My journey to Taiwan was almost a year ago but i can vividly recollect the time i spent there, especially my chanced encounter with an apiary at Cingjing.
I was so obsessed with the honey and pollen i brought back to Singapore; i had to find some way to have a taste of them again when my supply dried up within a month upon return!
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Being trigger happy when it comes to photo taking can be extremely helpful and i can quote an example here; not knowing how to contact the apiary, i started looking through the photographs i took in Taiwan and voila, here's a picture that showed clearly the website (in Chinese by the way)!
It didn't take me long to add the contact person on "Line" and i started checking on the possibility to buy the honey and pollen and courier them 3,094 kilometers to Singapore! Like many people who are not well off, i am of course worried i would be scammed out of my hard earned money!
But the pulling temptation of having the possibility of tasting the honey again proved to be too strong and i requested for two sets (one set is shown in the above picture); eventually topped up to five sets to save on shipping costs!
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By the way, the more you buy, the more discounts you receive! The only problem i faced in this transnational transaction is that i have to transfer the money over telegraphic transfer and there is usually a service fee of at least S$20 (5% of my cost if my total purchase is S$400)!
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The package was sent out on the 13th and i received it on 19th! Woah, i sure was ecstatic especially when the person i liaised with mentioned it might take from one to two weeks!
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Despite wanting to tear everything apart so that i can finally quench the ridiculous thirst for honey + pollen, a stock count was still necessary to ensure everything was in order.
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Darn my luck - short of two bottles of pollen! I am usually non confrontational and would normally swallow the loss. However, i am buying on behalf of friends and it would not be nice to deprive them of their goods (no, i am not giving up MY pollen)! Haha. Anyway, i contacted the person again.
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He was, thankfully, extremely apologetic (Taiwanese are such nice people) and sent out the "missing" bottles the very next day! He added "there is a small gift inside for you too". Ten days later, i collected the parcel from POPStation!
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Happy! Are you curious to know what the gift is?
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A small bottle of Longan Honey! It may not be much but it was still a nice gesture! Would i order again? Definitely!!! Now, a question for everyone: does honey have an expiry date?!?
Answer: Raw honey doesn't although raw honey would ferment upon contact with water; resulting in a breakdown of protein that would make honey turns bad! In food regulations around the world, it is also a must to have an expiry date.
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Website of the Apiary
Facebook Page
Basic Price (Doesn't Include Courier Charges)
Honey (2800 grams) - NT$900
Pollen (350 grams) - NT$700
Challenges
A few which i thought i should share here.
As you can probably deduce by now, all communications were in Chinese and even the website isn't non-Chinese friendly. For non-Chinese reading individuals, please get a person who is proficient in Chinese to help you with the orders.
Another frustrating problem i faced was of course the limited payment mode; in this case, only telegraphic transfer. I would have preferred to pay via paypal or credit card anytime!