Mom of the girl
Wife on a business trip in Europe, always looking for activities to exhaust the kids’ energy, so she challenged herself to take all three kids camping alone. Actually, it’s not that hard, but the prerequisite is having good camping buddies, because I don’t have to worry about the kids having no one to play with or nothing to eat—I just need to take care of myself.
Every time I complain about my wife bringing too much stuff, but when it was my turn to take care of all three kids, I wanted to go light and simple, yet I was still afraid of forgetting something, so the car ended up packed full. After all, this time I had to prepare everything myself, whereas previously my wife would wrap things up.
But trying to night-rush and go camping on Friday evening meant first overcoming the transportation hurdle. After picking up the kids from after-school care, the highway on-ramp that usually takes less than 5 minutes ended up taking a full 30 minutes. Thankfully, it’s been a while since we went camping, so everyone remained in high spirits.
We arrived at the Hukou rest area at 8:30 p.m., quickly feeding the kids dinner there. From then on, I decided that if we’re doing a Friday night rush again, we should eat well in Taipei first, wait for traffic to clear, and then head out.
The restrooms on the highway are huge—late at night with few people, you can pick whichever toilet you want.
While waiting for our camping buddy Xi Pu and her family, we passed the time at the rest area.
This time’s campsite is Fei Niao Qia Qia, located in Hsinchu’s Wufeng area. Because the usual road to Wufeng was under repair, we had to detour via Neiwan.
Driving non-stop from Taipei takes nearly two hours. We arrived at the campsite around 10 p.m. that night. The moment we got out of the car, the little ones immediately ran off to play and disappeared. By the time I set up the tent and chased the kids to take a bath and sleep, it was already midnight.
The kids were asleep, and the adults finally started their late-night snack session. Ah Wii ate until he nearly fell asleep—he seemed pretty tired already. That night, we ended up staying up until 3 a.m.
Slept at 3 a.m. the previous night, but woke up at 6 a.m. the next day because a strong typhoon had just passed through southern Taiwan. Though it didn’t hit directly, the outer circulation brought super-strong winds to the northern mountains, including the Wufeng area—winds reached 7–8 on the Beaufort scale, testing whether everyone's tents were securely pitched and how wind-resistant each tent really was.
Fortunately, the night before, sensing something was off, I stayed up and secured all the tent pegs and ropes, letting the SNOW PEAK 671 show its ground-locking strength—we made it through safely. But the Coleman tent to my right wasn’t as lucky—three poles snapped.
Here’s a map of Fei Niao Qia Qia I pulled from the internet. Due to the typhoon, the entire campsite was actually not open at first, but after continuous communication and coordination, it was only confirmed at the last minute that we could go ahead this time. As a result, there were only our eight tents, but we had the whole campsite to ourselves. We mainly stayed in areas A1, A2, and A3 on the left side of the map.
The biggest advantage of our area is that if the tents are spaced properly, there’s even an open space where the kids can run around freely. The key point is that this area is right next to a stream, making it great for the kids to play in the water during summer. Plus, at an altitude of 860 meters, it’s about 5°C cooler than the plains, making it a great summer camping option.
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Going down the stairs between A3 and A2 leads you to the small stream. Since it’s mountain spring water, it’s very cool. Just on the day we were packing up, the sun was blazing and temperatures had risen, so it became the boys’ splash zone.
Of course, if it’s too cold for swimming, the clean stream also has plenty of little critters. Bring a net for the kids, and you can keep them entertained for an hour or two.
Another major highlight of this campsite is its ultra-luxurious bathroom facilities—it actually made me feel like I’d walked into a department store.
Hairdryers, body wash, shampoo—all provided.
The shower stalls are huge.
Unlike many campsites where the men’s urinals are just roughly enclosed, even the men’s toilets here are quite impressive.
But after all, it’s still in the wild—bugs joining you on the toilet is pretty normal.
With a one-against-three situation and no one to prepare food, I told our camping buddies before we left: “We’ve got no food, but we’ve got gratitude.”
Although the three kids kept asking me in the car, “Dad, are you really not buying anything? Won’t that be awkward?” I’m a man of my word—I said I wouldn’t buy, so I didn’t. Then I grabbed a bowl, ready to beg. This time, we set up the guest tent in A3.
Even though the three kids kept saying in the car that it’d feel bad to eat other people’s food, their mouths said one thing, but their bodies did another. Our camping buddies cooked up a storm, and the three kids ate like crazy. It’s kind of considerate, really—since everyone doesn’t want to bring leftover ingredients back home, bringing us camping is definitely the best way to finish off food.
Seeing the older and younger girls practicing judo, our camping buddy said they specially stewed chicken soup to help them recover.
The moment the kids said they were hungry, it was like ants climbing a tree.
One very important reason we dared to go without food so recklessly is that this time we also had Chef Frank with us—he brings enough ingredients for every sailor on an aircraft carrier.
Steak on the bone is the basic option.
Pizza.
Cheese sticks.
And then there’s this burnt... thing I can’t even identify, and so many more, too numerous to list.
But we’re not totally shameless either—after all, as a TV personality who makes a living with their mouth, we kept using our mouth while camping, directing the brother to eat his fill and then do the dishes.
We also directed the little girls to help peel and wash vegetables—after all, they’d eat it all later, so they better wash them clean.
And with camping, you either eat or move around; otherwise, you just zone out—that’s the boys’ activity: playing baseball, using my tent as home base, throwing the ball at it, running back to slide into home.
The Lockdown Beast survived the morning’s strong winds, and even the boys’ roughhousing in the afternoon—but I, who had only slept until 3 a.m. the previous night, wanted to catch up on sleep but kept getting woken up by the thud of the ball hitting the tent, so I had no choice but to get up and be a spectator.
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The girls’ group was much gentler, pulling up a sofa to sit in the front row, breaking into dance when the mood struck, playing the part of Lamigo Girls.
Or drawing pictures, singing songs—the girls are just adorable, staying quiet so I could lie comfortably nearby and nap.
Or acting as animal trainers—this photo has beasts, feeders, trainers, and spectators holding drinks.
As for the adults? They just sat there all day eating, drinking, and chatting nonsense—that’s the group with a high alcohol tolerance; even from morning to night, they still managed to stay alert. (Okay, fine—I admit, I was the best at dodging drinks.)
That’s the group with a low alcohol tolerance—no explanation needed.
After all, we had reserved eight tents for the whole site, so before leaving, we had to sort the trash properly.
Before leaving, as per tradition, we took a group photo—do you know how hard it is to get everyone to take a photo together?
Except for Hu Hu, who was busy with his own thing, Ah Niu showed some contortionist spirit and also spotted the camera.
Hu Hu started getting busy, Ah Niu kept staring at the lens, Long Long also noticed the highlight, the little girl kept sitting and sleeping, and no adults paid attention to me.
Fine, if there’s no perfect group shot, let’s use this one as the group photo instead.
[Mom Niu LISA LI X Dad 169 Sharing Love] Authorized reprint | Original source: [Camping #9, One vs. Three in Hsinchu’s Wufeng Birdie Cha-Cha]