The next few pictures were taken with the "dynamic" effect on my camera. While the colors are a bit exaggerated, the sumptuous green mountain and the mirrored images on the lake are nonetheless breathtaking.

以下幾張照片是我用相機Dynamic功能拍的, 所以有點戲劇性效果
實際上也的確是有環山倒影, 只是照片讓它更明顯了
我自己看了照片都有點嚇一跳, 有點像網路上看過的九寨溝的照片呢
(好啦, 我沒去過九寨溝, 我相信實際上九寨溝更美)

這樣的景色對台灣人來講可能再稀鬆平常不過
但對住在鬧乾旱好多年的加州的我, 這樣一望無際的綠色可是非常難得呢

加州乾旱有多嚴重呢?政府現在推行一句話 “brown is the new green"
咖啡色才是流行!

湖畔旁的“花田村”也是一個偶像劇的景點
台灣真是到處都可以拍偶像劇…

我好喜歡這張照片, 趴在窗口的紅貴賓毛茸茸的好可愛
但其實我的眼光一直在“香噴噴豬油拌飯”的字樣上

湖的後方有個古色古香的房子, 我還以為什麼茶屋呢
走近一看竟是賣比薩的?!?!

兩張隨手拍的花也放上來
 
是說, 這次旅行讓我特別懷念起以前念大學住宿舍, 週末一群人去LV, Big Bear的時光
還有那些以前一起混的朋友們
有些搬到了世界的另一端, 有些消失在茫茫人海
剩下的雖然平時也聚會, 但總是匆匆忙忙
可以的話, 偶爾拋夫棄子(?) 跟朋友安排一下旅行吧~

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For more posts on Taiwan, click here -> http://ocgirl.net/category/taiwan101/

其他ocgirl住過的民宿:
[Santa Barbara] 住在愛麗絲夢遊仙境
[California/西班牙] 高第蓋的民宿? Emerald Iguana Inn
[愛爾蘭] 開心農場真實版 Lawcus Farm Guest House

 

 

 

3 Thoughts on “[Taiwan] Bed and Breakfast at Yilan 卡幄汀民宿

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