Plitvice Lakes National Park

There are two entrances in the park, the main entrance on Plitvička Jezera and the secondary entrance at Velika Poljana. Buses from Zagreb stop at the main entrance that accomadates souvenir shops, resaurants, etc. Buses from Zadar stop at a wooden bus shelter and a skywalk that leads into the forest where 3 hotels and the secondary entrance of the park is located.

The path from the secondary entrance leads to the largest lake, KoZjak Lake,  and forms a boundary between the upper and lower lakes. The upper lakes are seperated by dolomite barriers, surrounded by dense forests and interlinked by several gushing waterfalls. The lowers lakes were formed by cavities created by the water of the upper lakes. Most of the water comes from the Bijela and Crna rivers and pool in the Proscansko Lake. There are 16 lakes in the park, all connected by well designed wooden walkways and trails.


View Plitvice Lakes National Park in a larger map



Useful info
Bus timetable:
To get in: seach timetable with autobusni kolodvor, the station of the Plitvice Lakes National Park is Plitvička Jezera. Another searchable timetable is Liburnija Zadar, if you are departing from Zadar (Croatian only). There are discrepancies from two search engines, it is highly recommended to re-confirm the bus schedules with the bus stations. To get out: If the bus is not full, it will take on more people. Bus schedules are posted at information stations near both entrances to the park.

Ticket: if you are staying in one of the hotels in the park, buy a one day ticket and have your hotel stamp on it that will give you unlimited access to the park and all transportation in the park during your stay.

There are many routes in the park (maps) and all are well-marked. You can choose one that fits your schedule and an easy way to see all the lakes and waterfalls is to take a shuttle bus to Okrugljak Lake at the top (St4) and then walk down (red line). Take a boat at P2 to P3 (green line) and then red line to St1. Take a shuttle bus back to St2 where the hotels are located. (Google map above)

Plitvice Lakes National Park official website: http://www.np-plitvicka-jezera.hr/eng/index.php

Zadar

I thought my hotel was located in the old town of Zadar which is about 20 min walking distance, 1.6km, from the main bus station. After 15 minutes walking on the sidewalk with cars driving by fast from both directions, I still couldn't see a sign that looked old enough to me. It was a view you would see in any modern city: big roads with lots of cars, high-end boutique shops, tall buildings with opaque picture windows, etc. I couldn't help wonder did I choose the wrong direction again? I stopped in a photo shop to ask for the direction to my hotel and she looked at me like I was a lunatic. "You should take a bus, No. 5, and of course you could always walk if you insist, but it would take at least 30 minutes" she said. A trip in Croatia made me realized that my sense of direction was not as good as I thought it was, so I bought a ticket from her and got on the bus not knowing of which stop to get off. It was my lucky day, I got off the bus by instinct and there it was, Hotel Donat, situated on the grounds of the Falkensteiner Hotels & Resorts Borik, nestled in a large park with pine trees and a pebble beach next to the Adriatic sea.

I got only two days to come out with an itinerary and to get all my hotel bookings done before I could send my application for the Croatia visa (read here), so I picked my hotels by scanning through the prices, internet critics and their locations on the google map. I didn't pay attention to  the details of my bookings so when I was told that 3 buffet meals and drinks from the pool bar were included in the room rate (euro$ 81), I was happy even after I finally realized that the hotel was 4 km away from the old town, 6 km from the main bus station. It was a beautiful sunny day and Zadar was my last chance to dip in the Adriatic ocean, I spent the whole afternoon getting suntan while drinking refreshing cool drinks from the pool bar.

The compact old town of Zadar is overshadowed by the surrounding modern architecture. Even in the old town what attracts people the most is the world famous high tech designs, the sea organ and sun salutation, and clubs/bars run by UB40's producer Nick Colgan and drummer James Brown. When St Donat's church (one of the best preserved pre-Romanesque buildings in the world) is no longer in use for religious ceremonies together with the Roman Forum next to it becomes a theme background of an outdoor cafe shop, it is the Venetian lion on the town gate that tells the fading histories of the city while cars drive through it.




Useful info:
Take bus No. 2 or 4 from the main bus station to the old town of Zadar. A bus ticket in one direction costs 8 kuna while a two way ticket costs 13 kuna. Two way tickets are only available for purchase at Kiosks.
 
