Day two of our Taiwan trip happened to be on a Saturday...the busiest day of the week for MomM. Many from all over the island will visit MomM at her home-based "spiritual clinic" (as I call it), which only opens on Saturdays. So, to be a considerate and a thoughtful couple, we insisted that Octopus should stay home and help out while the two of us go on a zoo-date of our own...wahahahahahaha! Evil huh? Nah, the truth was, Octopus thought she wouldn't be able to handle the heat so she opted to stay behind.
As usual, from Buddha Boy's favorite breakfast joint, he picked up two breakfast club shao-bings and two breakfast club sandwiches...yes, all for himself. Octopus went with a simple Ham & Egg Pancake Roll 火腿蛋餅 while I had a Corn & Egg Pancake Roll 玉米蛋餅 (with a couple links of Hot Dog 熱狗).
Gotta love the convenience of MomM's area, MRT (similar to our Skytrain) was just a couple of short blocks away. The ride was approximately half an hour with no transfer needed. Now the admission to the zoo...holy mama...$60TWD/person? That's only $2CAD each...CHEAP!!! Those of you from Taiwan would never forget the famous Asian Elephant, Lin Wang 林旺, also regarded as Grandpa Lin Wang 林旺爺爺. I was very tempted to visit his memorial centre (永遠的林旺爺爺) at the zoo, but took a pass because I knew I would cry...yes, I'm a wuss. :p
You must be thinking..."WTF? Zoo? In Taiwan?" Okay, the main reason to why we're here at the Taipei Zoo 臺北市立動物園 was for the pandas. The couple, Tuan-Tuan 團團 (male) and Yuan-Yuan 圓圓 (female), was so lazy but so adorable!!! Tuan-Tuan (bottom right) was a lot more active than his wife (bottom left), but mind you, Yuan-Yuan was a couple of months pregnant when we visited! The way Yuan-Yuan slept reminded me of Po in Kung Fu Panda...awww...so cute!!!
Yes...we did the damn tourist thing and bought the damn souvenirs from their damn panda gift shop...damn tourists...LOL!!!
After visiting the panda and the bird sanctuary, the lazy couple took the train to the top of the zoo and walked down from the top. The first area we visited was the reptiles...I walked through it quickly while Buddha Boy took his time...I don't like reptiles...
The penguin habitat featured two penguin species: King Penguins and African Penguins. African Penguins are also known as Jackass Penguins...yes, "Jackass"...LOL!!!
Welcome to Madagascar...at the Taipei Zoo 臺北市立動物園! This was the habitat featuring different species of Lemurs.
Buddha Boy was fascinated with the White Rhinoceros...he even brought out the camcorder! What a kid!
So...have you ever seen a gorilla flashing the tourists? Only at the Taipei Zoo 臺北市立動物園...LOL!!!
Okay, here's another stop where we spent quite some time...again, for some unknown reasons, my husband was fascinated with Hippopotamus...here goes the camcorder!
Time to eat...despite the fact that we knew the food wouldn't be satisfying, we still went and ordered a combo each. Verdict? Well, the presentation "looked" good...
With a total of 165 hectares and approximately 90 hectares open to public visitors, the Taipei Zoo 臺北市立動物園 is the largest zoo in Asia and was founded in 1914 when Taiwan was still under Japanese sovereignty. Originally located at the foot of Yuanshan Mountain 圓山 (also known as Maruyama), the former private zoo was owned by a Japanese civilian. It was then bought by the Japanese government in Taiwan to open to the public. The ownership of the park was turned to R.O.C. government when it gained back its power of the island. In 1986, the zoo was moved to its current location in Muzha 木柵, a suburb of Taipei City.
We went home right after the zoo because MomM wanted Buddha Boy to participate in a ritual. UncleL & AuntieS, MomJ's only friends in Taiwan (who are now MomM's followers too), visited and showered us with delicacies!!! These gigantic Java Apples 蓮霧 are also known as wax apple or bell fruit. I believe these were the 帝王大蓮霧 and, according to MomM, these weren't cheap...
