Taiwan Day 3 : Taipei Zoo and Shilin Night Market

Hi! Yes I know I’ve been on a really long hiatus! Was really busy with handling Vandabelle and working too!I’ll blog about Vandabelle just launched collection again maybe tomorrow or over the weekends. Heads up! We have our next collection coming up just next week! Do join Vandabelle’s mailing list for further updates! Back to the topic, my Taiwan Trip Day 3 ! The day been quite simple, we went to Taipei Zoo. The very reason for this is because I really want to see a panda! To get there is actually very simple,there’s Taipei Zoo station in the MRT map. So basically you just have to follow the directions in the station map. After leaving the station the zoo is just a stone throw away from the station.

You will need to check the website for more details. There are certain days the exhibits are closed or certain days that the animals will be on ‘rest leave’.

So the adult ticket is NT60 = SGD 2.70Student price is available also,but it’s not application to tourist students,only for locals.Below are some random photos of the zoo. We didn’t take a lot of picture because we were so dead beat,it’s very big,you really need comfortable pair of shoes. It’s quite difficult for us to take photos also,because the enclosure is really big and there’s hardly only 1 – 2 animals around,otherwise are hiding elsewhere. Actually in my opinion,I wouldn’t recommend to go to this zoo. For more spectacular views of animals and a more memorable experience,I will strongly recommend LeeFoo Village instead. I’ll blog about LeeFoo Village in the next few entries to come!

I’m so super excited to see this! WEE!

Ta-dah,the very purpose of the trip to the zoo – Panda! Well,I’m really disappointed. I was expecting much much more,in the end there was only this lonely panda eating bamboo shoots non-stop in this super huge enclosure. I do think that the panda is really cute. But I was really expecting more like a prettier decoration, hopefully more pandas?

  

Be blown away by this! A lot of panda merchandise at the souvenir shop!

The zoo was rather boring,we headed off to something nearby – MaoKong Gondola. You can also see this in the MRT map. It’s walking distance from Taipei zoo. This is a new place recently just launched last year I think. Ticket! It’s like the Singapore style of purchasing per trip MRT ticket,behind me there’s a picture indicating different station and different prices. So you can take the Gondola and stop at different stations (there’s only 3 stations by the way). We bought the one which goes to the furthest! That’s NT50 = $2.20 per trip,to and fro will be NT100 = $4.40

Before entering the Q of the gondola! I went on a Friday and the Q was quite okay,the waiting time for only around 10 minutes. In fact I think we took long time to get to the top level of the building where the gondola boarding area is at, walking-buying ticket-escalator and etc.

There 2 types of cabin you can choose from with no additional charges of whichever choice. The crystal cabin (it’s see through floor) or the normal cabin (non-see through floor). We took the crystal cabin for the ‘to’ trip and took the normal cabin for the back trip.

This is how it looks like on the gondola itself. I strongly recommend this because you can see through the ground which is what you usually don’t get to see such as the canopy view of the forest and more detailed view of the ground you’re travelling on. I’m not so sure how do I explain this,but if you have a chance you can try this. But I only recommend you to take this if you’re taking it in the day time,because at night,most probably you’ll be expecting an all black view.

After a long long ride,we’ve finally reach the final station!

I kinda like this place because of the slightly chilly weather and very relaxing ambiance that you cannot experience else where in the city.

Me being an ultra sua-gu. 1st time seeing a snail so up close,so I had to snap this! lol.

This is one of the delicacy that I promise myself I MUST-EAT when I get to Taiwan. This is pig blood soup. I want it so badly because Singapore do not sell it anymore. Some parts of Malaysia do have it,but it’s still quite a rare food. In Taiwan,you’ll see a lot of these around at Night Market.After that,we pop over to Shilin Night Market for some shopping!

Well not much picture though because it’s rather crowded and it’s hard to move around. Basically Shilin Nightmarket consist of the food section and shopping section. Food section sells lots of those Taiwan snacks like Oyster Mee Sua,XXL Chicken Cutlet,Mango dessert,Bubble tea and many more.Few that I strongly recommend here is

XXL Taiwan Sausage

Most commonly seen in Singapore are the one that are sold on satay sticks right. But if you go to Taiwan,look for the EXTRA FAT and BIG Taiwan Sausage,and they usually charge by weight. They’ll ask you how much you want (like NT 100,150,200 etc) then they’ll drop the sausage into small pieces and weigh them accordingly.

XXL Chicken Cutlet
There’s a very famous stall selling chicken cutlet there,its easy to identify,just look for the one with the longest q! It’s located towards the outside. I find that the chicken is pretty good quite juicy and spicy with seasoning. But I will still prefer the one I posted in my previous entry. But it’s worth of a try.

This is the famous Mango Ice. Well I don’t know how authentic this is,but it’s actually quite famous there . The stall is quite crowded also,but it’s not nice at all. In fact I prefer Mango Monster in Singapore(it’s somewhere opposite Bencoolen).That’s all for now! Will definitely blog again soon! Have a great weekend!

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