Local bus routes: http://www.liburnija-zadar.hr/kolodvor/flash_gradski.php
Intercity bus routes: http://www.liburnija-zadar.hr/prijevoz/flash_hrvatska.php
Searchable timetable (Craotain only): http://www.liburnija-zadar.hr/kolodvor/raspored_linija.php

Sibenik & Krka National Park

Saying goodbye to Trogir, I went north to visit the Krka National Park. Located in Šibenik-Knin county, central Dalmatia, it is just about 15 kilometers away from the city of Sibenik. There are 7 daily buses that commute between Sibenik and Skradin via Lozovac (2010 timetable, intercity line, ŠIBENIK - SLAPOVI KRKE - SKRADIN). Departing from Sibenik bus station, the bus drops you outside Skradin's old town. You can pay the park admission fee at either Lozovac or Skradin entrance; the price includes a bus (from Lozovac entrance) or boat (from Skradin entrance) ride to Skradinski Buk where the walking trail starts.

I wanted to take a boat ride to Skradinski buk so I bought a ticket to Skradin. Somehow the idea that Lozovac entrance was further than Skradin stuck in my mind (maybe because Lozovac is located at the upstream of the national park?) so when I saw the first parking space of the Krka national park and all the "touristy looking" people seemed to be all getting off the bus at this stop, I was confident that I must have arrived at the Skradin entrance. I bought a ticket and was ready for the boat ride even though I couldn't see a boat. I asked the staff where could I take the boat and she told me the shuttle bus would take me there. The shuttle bus stopped in front of an information/ticket booth and the staff came out selling tickets for the boat excursion, I was totally confused, the boat ride should be included in the admission no? It wasn't until I saw the boat docking by the river bank at the other information booth at the other end of the trail that I realized I got off the bus too early and I took the Lozovac entrance instead of Skradin.

The Skradinski Buk is the longest and the loveliest waterfall on the Krka river. Wooden trails built on water take you deep into the flourishing forest making a close contact with waterfalls possible. In fact, at the bottom of the Skradinski Buk you can swim in the icey cold water with the most magnificent waterfalls in the area as background. I saw a man climb up the cliff and dove into the water; girls in bikini posed for photoshoots; babies happily tapped water in fathers arms on shore; seagulls waited by the falls for fish; a snake submerged into the water luring fish to take the bait.., it was paradise for everyone.

It takes about 2 hours to circumnavigate the Skradinski Buk (if you only stay on land) and that's just a small propotion that the Krka National Park has to offer. A boat excursion to Visovac Island, Roski slap, the Krka monastery and the Early Croatian fortresses of Trosenj and Necven is also availabe with extra price 50-130kn based on the journey you pick. Details refer to the google map and the official Krka National Park website below.


View Krka National Park in a larger map

Sibenik is often overlooked by tourists and served as a pitstop enroute to the Krka National Park. Churches and monasteries, stone houses and mansions, all are ornamented by portals and heraldic crests, Sibenik is one of the 7 UNESCO Heritage sites in Croatia and the highlight, Cathedral of St James, was constructed entirely of stone and is reputed to be the world's largest church built completely of stone without brick or wood supports. Well, after exploring the city of Dubrovnik, Split and Trogir, Sibenik seemed a bit plain at first glance. I got back to Sibenik from Lozovac and waited under eaves of the public library to open for internet access (opened at 18:00; 10kn for 2 hours) while pouring rain hit. An hour later, the rain stopped, I walked out of the library and it seemed that the historical city came back to life with the touch of golden rays from the sky, like a miracle. Jugglers and a mini circus were busy entertaining the crowds whereas a ballet was staged in between the town hall and the cathedral of St James. It was the trademark of Sibenik, International Children's Festival, that has been held during the last week of June and the first week of July annually for the past 40 years. I bought a popcorn and sat on the stone road with crowds enjoying a "mosquito movie*" in Hrvatska, even though I didn't understand what they were saying in the movie, I laughed like a kid.



Useful info
Sibenik buses timetable: http://www.atpsi.hr/index-eng.asp
Krka National Park: http://www.npkrka.hr/#/pocetna/?lang=eng&p=
Sibenik time: http://www.sibenik-times.com/ 
Explore Sibenik :http://www.sibenik-tourism.hr/eng/
Grad Sibenik: http://www.sibenik.hr/index-eng.asp
Tourist board: http://www.sibenikregion.com/en.html

* In Taiwan, a mosquito movie is a humourous term for an outdoor projection at special occasions like a local temple ceremony where people tend to get bitten.

