Taipei ZOO

Since this was William's school break, I decided he'd have a lot of input on where he wanted to go. He said, "The Zoo!"  It was really cheap to get in, and we could use our train pass cards to do it!

I did encourage him to start with the Formosan animals.  Taiwan is the island of Formosa, after-all, and you'd expect them to have the best selection.  :)

As you walk in, the scenery was very unique.  Tons of local plants and trees, as well.  Ferns the size of small palm trees.  Wow.  Felt I had shrunk!

I thought it was nice that they had a muted sunlight place.  It gets really hot here in the summer.

Formosan clouded leopard.

The next animal on display?

Yep, the bear!

Kids were doing their 'get your book stamped' work here.

Okay, I like the hat, although the purpose of this picture is to see what is in the background...

Monkeys!

The zoo interpreters.  

They had their local birds.  Liked this owl.

Okay...  you see the man to the right?  This was on most of the bathrooms.  The Group Your Feces just cracked me up.

Butterfly house.

William wanted them to come to him...

...and it did!

This line was formidable.

But the person taking your order was working the line.  So by the time you made it to the counter, you would pay and pick up your order... the waiting was already done!

I was tired.  But William wanted to see the pandas and the penguins.  These are located in a different part of the park.  You can't tell it, but this uphill rise goes on for over a kilometer.

Yep, they seem to be always sleeping, although we got to see video of the nursery where some were being cared for.

William insisted on getting a birthday present for Elizabeth, a beautiful girl in his class.  He got her this panda!

I want everyone to know that the penguins were at the top of the freakin' hill, and the gondola wasn't working, so we hiked the whole way up.

I don't know what breed of penguin he likes.  He just likes them.

Gotta love an animal that swims!

William took video all day long.  But he loves this one the most.  These were fighting.  AWESOME for a little boy!

EASTER in TAIWAN

Easter in Taiwan was... well, I saw a cross!  These are all street-level shops on our way to the metro.

I have no idea, but they look like pears.

Someone told me these were Korean apples.  They were very good.

Memo to everyone:  Mango in Taiwan is NOT stringy.  It is incredible tasting!  The pineapple is also very good!

These trees lined one street.  I loved the orange blossoms.  So striking.

This was one of the metro stations.  It seemed like they all had a couple steps to get up into it... and then there's a down escalator.  Hmm...?

Okay, no birds in the metro...  :)

William on a metro line that had no driver.  You can see the orange trees on each side of the street (which is below the metro line).

Truly amazing to me.

This is a Chinese herbal medicine shop.

I was worried what some of this stuff was.

But I guess this guy knows what that stuff was!

Buns for breakfast!  Num!

The selection.

Taiwan tea shops.

They are serious about their tea.

William riding the metro (underground version).

Unique Taiwan

There's only one first-day in a new country, when everything is unique.  Scooters are everywhere.  Parking is often on the sidewalks, lined up like this (even though this is on the street).  We saw families commuting on these things, workers with their equipment bungee'd on, etc.  Usually I wasn't fast enough with the camera to get those shots, so you'll have to settle for a modern 'still life.'

The streets are so Asian.

Where we ate, not so much.

In fact, there was only one item on the menu that was unique to Taiwan.  It was a chicken sandwich, and the sauce had the spice that I equate with Chinese food.  Don't know the name of it, but I know it when I smell it!

24 -hour and take out from McDonald's.... hmmm.

And some of their breakfast foods were on buns with vegetables.

This dog was in this one.  I don't think anyone owned it.  It didn't beg, just hung out for awhile.  The employees told the people he was next to, to get him out.  They were gesturing like, 'It's not mine!'

These we could see from the McD's window.  I thought it hilarious that the Chinese Character Festival had lots of English on the sign, and the farmer is sen in this (bank?) billboard.

I can't think Jackie Chan scales walls all the time, but these window cages were common.  The warm climate means things GROW!

Delivery bike.

A soupy rice is a breakfast item.  Essence of Chicken, anyone?  Wow... we're a long way from oats here!

I think one is a root, and the other here is a mushroom flavor.  I didn't try them.

We did try these.  William LOVED the fact that he got 'malted' milk, since daddy uses malt sometimes. Apple milk was like strawberry milk, but apple essence.

There were a lot of tree-lined boulevards.

The shape of these leaves had us enchanted.

Remember the green delivery bike?  Look at all these mail options!  I wonder if my post cards ever made their destinations?  I hope I chose the right slot!

It was interesting how the scooters had a place on the streets for stop-lights.  There were two areas.  The one in front of the cross-walk were for those who wanted to make a left turn, but instead of doing that, they go to the right, and get in this box, to cross the street (they were going to turn left from).  The second box is for them to get ahead of all the cars, since they can lane share, and get ahead of them, anyway.  Makes space for them.  It makes for a busy intersection, but it WORKS!