Taipei - Taipei Zoo & Maokong

On Tueday of my visit to Taipei, I headed to the Taipei Zoo and the Maokong gondola. The zoo is super easy to get to because the subway goes all the way there (another point for the Taipei transporation system!). Also at the Taipei Zoo stop is the first stop for the Maokong gondola. I always love riding on gondolas, so I was excited to ride this one up to the Maokong (I'm going to call Maokong a 'suburb' of Taipei...not sure what the locals call it)!

If you're ever in Taipei and you need something cheap to do, head to the zoo!! It's only about $2USD (60 TWD) and there is a ton to see!! On a special note, don't go there on a Monday...that's when they clean all of the exhibits and so the cool things are all closed!! Also, the gondola is closed on Monday, so you wouldn't be able to enjoy the splendor of that!

Anyways, I enjoyed my day at the zoo! It is really large and there a lots of different types of animals. The main 'feature' are the pandas. I was really excited to see them, that is, until I saw their 'home'. It made me really sad because the baby panda was inside this large building with concrete flooring and a few items to make it seem like home. It almost made me feel bad that I wanted to see it. But, since I did, here are a couple of pictures: 

 This sign that was inside the exhibit made me laugh: 

 I always love seeing the monkeys...so cute!

 For some reason, this zoo had a large focus on poo. This is just a wall near the souvenir shop. And in each of the bathroom stalls, there was a 'fun fact' about poo. I didn't feel right taking a picture of that though! 

I don't want to bore you with zoo animal pictures (you should be familiar with most of them), so that's all for now!

After the zoo, I headed to the gondola for a nice ride up the mountain! Maokong is known for delicious tea, but since I'm not much of a tea connoisseur, I don't really know the difference!! I think my Maokong experience was quite different than the average person that visits there!

The Maokong station at the top of the mountain

 Some views from the gondola

 I did have to have some type of tea at the top, so I went with bubble tea! Before my trip to Taiwan, my cousin let me know that this drink is native to Taiwan. To be honest with you, the tapioca balls kind of gross me out, but the actual tea/milk is really yummy!! 

Thus concludes my day at the zoo and gondola! More pictures to come soon!

Taipei - Taipei 101

By far, my favorite 'attraction' in Taipei was Taipei 101. This is currently the second-tallest building in the world, behind some new building in Dubai. A few years earlier and I could have been to the tallest building in the world! Haha!! Anyways, I have a small obsession with tall buildings, so this was right up my alley!

I went to see Taipei 101 first a night so I could get a glimpse of it in the dark, and then I returned the following day to see it in the daylight. I only went to the observation deck during the daylight, since I still haven't quite figured out how to take good night pictures! Here are a few pictures from the building:

Lots of Christmas spirit in Taipei!

Busy streets of Taipei.

Taipei 101 in the dark!

Taipei 101!!

Views of the city from the 89th floor!

Taipei 101's shadow cast over the city!

More city views!

The world's largest wind damper...apparently this absorbs some of the wind so the building doesn't rock back-and-forth!!

Me at the top!

Probably won't ever see these numbers in a stairwell again!!

Taipei 101's mascot! Cute!

On the 88th floor, they had some displays of coral and jade...I thought it was pretty incredible what people could make out of those! These are coral:

Taiwan!!

Sign marking the building as the world's tallest in 2004!

From the bottom looking up!

And again! The building is supposed to resemble a stalk of bamboo.

The top half of the building.

This is the view from a road near my hostel...which was about 5 subway stops from Taipei 101!

And a familiar LOVE sign at the base of the building!

It was a really nice day, and I enjoyed visiting the building! Hopefully one day, you'll get to experience it too! :)

Taipei - Modern Toilet Restaurant

When I was getting ready to go to Taiwan, someone suggested visiting a theme restaurant that they have there. I remember seeing these on the Travel Channel or something of the likes, so I was pretty excited to go see one for myself! The only that I could really get an exact address for was the Modern Toilet restaurant. It was quite an interesting experience, and I really enjoyed it!

I searched for a while, but when I saw this, I knew I had found it!

The entrance!

Some of the interesting decor!

My broccoli/tomato/chicken rice was served in a bathtub!

And my ice cream dessert was served in a squatter toilet!

More decor from the restaurant:

Bathtub table, toilet chairs, and a shower hose to top it off!

The people that designed this were very clever, and the place was packed, so obviously it's a fun place to go! I definitely recommend going if you ever have the chance! And the food was really yummy, too! :)

Taipei - Shilin Night Market

In Taipei, night markets are huuuuge!! They seem to be the 'thing' to do at night!! The subway to this particular night market was packed!! I visited the Shilin Night Market on three different nights...it was that happenin', and there was a ton to see! There were people everywhere and the aisles between vendors were full of people! It was a mix of exciting and overwhelming at the same time! In the main building, it felt like a carnival. There were so many food vendors and games and a few souvenir places. It was just insanity. I took some video so I'll try to upload that sometime for you! Alright, here are some pictures of the place:

The main sign outside...Shilin Market.

A view inside the main building

Rows and rows of claw games...I didn't attempt them though. I really awful at these games!

Some of the food...

Lots of sausages...

It looked delicious but I didn't try any of this!!

Fried food, anyone??

Lots of fresh fruit! Yum!

Just pick your fruit and they'll make you a smoothie!

I chose banana...yum!!!

 

That's just a general look at the market! I think I'll have more pictures later, but that's all

for now!!

Taipei, Taiwan - Overview

If you look at my blog or Facebook page often, then you know that I just returned from a 6-day vacation in Taipei, Taiwan. I'm back to Korea now and back to work, so I thought I'd share some of my adventures with you...that is what this blog is for, after all!

Traveling to Taipei was my first vacation alone. It was a little different, I have to admit. There were definitely pros and cons to traveling alone, as there are when you travel with others. I definitely enjoyed doing my own thing and doing it on my own schedule. The whole vacation was pretty laid back and chill, which is kind of strange, if you know me at all! On the flipside, it was kind of strange not having someone with which to share my experience. I couldn't say 'Hey, check that out' or 'Did you see that!?' and all of those fun things. Being in Korea, I rarely feel alone, but to be honest, being in Taipei felt a little lonely for me. I still had a good time, don't get me wrong!

Taipei was also my first hostel experience. I have always heard about people staying in hostels, but I had never experienced it until last week. It was ok. I guess living in the dorm during college really helped, but really, it wasn't bad. My initial plan was to stay in a hostel for one night and then find a room at another place, but I ended up staying at Taipei Hostel the entire time. The bunks had curtains, so it was almost like my own little cave. The only irk I had was with the Malaysian kid across from me clipping his fingernails at 12:30 at night! Besides that, all was peachy!!

Anyways, about Taipei...overall, I thought it was a really nice city. It was super clean...which is contrary to what I read online before my trip. I thought the subway system was great and super spotless. The people were nice as far as I could tell. If I could speak Chinese, it probably would have helped a ton, but as a definite foreigner, I was still able to get around easily. The city was really easy to navigate, and the subway went to all of the places that I needed. There was plenty for me to do in Taipei for the week, so I didn't visit any other cities. I decided that I didn't want to spend my days trapped on a bus!

Ok, I'm going to post pictures in my upcoming blogs. I'm going to break up the sights of Taipei into different blogs, so just bear with me! I don't want to cram it all into one long blog! So, sit back and enjoy! :)