Split & Trogir

A boat ride from Dubrovnik to Split not only saved me from a time consuming passport check at the border of Bosnia but also gave me a chance to stop by Korcula and Hvar islands en route to Split. After eight and a half hours sailing on the Adriatic, I arrived at Split around 18:30 which was still not too late to find my accommodation for the night. On the Lonely Planet map of Split, the Diocletian Palace is a walled city but in reality the buildings are either built over the walls or the walls are gone, either way I couldn't find the walls and ended up walking much farther then I should have. An orchestra rehearsal in the Trg Republike caught my attention, I walked in the square and seeing the Hotel Bellevue made me realize how far I was away from the "used to be" walled palace, and I finally navigated myself back to the B&B Kastel 1700.

I couldn't find any restaurants that were recommended by the hotel staff, so I went to one of the restaurants listed in Lonely Planet to challenge their language skills as in the book it stated: Sperun, is a favourite among the foreigners possibly because the waiters seem to speak every language under the sun. Well, it had proven that Mandarin is still one of the tough languages to master even for waiters who seem to speak every language under the sun. And the secret of its popularity among foreigners in this restaurant was, my personal feeling, good hospitality: the chef moved among the customers and a free bottle of water service made this a cozy restaurant.

From a postcard of the old Diocletian Palace, the city was divided into 4 quarters by two straight roads crossing in the center of the city. Each wall has a gate named after metals: gold, bronze, silver and iron for north, south, east and west gates, respectively. From the eastern to western gates, a straight road, Kredimirova, separates  the imperial on the southern side from the northern side that was used by soldiers and servants as living quarters. Today, the definition of the old city walls are lost in buildings; bars, shops, restaurants and local residents mix with historical sites, museums and cathedrals. A few turns in the labyrinthine streets in Diocletian Palace, I couldn't tell which direction was north, so I put maps away and just followed my heart then I heard acapella singing from the Vestibule. Like a miniature Pantheon in Rome, the echo in the Vestibule creates the best stereo system for such an enchanting acapella performance.



I loved Trogir at first sight. Trogir is a small island about 30km north from Split, it is connected to the mainland and Ciovo island by 2 bridges on each side creating a 360 degree natural canal that surrounds the island. Unlike Split, it is much quieter and relaxing. Luxury yatchs docked at the trogirshi channel, sitting on a bench by a wide seaside promenade that hosts bars and restaurants, I watched the crowd flow in the sunset. It was so peaceful that I was startled by occational loud exclamations coming from the soccer fans in restaurants behind me. If you ever go to Croatia, you must stop in Trogir, it is a gem.



Useful information:
All public transportations, train, bus and ferry, are next to the Split harbor that is about 300 meters away from the Diocletain Palace.

Split Card is available at the tourist office in the Diocletian palace. 36KN/5Euro for one card and it is valid for 72 hours; the best part is if you are staying in Split for 3 days you can get it for free! The card gives you free access to most of the city museums, half price discounts to many galleries and tons of discounts on car rental, restaurants, shops and hotels. (Details at : http://www.visitsplit.com/15145/split-card/)

Diocletian' Palace Map: Inside;  outside

Trogir online: http://www.trogir-online.com/index.asp

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Walking in the old city of Dubrovnik with gelato and Venitian-mask shops on both sides of the Stradun, I had the illusion of being in Venezia, Italy. The broad straight Sradun brought me back to reality but I got lost again in the intoxicating blue Adriatic ocean, felt that I was on an island of Greece. Is the fusion atmosphere of Italy and Greece the secret of Dubrovnik that attracts millions of people every year? I had to slow down my pace as the stone road of Stradun was slippery smooth, a result of years of polishing by tourists, and that's just as well, I could gain a better control of my agitated heart and appreciate the pearl of the Adriatic, slowly.

From the bustling main street that hosts most of the tourist sights: the most famous landmark of Dubrovnik is the Onofrio fountain and next to it the third oldest functioning pharmacy in Europe, is in the Franciscan Monastery & Museum and the medieval knight sculpture at Luza Square that used to be the official linear measure of the Republic, etc; to alleys where restaurants and bars set tables in and locals hang out their laundry to dry overhead,  they all blend in naturally.

A walk on the old city walls and forts perfects the tour in Dubrovnik. From above, a stupendous panoramic view of the city unfolds, on one side the walled city and on the other the ocean and all its activities. I saw a labrador swiming in the blue Adriatic and it puzzled me that in the land of Dalmatia I hadn't seen a single Dalmatian? (but I did see cats everywhere). Walking on the walls that were built in the 13th century, I imagined soldiers patrolling the fortifications and then I saw two men dressed in traditional costumes guarding the drawbridge at Pile gate, one of only two entrances to the old city, the other being Ploce gate, a reminder that the drawbridges were once actually raised every evening, the gates closed and the keys handed to the prince as the golden hues of sunset colored Dubrovnik at dusk.

