I arrived last night. It's the first time I've been back to this part of Asia since I left Japan almost 3 years ago. I was immediately struck by how similar everything is to Okinawa here - MOS burger! Family mart! I suppose just reading the kanji again too - although it's Chinese here, Japanese language has many Chinese characters, so even though I can't speak Chinese, I can tell the meaning of some things, which is nice.
I found my hostel fine, right next to Taipei's main station. Everyone always forgets to mention that Taipei's main station is humongous. It literally takes 30 minutes to find your way out of the correct exit. It's a new hostel, complete with 'mini single rooms'. I have one, it's tiny, but it has nice details...a lamp, pretty cherry blossom painting on the wall, air-con...and remarkably NINE power sockets!!
This morning I woke up and researched Taipei a bit online then decided to head out to the south, Taipei Zoo. Apparently the largest zoo in Asia, it cost me less than £2 to get in! I saw the pandas (sleeping) and the penguins (in their freezy enclosures) and the giraffes, zebras. I was most impressed with the hippos. One hippo managed to get his jaw stuck between some railings...not a good idea! I have photos.
After trekking to the far end of the zoo I decided to jump on the shuttle train up to the MaoKong Gondola. It's a pretty extensive gondola system, going up and down and over a few different hills, terminating on a tea mountain, which conveniently overlooks the whole of Taipei. There are loads of tea 'plantations' here, and lots of tea houses, and a 'how tea is made' factory thing.
After walking around all day I decided it was time to get back on the gondola, back on the metro and get some food before going up Taipei 101 for dusk. I was in the queue to get up to the observation deck for what seemed like forever. Plenty of time to people watch. I gave my place in the queue up 4 times because the people behind me were so argy bargy! Beautiful view from the top, you get a free audio guide woohoo. It is an amazing building. Then I came home, and I'm wrecked!!
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