[TRAVEL] Splendid Taipei Series: Day 3

Ahhh the last day of our Taipei holiday, guess it’s bound to end some time. This time I will be writing up the blog post and Bex will take care of the video hopefully I’d be able to relay to you what happened as good as Bex did in the last 2 Taipei series. So shall we begin?

The first agenda for our Day 3 is to go to the much raved about Taipei Zoo which I am thoroughly excited about because I’ve never been to one before. 28 years on Earth and I’ve only recently stepped foot inside a zoo!

To get to there we have to take two train rides, one is specifically for Taipei Zoo and because we went on Chinese New Year holiday it was extremely crowded. Luckily for us, we are well-experienced train riders so we managed to squeeze ourselves in without problem.

As soon as we got out of the train we immediately queued up for the entrance tickets, which is okay since the line wasn’t that long. Once in, I could barely contain my excitement. Bex on the other hand, was a bit put off by the number of people as it was insanely crowded!

Now to say that the zoo is big is an understatement because it was said to be the largest zoo in Asia. My first zoo experience in the largest one in Asia, not too shabby I must say!

First we got to see was Bambi... I mean the Deer, later we found out that there are numerous kinds of deer in the Zoo as well as the monkeys. So eventually they became less interesting to see since to us they all look the same LOL There were soooooooo many animals and it’s pretty cool that you get to be really close to them. 

Bex found a bear-y good friend :D

Touring around the lower part of the zoo took us about 2-3 hours so eventually we kind of gave up walking plus our breakfast wasn’t heavy so we were getting kind of cranky by then. However the food area was packed so we couldn’t for the life of us manage to get food. We decided to go to the upper part of the zoo as from the map they provided there’s another food area so we figured we should try our luck. But before we left the lower part I begged Bex to let me see the Koala bears which she obliged. We queued up and went inside to look in the glass windows only to find that all the Koalas decided to hide so all we could see were trees, talk about epic fail! 

Look at the cheeky koala hiding from me!

Had to settle for this

We continued our walkathon because it’s the only way to get to the upper part. Bex wasn’t happy with this realization but alas there’s nothing she can do about it. We walked and walked for what seems like ages and finally got to the upper side. Along the way we got to see other load of animals and finally we found the food area. Only it was in front of the camels where I almost puked because of their odor. Not that I’m being fastidious but the smell was truly revolting. Bex, on the other hand, didn’t notice much as she was suffering from a cold that time so her nose was clogged – lucky!

Oh my bestfriend! The McStinker!

So proud of myself to had taken this beautiful pic 

*pat on the back*

We managed to find another place to eat our food, thank goodness! Bex said she’s too tired and since there are a lot of people we should go straight ahead to Maokong Gondola instead but eventually we ended up with a compromise of seeing just the animals from the Madagascar movie and then we can go. If you aren’t aware of the Madagascar animals they are Lion, Giraffe, Zebra and Hippo. Bex was on a mission to get it over with so she was wide-eyed looking for these animals. And after much walking she spotted the Giraffe! However to her disbelief they stink like no other! Her exact words were “Hmph! Bakit ang baho nila?!”(“Hmph! Why do they stink?!”) I just went hysterical. I couldn’t stop laughing at her reaction. Like it was the giraffes' fault they were smelly. Hahaha But she got herself together and took pictures and to our pleasant surprise, the zebras were just beside the giraffes – Jackpot! 

Bex's bestfriend! The Stinkatron!

The giraffe incident took away our moody feelings and we checked out other animals whilst looking out for the Lion and Hippo. We got to see other kinds of monkeys, bears, and the famous gorilla who was soooooooo boring. He literally just sat there and did nothing even when the kids were banging his walls. Eventually we got to see the Lion and they were beautiful. Obviously we only see them through glass windows but still it’s the closest I will get with Lions. The last stop was the Hippo but unfortunately they were renovating her place so we couldn't see the Hippo up-close but all is well because I’ve gotten my Madagascar family checked.

Nahla is looking for Simba!