As I waited to take some sunset pictures, I noticed a wedding party in the courtyard of the excelsior hotel. Summer in Dubrovnik it seems is wedding season, and love is in the air all around. Jubilant revelers drive back and forth honking their horns, it seems from every direction, mixed in with some soccer fans, whose team has just won their match at the world cup. It's definately party time in Dubrovnik and the city is alive with joy and celebration in this summer holiday season.
 
Photosynth of Onofrio fountain

Panorama of old city harbor

Panorama of old city walls

Panorama of new harbor

Dubrovnik photostream


Useful info:
Transportation:
From/to airport:
Atlas shuttle buses (35KN/5Euro/person) (tel: (020) 442 222; www.atlas-croatia.com) depart for Dubrovnik after the arrival of every regular incoming flight.

Around Dubrovnik:
Dubrovnik's buses run in the city as well as to suburban areas such as Cavtat. You can buy the city bus tickets from the driver directly, 10KN, or from any tisak (kiosk) for 8KN. The ticket is valid for all local bus lines within an hour after validating it in the yellow box on a bus. The time table of the bus can be found on the company, Libertas Dubrovnik, website: http://www.libertasdubrovnik.hr/. Bus map of the city: http://www.libertasdubrovnik.com/gradska.swf

Dubrovnik City Card:
The card is on sale at all cultural institutions in the city of Dubrovnik and all of the information office of tourist boards. Facilities included in this offer are the Maritime Museum, Natural History Museum, House of the Marin and the Dubrovnik City Walls, Art Gallery Dubrovnik, Cultural and Historical Museum, Rupe Ethnographic Museum and Gallery Dulicic-Masle-Pulitika.
Daily Card, 130KN, includes free entrance to 8 cultural institutions and 24h public trasport rides
Weekly card, 220KN, includes free entrance to 8 cultural institutions and 20 public trasport rides

Websites:
The Dubrovnik times
Dubrovnik wikitravel
Offical tourist office

Croatia

Years ago, a similar photo was attached in an email and it claimed that the photo of such natural wonder was shot in Nantou township, Taiwan. The email was forwarded rampantly, almost everyone in Taiwan was looking for this dream world that had never been found. After a few months of searching in vain, a media found out that the photo was actually taken in Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia, and that's how Taiwanese got to know this country: the country of origin of the Dalmatian; Marco Polo might be a Croatian who was born on Korcula island (ref 1); the origin of the tie is actually an accessory of Croatian military frontier and the fact that there are 7 UNESCO heritages (historical complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian (1979), old city of Dubrovnik (1979), Plitvice Lakes National Park (1979), Episcopal Complex of the Euphrasian Basilica in the historic centre of Poreč (1997), historic city of Trogir (1997), the Cathedral of St. Jacob in Šibenik (2000) and the Stari Grad Plain in the island of Hvar (2008)) in a land of 1.5 times bigger than Taiwan in size.

One day in April, I got a note from my boss who asked me to paticipate in a hepatocellular carcimona conference that would be held in June in Dubrovnik, Croatia. I registered for the conference and booked the flights immediately, just in case my boss regreted it or something.  One month before my departure, I called my travel agency to remind them that it's about time to prepare visa application and that's when we all realized another common mis-understanding we had about this country: Croatia is a member of the EU.

Croatia applied for European Union membership in 2003, and the European Commission recommended making it an official candidate in early 2004. Candidate country status was granted to Croatia by the European Council in mid-2004. The entry negotiations, while originally set for March 2005, began in October that year together with the screening process.
The accession process of Croatia was derailed several times due to the Irish rejection of the Treaty of Lisbon in a referendum, and then later by the insistence of Slovenia that the two countries' border issues are dealt with prior to Croatia's accession into the EU.

Quote from wikipedia

Dispite the fact that Croatia isn't a member of the EU yet, tourists from most countries don't need a visa to get in, even for people from China as long as they have a valid schengen visa, but that's not the case for Taiwanese (Visa requirements overview). There is no Croatian embassy in Taiwan. Mailing applications for a tourist visa used to work via Japan or Malaysia, isn't applicable anymore. I got 2 options: one was to transit via Vienna and apply for the visa at the embassy in Vienna city, the other option was to have a travel agency send my application to Beijing on my behalf. I couldn't afford the risk of not getting a visa for the conference after flying to Vienna, so I paid a travel agency NT$10,400 (about USD$330, the official price is USD$51) to send my application to Beijing. Four days before my departure (it took 24 days for me to get the visa), based on my itinerary, I finally got the visa that was valid only for 13 days.

