Here are a handful of photographs from our family’s trip to Nantou County’s Xinyi Township [信義鄉] to see plum blossoms [梅花]. We’ve visited several times and it gets more and more popular every year. We saw a parking spot while inching up the mountain towards Fengguidou [風櫃斗] but opted to continue driving to the Liujia Plum Farm [柳家梅園] down the mountain instead. That turned out to be an even bigger parking nightmare so I decided we should park beyond the farm so getting out would be easier. We ended up parking in Xinxiang Village [新鄉村] which according to one resident was an hour walk from the Liujia Plum Farm. We only walked for about fifteen minutes before finding a beautiful and nearly deserted patch of hillside covered in plum trees.

We hung out on the hillside, watched the traffic crawl below, and chatted with the three other visitors of this area for about an hour before walking back to Xinxiang Village for lunch.

After a simple lunch we hopped back in the car and stopped on our way to Provincial HWY 21 at another nearly deserted hillside covered in plum trees. Took a few more pictures and let the children tire themselves out before the car ride back home.

After my wife shared her photos of our trip on Facebook most of her friends were curious about Nathan’s pink Snow White hoodie. Unfortunately on the way up the mountain our son got car sick and lost most of his breakfast on his sweatshirt so upon stopping the car he changed into his sister’s.

Getting There:

Directions: Follow Provincial HWY 21 towards Xinyi Township. Between Xinyi Elementary School and Xinyi Junior High School is a small sign pointing the way to Fengguidou [Mingde Street (明德街)]. A short distance after crossing Aiguo Bridge [愛國大橋] follow the winding Xinhe Industrial Road [信和產業道路] to Fengguidou. To reach the Liujia Plum Farm, continue about 5 kilometers past Fengguidou and turn left at Niuchoukeng Forest Road [牛稠坑林道]. Depending on the weather, the blossoms usually last from the beginning of the year through the Lunar New Year. If you are visiting during the peak bloom be prepared for a lot of traffic so leave early especially if visiting on a weekend.

Fenguidou and Liujia on Google Maps.

Previous Visits:

Plum Blossoms in Xinyi Township [2014] – Some really nice macro pics in this batch shot with my 105 f/4 macro lens. I didn’t use it on this year’s trip because manual focus is too difficult while holding children.

The Plum Blossoms of Fengguidou [2012] – Fresh Pressed on WordPress.com!

The Plum Blossoms of Liujia [2012] – A little early, most of the trees were bare.

The Plum Blossoms of Fengguidou [2008] – From seven years ago, click just to see how gracefully I’ve aged!