{"id":3626,"date":"2012-01-06T14:22:16","date_gmt":"2012-01-06T06:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mytwogirls.net\/?p=3626"},"modified":"2014-06-18T14:21:52","modified_gmt":"2014-06-18T06:21:52","slug":"taiwan-part-5-taipei-zoo-taipei-city-shida-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mytwogirls.net\/?p=3626","title":{"rendered":"Taiwan Part 5 – Taipei Zoo, Taipei City, Shida Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continues from here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2665Dec 7th – Sunny\u2665<\/strong><\/span>
\nInitially, I planned to spend the whole day shopping, but the weather was so good compared to the last 2 days I thought it would be wasted if we didn’t do any sight seeing.<\/p>\n

We decided to go to the zoo, do a quick dash and see what the girls have not seen before, i.e. Panda, Penquin, Koala, and then we can do the shopping after that.<\/p>\n

We wanted to take the metro, but the station master told us to take the bus instead, as it’ll be quicker. The 45mins bus ride allowed us to have a snooze, which was good.<\/p>\n

We were glad we went to Taipei Zoo<\/a> (\u81fa\u5317\u5e02\u7acb\u52d5\u7269\u5712<\/a>), a zoo that encloses 165 hectares, including 90 hectares open to the public (compared to Singapore Zoo which is 28hectares and charging almost 10times more). It’s a big and lovely zoo, with lots of wide open space; with eateries, restaurants and rest areas scattered all over the zoo. The entrance fee was TWD60 for adults and TWD30 for children. What a steal for this world class zoo!<\/p>\n

We could have spent the whole day there, with so many to see, but we had to be selective and spent time only on the animals we wanted the girls to see.<\/p>\n

First stop, Giant Panda House. Unfortunately, both the Pandas were far away from us.
\nOne munching on some bamboo.\"Panda\"<\/p>\n

Another taking a nap.\"Panda\"<\/p>\n

They have a big gift shop at the Giant Panda House, girls wanted to choose something to bring home.
\n\"All<\/p>\n

She wanted to get something cool for herself.\"Zaria<\/p>\n

And when there were children having a go at the vending machine, both girls wanted a go too.\"Yoyo<\/p>\n

Zaria with her prize.\"Yoyo<\/p>\n

\"Zaria<\/p>\n

We have to dash to the next point of interest, the Koalas, after the Giant Pandas (with a zoo so big, it was quite tiring actually).\"Dashing<\/p>\n

\"Koala(no photos of koalas although we saw quite a few of them).<\/p>\n

We had lunch at one of the rest area, bought some pizzas and buns from a bakery (no inflated price, btw), and just ‘picnic’ there.<\/p>\n

When we asked what’s the nicest thing they did or saw in the zoo, the answer was “Jumping on the hippos.”<\/span> at the African Animal Area. <\/p>\n

\"Girls<\/p>\n

\"Girls<\/p>\n

\"Girls<\/p>\n

Decos around the African Animal Area.\"African<\/p>\n

Caught one real hippo surfacing.\"Hippo<\/p>\n

We spent some time at the Nocturnal Animal House to look at Owls (Influnce from Harry Potter and Legend of the Guardians<\/a>), then it was to see the Penquins.<\/p>\n

\"Penquins\"<\/p>\n

There’s a children zoo as well, but we didn’t have time to check out. \"HippoIt was already almost 4pm when we left the zoo. Next time, we have to come back and spend the whole day there.<\/p>\n

We took the Metro this time to the Cityhall Station (\u5e02\u653f\u5e9c). <\/p>\n

While having tea at one of the food court, the girls poured out the content of their bags. Their goodies from Taiwan. <\/p>\n

Zaria’s loot from Taiwan\"Zaria's<\/p>\n

Zara’s loot from Taiwan\"Zara's<\/p>\n

We wanted to head towards Taipei 101<\/a> and have dinner around there, and just our luck, we saw a huge Budhist procession near Tapei 101. It’s a procession with ~500 monks, where a Buddha’s tooth relic was featured (\u4f5b\u5149\u5c71\u4f5b\u7956\u820d\u5229\u53f0\u5317\u5de1\u5883\u7948\u798f). It seems these monks are doing a round island procession.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of monks were walking along the busy Songshou Road (\u677e\u58fd\u8def).\"Monks'<\/p>\n

\"Buddhist<\/p>\n

No special privilidges. They wait like us to cross the busy road.\"Buddhist<\/p>\n

\"Monks<\/p>\n

Along the roads, there were little tables set up to provide offerings.\"Offerings<\/p>\n

We were also given bottle of waters, little book marks and souvenirs for just being there!<\/p>\n

There were African, Indian and Caucasian monks as well. \"Buddhist<\/p>\n

\"Buddhist<\/p>\n

Monks passing Taipei 101.\"Buddhist<\/p>\n

The procession was so long we didn’t wait till the end.<\/p>\n

We went to City Hall area actually just to see Taipei 101\"Taipeibut was lucky to catch the procession.<\/p>\n

The busy Songshou Road.\"Songshou<\/p>\n

We had dinner in a Ramen Restaurant, a meal was not worth mentioning, and then did food shopping in the supermarket and food halls around that area.<\/p>\n

\u2665Dec 8th – Drizzle\u2665<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe day has come to go home. Girls were getting excited, but Zara was dreading the flight home.<\/p>\n

After breakfast, I went out to Shida Market to shop for some food stuff. After that I came back to pack, while it was Daddy’s turn to go to the market to take photos. These were the shots taken in the market. (And if you’d followed my site long enough, you would have realised we always like visiting markets every where we go).<\/p>\n

Shida Market lane. \"Shida<\/p>\n

All sort of fish.\"Fresh<\/p>\n

\"Fresh<\/p>\n

\"Fresh<\/p>\n

\"Fresh<\/p>\n

The market was not too crowded, and rather clean\"Fresh<\/p>\n

Chicken seller. (Take note the chicken there have ‘black feet’)\"Chicken<\/p>\n

Cooked meat seller.\"Cooked<\/p>\n

Super delicious dried persimmons (we bought some).\"Dried<\/p>\n

Sesame oil and tea oil for sale.\"Sesame<\/p>\n

Bamboo shoot.\"Bamboo<\/p>\n

Breakfast counter\"Breakfast<\/p>\n

Vegetable stall\"Vegetable<\/p>\n

Hot spring salted egg.\"Hot<\/p>\n

Humongous Chinese Yams.\"Chinese<\/p>\n

And guess what this is? Each of them the size of my palm?\"?\"<\/p>\n

BBQ Goose eggs it seems. Didn’t try it. Should have just bought one and tried. \"?\"<\/p>\n

By 12:30pm, we were out of the hotel, and headed to the airport for our flight.<\/p>\n

It was a good trip. And the girls can walk<\/strong>. On a daily basis, we left the hotel at 11am, and returned at 9pm. They just walked and walked and walked with us, sometimes even refusing to take the escalator but use the stairs instead at metro station. Just so much energy.<\/p>\n

Taiwan is relatively cheap compares to Hong Kong or Singapore, and there are still so many beautiful places we’d not seen. I believe, we’ll be going back to Taiwan again when Daddy accumulated enough airmiles.<\/p>\n

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