Dispite the jarring experience in dealing with Customs (even the Customs officials had difficulty trying to find records of visas issued to Taiwan) I was very happy to meet locals on the street level who recognized that I was from Taiwan, not a provice of China nor a misspelling of "Tailand/Thailand". Maybe it's because we share a "similar" history of changing national status? Nice people, great histories and cultures, glamorous natural wonders, and intoxicating Adriatic ocean, traveling in Croatia was one of the best memories of my backpacking expeciences.

Every year more than 10 million visitors spend their annual holidays in Croatia (the national population of Croatia is about 4.5 million), most of them are German and Italian. In the Asian tourist polulation, Japan definately is the number one of the list. Running into a Japanese tourist group seems inevitable while traveling in Croatia, I got kids greeting to me with "ko ni ji wa" at least 3 times a day. I had a stereotype that western countries were more civilized with etiquettes for scenes such as people who don't line up for a bus or who fight for a spot to take pictures, as this takes place in Asia. Traveling in Croatia, I had the deja vu feeling of being in China. People from every direction swarmed the bus stop, regardless of if there were lines of people waiting when a bus approached; stepping on someone's toes in order to take a photo... then I realized civilization and etiquette go out the window while people are on vacation that applies to all mankind.

Even though I only planned my itinerary in 2 days, it covers 5 out of 7 UNESCO heritages in Croatia and most of the sightseeing hot spots; here are my footsteps: 

• 4 days in Dubrovnik: conference and old city sightseeing 
• Ferry to Split via Korcula island and Hvar island (Jadrolinija)
• 1 day in Split: historical complex with the Palace of Diocletian
• 1 day in Trogir: historic city and the Cathedral of St Lovro
• 1 day in Sibenik: the Cathedral of St. Jacob and Krka National Park
• 1 day in Zadar: historic city and sea organ and sun salutation
• 3 days in Plitvice Lakes National Park
• 2 days in Zagreb: upper-town sightseeing and markets

View Croatia in a larger map

Useful websites:
Croatia National Tourist Board, the offical tourist website of Croatia
Wikitravel of Croatia, general info about traveling in Croatia
Croatia traveller,  a former lonely planet author of Croatia
Visit Croatia, a travel guide
Find-Croatia, lots info such as bus map...
Croatia Homepage, hundreds of links to everything you want to know about Croatia
Balkanology, good info on travel in Croatia and southeast Europe
Adriatica. net, allows you to book lighthouses all along the coast
Autotrans, public transportation timetables
Autobusni kolodvor,  Bue lines and routes, timetables...
Hotel Accommodation,  a meta-search engine that works very well with searches and compares prices from most of the hotel booking systems.

Ma-Kau Ecological Park

The Ma-Kau Ecological Park is composed of Cilan Forest Recreation Area, MinChih Forest Recreation Area and Giant Tree Garden. Originally, it was operated by the Veterans Affairs Commission; in April 2005, the ecological park was entrusted to the Coconut Tree Co. under the ROT (Rent-Operate-Transfer or Rehabilitate-Operate-Transfer) agreetment. The park is named after a spice tree, May Chang (Litsea cubeba; Aromatic litsea), that can be found abundantly in Cilan mountain (Cilan, 棲蘭, means habitat of orchid ). May Chang is called "Mountain Pepper" in Mandarin and "Ma Kau" by the Atayal aborigines in Taiwan. "Ma Kau" is the symbol of prosperity in Atayal, as the result, the whole ecological park was named "Ma-Kau Ecological Pak" by the Coconut tree Co.

The Ministry of the Interior proposed to add Ma Kau Ecological Park in the national park list in 2003, but it is now still one of the national parks with undefined status due to protests by the local aborigines. The cover range of the national park was preliminarily planned to a total area of about 53,000 hectares, including Wulai township, Taipei County, about 8,700 hectares, DaTong township, Ilan County, about 21,000 hectares, FuXing township, Taoyuan County approximately 9,200 hectares and Jianshi township, Hsinchu County, 14,000 hectares.

