Day trip to Nantou: Xitou Forest & Monster Village

Hi friends! We’ve been a little MIA on our blog since we are still traveling in Asia! However, we had to hop back on to blog about our day trip to Nantou over the weekend! It was a much needed getaway up the mountain to find some zen in Xitou Forest Nature Park. Here are some pictures of the beautiful scenery!

Xitou Forest Nature Park!
Found a hammock in the woods!
Felt like we were in a Twilight movie HEHEH
We chose the longest route to the Ancient Giant Tree, unfortunately, we found that the tree had fallen due to a recent typhoon.
Taiwanese sausages are the BEST mid-hike snack! There’s a little restaurant next to the Ancient Giant Tree where you can take a break for food and drinks!
Cute egg plants at the restaurant 
Bamboo forest!
Our baby cousin, Olivia, getting lost in the woods!
The path to Rainbow Bridge
Rainbow Bridge
The forest is SO lush and so green!
 

After we hiked back down, we went to Monster Village 妖怪村 right next to the entrance of the Xitou Forest. It was so much fun exploring around this little village filled with cute monsters, amazing food, and souvenir shops. Must go when you’re around central Taiwan! Until then, enjoy our photos here!

“A Japanese style village built in 2011, Xitou Monster Village (溪頭怪物村 or 松林町) attracts more than 200,000 tourists a month. A torii, a traditional Japanese gate most often found within a Shinto shrine, stands at the entrance of the village, symbolically marking the transition from the profane to the sacred. Cute Japanese monster statues are all over this small village and red lanterns hang on the eaves, making it a brilliant place for photography. Restaurants and souvenir shops are named after different kind of Japanese monsters.” (Round Taiwan Round)

Monster Post

Cute little souvenir shop
Battle of the monsters
Monster sake shot glasses! Chinese readers- isn’t the message so funny? Hahahaha
The monsters are out to play!!
Yummy monster pastries
Restaurant decorations on point
Love these little Japanese fishies
Red lanterns line the village shops
The cutest entrance to monster village!
Monster drinks
Sake monster
Found a restaurant with both our parents’ last names! Yen + Wang
Monster sitting on the rooftop
Scary skeletal monsters drinking on top of the bar
Elisa’s absolute FAVORITE egg cake snack 雞蛋糕 in the shapes of monsters
Giant monster 雞蛋糕
The best ice cream we’ve ever had!! Matcha + Charcoal!! It’s bamboo charcoal, which gave the ice cream a super fresh and crisp taste! It felt like the healthiest thing we ate all day since it didn’t have that fatty ice cream taste! Hehe
Until next time matcha + charcoal ice cream!

xox Eve