strawberries picking - Miaoli

We went on a nice group trip in early March to Miaoli county, strawberry fields. Luckily, after a week of constant rain, the sun was out and on Saturday morning we were ready to go.

This was the first time we traveled with a guide and group. We met our grouping the morning at 7:30 sharp, and nobody was late! In no time all 16 of us were on the bus and ready to go.

On our way, we learned that strawberry season is quite short, only 3-4 months, from Mid December to Mid April. As soon as we reached the area, we could smell the sweet strawberries in the air, and see strawberry fields stretch everywhere. The fields are not big and are located on the hillsides of the mountains, as well as on every flat surface, including high up in the mountain.

We started with a two hours steep track up the mountain and both Ron and Gil were happy to lead the group. It started off as a paved comfortable uphill path but turned out to be quite difficult. At one point, half the group decided to go back and enjoy the lovely view and good weather, while the rest of us, all of Gordon family included, have decided to continue. Soon, the trail became very steep and we had to find our way between the bamboo shoots. Both our children were quite happy to be up front, and kept waiting for us… After we had our snacks on top, the way back was easier and much faster…

From there, we headed to a nice restaurant located on the edge of a lake, which was formed in the 1999 earth quake. It is hard to believe that there used to be roads and houses where there is now just calm water. The restaurants over looks beautiful view and we enjoyed ice food and tea.

After and hour of piece and quite, we were ready to head to our B&B. There are many B&B and hotels in the area, many of them have hot springs. We stayed in a very nice Japanese style B&B, in Dahu city, which was reasonably priced and had great view of the mountain and river.

In the evening, we had our dinner at a local restaurant, most of the dishes containing strawberries.

The following morning we went strawberries picking. The kids just loved it. They each got a basket and special scissors and went to work. We came back with many strawberries… before leaving Dahu, we went to visit the local shops, bought some souvenirs, and tried new things like strawberry sausage, strawberry popcorn etc.