Isn't he such an entertainer?!

No pic with the Hippo but we had one with Ms. Rhino

pretty much the gist?

By this time it started raining, we were lucky enough to be near the bus stop so we didn't get wet much. We had to queue for the bus going to Maokong Gondola which was a super long line I think we stood there waiting for about an hour before we got on the super retro bus.

The Maokong Gondola is more like a cable car ride than an actual gondola so it is a bit confusing. By the time we got there it was pouring rain so we were a little apprehensive to go in the cable car because... well... it’s a scary! But we don’t have much choice since we were there and we don't have any other way to get to Maokong, tough luck! So we just braced ourselves. Once in we were so nervous that we figured the only way to distract ourselves was to take videos and pictures as you will see below we weren't all that impressed nor were we happy with the ride especially we were in there with strangers who were oozing with excitement (insert sarcastic smile)

The “Gondola” ride took about an hour. I think it was longer because it was raining so the ride was sllooooww. But as soon as we got out of there it was raining heavily and as you can imagine we weren't psyched! Maokong is on top of a hill and is famously known for their teas which is quite fitting since we were tired, drenched with sweat and rain so a hot tea sounds just about right. Because it was raining heavily and we don’t have umbrellas we found the next best thing, raincoats!

  

We found a nice dinky teahouse across the Maokong station and decided to recollect our bearings. We ordered a pot of tea (each) and some chocolate cakes and stayed there for about an hour before we felt like we were ready to continue our journey. Unfortunately the rain didn’t stop and the bus ride back had a really long queue and so we took a taxi back to the city. Due to the crowd the taxi was taking in a lot of passengers to fill the car luckily I got to sit in the passenger seat so I don’t have to sit with strangers and as soon as I got settled in my seat I fell sound asleep. It was only when Bex was shaking me that I woke up because it was our stop.

When we got back to the city I was thinking of going back to the hotel but Bex said we should eat first so we went looked for Din Tai Fung because Bex wanted to eat there so badly. We got off at Daan station because that’s what HER research told her but we ended up walking for an hour or so before we got to Din Tai Fung. 

Later we found it was another station from Daan, needless to say I wasn't a happy bee all the more when we got to Din Tai Fung and found that there was a long line to get in but since we were there we decided to get a number and the waitress told us our table will be ready in an hour – Good luck! Fortunately I found a foot massage place nearby and we booked for 1 hour foot massage and it was truly the best decision we've made during the entire trip. I fell asleep and after the massage we couldn't feel our legs. It was uh-maze-zing!

Ultra jampacked Din Tai Fung!

Someone is not a happy bee!

Uh-maze-zing foot massage lead to this

The actual station for Din Tai Fung (insert face-palm)

When we got out of the massage place we only had to wait for another 5 mins before we got our table. By this time we were back to our normal selves and ordered as much food as possible. We really did have a good dinner there. The food was superb as well as the service. The waitress who took care of us was lovely and extremely nice. But we believed it was the foot massage that made everything better. It’s as if a black cloud has been lifted from us. We felt light and jolly again.

*Warning! Mouth-watering photos coming up*

After the wonderful dinner we decided to go to the night market because we still have money and we haven’t really bought any souvenirs yet. So we went to the Shilin Night Market in Jiantan station where we bought Taipei t-shirts for our families and some mochi and then called it a night.

This is the smile of someone who had a scrumptious 

dinner and relaxing foot massage

This is probably the longest day we’ve had during the whole trip. The zoo really took a lot of our energy plus we have been walking the whole time we were in Taipei so it was only right to get a foot massage during our last day.

All in all we had a lot of fun in our Taipei holiday but if we ever decided to go back it will definitely be more for shopping purposes. The things there are cheaper and some you cannot find in HK.

It’s sad to say goodbye to our Taipei series but don’t worry we have a few more travels lined up and will make sure to keep you all in the know.

Till our next holiday…

much love,

jCel♥

P.S Our Day 3 video is still in progress... will notify you all when its ready and uploaded on Youtube.