Rosa Hill. A hill full of roses. Is there such a place in Taiwan? When it comes to beautiful flowers with thorns, the annual Rose Garden Show of the Shilin Official Residence comes into my mind. The only problem with that blossom festival in Shilin is that it happens every spring and they are completely gone even before the temperatures rise up for the summer season. Here in Yunlin, you don't have to wait for the arrival of spring to see a place full of roses. You can always find them at the foot of the hills in Gukeng, in a European-style garden all year long.
Travel Buddy Bebo took me to this tourist attraction with the help of her scooter. From the Green Tunnel and honey bee museum, we traversed the highway leading to the mountainous region of Yunlin. As we got closer to our destination, I noticed a giant Ferris wheel that suddenly appeared in my field of view. Janfusan Fancyworld! I had been dreaming to visit that theme park someday.
Both the Janfusan Fancy World and the Rosa Hill is served by the Taiwan Tour Bus Douliu Gukeng Route. So you don't need to come here with a car nor a taxi. It only happens that my Travel Buddy lives here on Yunlin and she knows every corner of her hometown.
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| Travel Buddy Bebo talking to the staff at the Information Center |
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| Sunny, our the tour guide |
Arriving at the tourist spot, I quickly noticed the pink building with a triangular roof. It’s the Information Center of Rosa Hill. Through the help of Travel Buddy Bebo, she talked to one lady there named Sunny and she became our English tour guide throughout the trip.
Sunny took us first to the garden with a lawn designed like a checkerboard. At least 500 varieties of roses can be found here varying in the appearance and sizes of the petals including the height of the plant. What's more interesting is that the higher the height of the rose plant is, the pricier it will be.
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| To the greenhouse |
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| tiny roses |
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| sakura rose |
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| sakura rose plant |
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| They also have a weird gumamela. If this is really gumamela. Haha! |
We then went to the greenhouse. It's an indoor garden with bizarre types of roses. Have you ever seen flower buds that are even smaller than a ten Taiwan dollar coin? How about roses that change color depending on the season? My most favorite was the sakura rose which is said to originate from Japan. Almost white but with shades of pink, it looks like a multi-petal cherry blossom with its stamens very visible at its center.
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| Extraction of essential oils from roses means doing a chemistry experiment. |
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| The Rosa Shop is connected to the greenhouse. |
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| Travel Buddy Bebo and Sunny taking a look at the different kinds of shampoos in the shop. |
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| Different kinds of shampoo are available for everyone. |
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| There are also body soaps! |
Rosa Hill is not just your typical garden. It's also a factory museum. In the greenhouse, you can see the experimental setup on how the essential oils of roses are extracted. The chemicals obtained from the flowers are then processed and mixed with the body soaps and shampoos that you can buy in the shop. Do you have a sensitive or dry skin? No problem! The store has everything that suits your needs.
After taking more pictures of the place, Travel Buddy Bebo and I rode the scooter again to get to our next destination. From Yunlin's secret rose garden, we are going to visit a hidden paradise. (To be continued...)
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