Since it was a long day for all of us, we, again, scouted locally for food. The night life on Kangning Street 康寧街 was a lot more fun than day time. And yes, we picked up more food than we needed...
As usual, from Buddha Boy's favorite breakfast joint, he picked up two breakfast club shao-bings and two breakfast club sandwiches...yes, all for himself. Octopus went with a simple Ham & Egg Pancake Roll 火腿蛋餅 while I had a Corn & Egg Pancake Roll 玉米蛋餅 (with a couple links of Hot Dog 熱狗).
Gotta love the convenience of MomM's area, MRT (similar to our Skytrain) was just a couple of short blocks away. The ride was approximately half an hour with no transfer needed. Now the admission to the zoo...holy mama...$60TWD/person? That's only $2CAD each...CHEAP!!! Those of you from Taiwan would never forget the famous Asian Elephant, Lin Wang 林旺, also regarded as Grandpa Lin Wang 林旺爺爺. I was very tempted to visit his memorial centre (永遠的林旺爺爺) at the zoo, but took a pass because I knew I would cry...yes, I'm a wuss. :p
You must be thinking..."WTF? Zoo? In Taiwan?" Okay, the main reason to why we're here at the Taipei Zoo 臺北市立動物園 was for the pandas. The couple, Tuan-Tuan 團團 (male) and Yuan-Yuan 圓圓 (female), was so lazy but so adorable!!! Tuan-Tuan (bottom right) was a lot more active than his wife (bottom left), but mind you, Yuan-Yuan was a couple of months pregnant when we visited! The way Yuan-Yuan slept reminded me of Po in Kung Fu Panda...awww...so cute!!!
Yes...we did the damn tourist thing and bought the damn souvenirs from their damn panda gift shop...damn tourists...LOL!!!
After visiting the panda and the bird sanctuary, the lazy couple took the train to the top of the zoo and walked down from the top. The first area we visited was the reptiles...I walked through it quickly while Buddha Boy took his time...I don't like reptiles...
The penguin habitat featured two penguin species: King Penguins and African Penguins. African Penguins are also known as Jackass Penguins...yes, "Jackass"...LOL!!!
Welcome to Madagascar...at the Taipei Zoo 臺北市立動物園! This was the habitat featuring different species of Lemurs.
Buddha Boy was fascinated with the White Rhinoceros...he even brought out the camcorder! What a kid!
Wow...we're standing so close to King Kong (Western Gorilla)...a critically endangered specie.
So...have you ever seen a gorilla flashing the tourists? Only at the Taipei Zoo 臺北市立動物園...LOL!!!
Okay, here's another stop where we spent quite some time...again, for some unknown reasons, my husband was fascinated with Hippopotamus...here goes the camcorder!
Time to eat...despite the fact that we knew the food wouldn't be satisfying, we still went and ordered a combo each. Verdict? Well, the presentation "looked" good...
With a total of 165 hectares and approximately 90 hectares open to public visitors, the Taipei Zoo 臺北市立動物園 is the largest zoo in Asia and was founded in 1914 when Taiwan was still under Japanese sovereignty. Originally located at the foot of Yuanshan Mountain 圓山 (also known as Maruyama), the former private zoo was owned by a Japanese civilian. It was then bought by the Japanese government in Taiwan to open to the public. The ownership of the park was turned to R.O.C. government when it gained back its power of the island. In 1986, the zoo was moved to its current location in Muzha 木柵, a suburb of Taipei City.
We went home right after the zoo because MomM wanted Buddha Boy to participate in a ritual. UncleL & AuntieS, MomJ's only friends in Taiwan (who are now MomM's followers too), visited and showered us with delicacies!!! These gigantic Java Apples 蓮霧 are also known as wax apple or bell fruit. I believe these were the 帝王大蓮霧 and, according to MomM, these weren't cheap...
Since it was a long day for all of us, we, again, scouted locally for food. The night life on Kangning Street 康寧街 was a lot more fun than day time. And yes, we picked up more food than we needed...
