Our stay at Fleur de Chine Hotel was indeed "Other-Worldly". A near out-of-body experience. We had booked a Premier Lake View room (spectacular view of the lake), and opted for the package including the exclusive "Ciao Lounge". Those both turned out to be genius choices, which I would recommend, especially for couples on their own.
The room was spacious - not a suite, but 50% larger than the ordinary hotel room. The "in-room hot springs spa" was indeed unique - a built-in soaking tub, fed by the hot spring through an ordinary tub faucet, with some mixable cold water to suit your temperature preference. We used that every night after dinner.
We rode the High Speed Train from Taipei at 180 mph. Quite an experience, and the free shuttle bus to the hotel from the high-speed rail terminal worked out beautifully -- well signed and easy to find from directions inthe several emails we had received from the hotel. Ran right on time, both to and from the hotel. Nice bus and great service helping with luggage.
The staff couldn't have been more attentive -- my wife said, "We feel like rock stars". We were the only Americans, and, we believe, the only native English speakers on site, and they went far out of their way to help us with questions and translations.
In the Ciao Lounge, they recognized us on our second visit, and began reserving the same table for us after they saw what we liked. We had breakfast, afternoon snacks and dinner in the Lounge. We did have the option of going down to the restaurant for both breakfast and dinner, but after seeing a large crowd and huge buffet, we opted for what felt like our own private restaurant. Anything we asked for showed up -- things like salt/pepper (not traditionally on the table in many Tiawanese restaurants), grated parmesan for pasta, sparkling water (San Pellegrino), etc. We poured our own wine, which included 3 whites (a Chardonnay my wife liked) and 3 reds (a Super Tuscan I liked). The wines matched the Italian theme of the restaurant, although they had Asian offerings, as well. Not a huge menu - on the 3rd night I repeated a pasta dish I really liked on the first. A suprisingly good steak offering, as well. The portions weren't large, and I'm sure they would have supplemented if we felt there was not enough food. With an Appetizer/Soup/Salad plus main course and dessert we surely didn't go away hungry. Fresh fruit in our room each day, just in case.
Now, this place is a bit off the beaten path, a mile or so part way around the lake from the larger settlement around Suishe Pier, with stores, restaurants and nearly a dozen hotels. There are plenty of activities on site, several of which we didn't have time for in just a couple of days on the ground, and the staff is very helpful orchestrating off-site activities, as well. We did enjoy the indoor pools, including one hot spring fed pool. There's a ferry boat that runs across the lake to 3 different piers, and we walked the remarkable lakeside bikeway from the hotel to the Suishe pier -- about 1.5 miles (30-40 minutes). We had a Hot Pot lunch, then rode the ferry to all the stops and back to the pier, returning to the hotel on foot. Countless families of monkeys kept a watch on us from their perches on the railings. The road follows the same route, and taxis are available as an option. There's a taxi-hailing app, but we just counted on the hotel staff. Uber is spotty. Like a couple of other countries we've visited, it keeps popping encouraging words about finding drivers, but then none show up.
We wanted to see a tea plantation, and they recommended the HOHOCHA tea factory, about 3 miles away. Surrounded by a tea plantation, the tour was much like you'd get at a small winery, brewery or distillery. I had discovered a translator phone app from watching the hotel staff, and that really came in handy on the tea tour and shopping in the store. We enjoyed the tea tasting, and made a small souvenir purchase of our favorite tea and some cookies. The staff had arranged a taxi from the hotel to take us there, then come back in 2 hours to pick us up, and he was right on time. We had him take us back to the Wenwu Temple, which is only about 10-20 minutes on the bikeway from the hotel (opposite direction from Suishe Pier). After a visit to the temple, we made it on foot back to the hotel.
All-in-all, Fleur du Chine has a place in the top 5 hotels we've enjoyed in over 50 countries. A genuinely remarkable experience.
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