MinChih Forest Recreation Area (明池國家森林遊樂區, NT$120, free for MinChih resort guests; opening hours: 08:00-17:00, Map) is located at 68KM landmark of the Beiheng highway (highway no7), 54KM east to Ilan City and 68.5KM west to Dasi township,Taoyuan County, a border of Ilan and Taoyuan County as the old name "ChihDuan" (meaning the end of a pond) indicated. It was renamed "MinChih" (meaning clear pond) by the Minister of Defence,Chiang Ching-kuo, in 1964. The pond is an artifical lake built on a high altitude natural marsh, 1050-1700 meters above sea level. The landscape design was adopted from the Yuan and Song Dynasties creating a garden in garden style. A few cypresses stand in the pond as pens, the pond itself represents an ink slab and the water is the ink with mists wafting on the the mountain like a water ink painting, the pond expresses the beauty of Chinese calligraphy. A trail with low white walls on both sides leads to a garden in the garden, a roofed wall that seperates the garden into half, on one side is a landscape with waterfalls, ponds in a greenish cypress forest; on the other side, the ground of the courtyard is covered with white cobblestones. The deliberate broom marks on the ground creates an illusion of water marks on a pond, very Zen atmosphere, a great meditation room. Using water bouncing back into a jar that is berried underground creates echos that sound like piano notes is part of a re-creation of Japanese Tea Ceremony.

The Giant Tree Garden is in the Cilan mountains, located on road No100 in Datong township, Ilan County, 21 Km to MinChih Forest Recreation Area, 26Km to Cilan Forest Recreation Area. It's the most dense redwood plantation left in Taiwan. Even thought it was opened to the public in 1991, the area is still a restricted area that alllows a maxium 720 visitors per day. To visit, one has to make a reservation with the Coconut Tree Co. (Tel: 02-2507-1339, Fax: 02-2507-3826, email: dvt@yeze.com.tw details below). There are 62 cypresses in the area over than 400 years old and 51 of them were nicknamed after some celebrities in Chinese history according to the year they were born. Trails in the area are 3.1km in total, can be devided into 2 parts, 1.2km of easy walking for about 26 tree sighting and 2.3km for all tree sighting.

This is one trip that I could easily recommend for anyone who would like to enjoy the incredible beauty of these majestic trees.

Booking the trip
Online booking:
Departing form MinChih or Cilan resort
Departing from Taipei Registration: 07:45 at Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, MRT exit 4; departs at 08:00 to MinChih Forest Recreation Area, Giant Tree Garden, returns to Taipei around 20:30.

Telephone booking: 02-2507-1339

Time Table:started on Jan. 20, 2010

Departing from Cilan resort		Departing from MinChih resort
Departing	Content	Departing	Content
07：50	Arrival 08：50 Tour finish 11：20 Meal for 30min Departing for Cilan resort 12：10 Arrival at Cilan resort 13：10	07：30	Arrival 08：30 Tour finish 10：50 meal for 30min Departing for MinChih resort 11：30 Arrival at MinChih resort 12：30
10：30	Arrival 11：30 Tour finish 14：00 Meal for 30 min Departing for Cilan resort 14：50 Arrival at Cilan resort 15：50	10：15	Arrival 11：15 Tour finish 13：45 Meal for 30min Departing for MinChih resort 14：20 Arrival at MinChih resort 15：20
13：20	Arrival 14：20 Tour finish 16：50 Departing for Cilan resort 17：00 Arrival at Cilan resort 18：00	13：00	Arival 14：00 Tour finish 16：20 Departing for MinChih resort 16：30 Arrival at MinChih resort 17：30

Price:

1. For resort guests: adult, NT$600/person, 3-12 years old child: NT$450/person, child under 3 years old: NT$100/person.
2. For non guests: adult, NT$800/person, 3-12 years old child: NT$550/person, child under 3 years old: NT$100/person.
3. One day trip from Taipei: adult, NT$1290/person on weekdays, NT$1490/person on weekend,  3-12 years old child: NT$990/person, child under 3 years old: NT$100/person. The price includes transportation, entrance fees, lunch at MinChih resort, guide and insurance.
4. Shuttle bus service NT$600/person; route: 08:00 Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, MRT exit 4 Taipei; 09:00 Ilan Train Station, 09:50 Cilan Forest Recreation Area, 11:00 MinChih Forest Recreation Area; 13:30 MinChih Forest Recreation Area, 14:30 Cilan Forest Recreation Area, 17:00 Ilan Train Station, 18:00 Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, MRT exit 4 Taipei.