Today I'm going to Taipei Zoo and taking Cable Car (Maokong Gondola)! Mad excited cause I've never been to the zoo since 5 years ago! And there's panda in Taipei Zoo! It's like the main attraction. ^^ I started the day with the breakfast provided by Happiness Inn, at The Milk King, just 1min walk away from the hotel. Breakfast hours: 7am-10am.
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| Breakfast Coupon provided by Happiness Inn |
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| Entrance to The Milk King |
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| Interior of TMK |
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| Simple Roasted Chicken Sandwich and Hot Red Tea |
The breakfast was quite disappointing compared to Cityinn's. =( I would have booked SWIIO hotel but there wasn't any available rooms when I searched for hotels in Ximending on 22 Jun. I left the hotel at 12.30pm and made my way to the Zoo. From Ximen Station, take Bannan Line (blue) towards the direction of Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, alight at Zhongxiao Fuxing, change to Wenhu Line (brown) towards Taipei Zoo, the last station. The journey will take about 45-55min, depending on the crowd as you need to walk quite a bit within the station when you're changing lines.
Both the Taipei Zoo and Maokong Gondola are located at Taipei Zoo MRT Station. Thus if you're planning to make a trip to the zoo, you can add in Maokong Gondola in your itinerary. =)
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| Onward to the zoo! |
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| Taipei Zoo Station, Exit 1 |
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| Taipei Zoo Entrance |
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| Service Centre |
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| My lunch from 7-11 |
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| Yummy! |
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| Koala Bear sleeping soundly |
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| He's SLEEPING |
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| PANDA |
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| PANDA |
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| Panda Panda |
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| SO CUTE!!!!! |
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| super adorable! |
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| So clumsy omg, super duper cute! |
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| Panda munching on carrot |
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| Panda Souvenir Shop |
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| I want to buy them all! |
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| Panda Shades |
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| Even the toilet is Panda Themed |
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| I didn't know hippo is so slimy!! |
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| So beautiful |
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| Smells freedom |
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| These two rhinos looks dead to me. But they are alive. lol |
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| Madagascar, they are real. |
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| Move it move it |
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| They can really stretch their tails real high! |
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| Penguin |
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| Hi there! |
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| Zoo closes at 5pm, so I had to take the tram (NT 5) back to the entrance before it closes. |
Taipei zoo is so nice and fun! It is freaking cheap!! NT 60 (SGD 2.70) only!!!! I paid using my EasyCard. I don't understand why Singapore's zoos are so expensive that one has to pay > SGD 20 just to see the animals. -.-
Next up, Maokong Gondola! It's about 10-15min walk from Taipei Zoo, turn left and walk straight all the way upon exiting the zoo.
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| Maokong Gondola Station |
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| Queue for Crystal Cabin (so long) VS Regular Cabin (zero) |
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| Crystal Cabin Queue |
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| You can pay by EasyCard if you are lazy to buy the tickets! NT 50 one-way to Maokong Station |
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| Crystal Cabin |
As I was alone, I had to share with 3 other people queuing in front of me. They are from Malaysia and we work in the same industry! What a coincidence!
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| Taipei 101 |
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| Tea Plantation |
The journey from Taipei Zoo Station to Maokong Station (3 stations apart: Taipei Zoo - Taipei Zoo South - Zhinan Temple - Maokong) took about half an hour with the cable car.
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| Maokong Station |
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| Food Food Food, so famished! |
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| 茶油饭 - Tea Oil Rice (direct translation) - NT 50, not very nice |
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| Pearl Milk Tea - Milk is very smooth and fragrant! |
I had dinner with the 3 new friends I just met on the cable car and I helped them with the order as the menu is all in Chinese. We set off to catch Taipei's night view after filling our stomach.
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| Beautiful Taipei Night City View |
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| It gets nicer when the sky gets darker. |
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| Ford Mustang spotted! Nice car. |
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| Ford Mustang Rearview |
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| On cable car back to Taipei Zoo Station |
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| Took a group photo of us! Thanks for the company! :) |
Maokong is a chillax place with only some food and drinks, together with scenic night view. There isn't any shopping, unless you wanna buy tea leaves.
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| Back to Ximending |
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| Supper - Fav. Corn Soup with McNuggets |
Taiwan Mcdonald's, to my disappointment, do not have curry sauce. This sauce is called 糖醋酱 (Sugar Vinegar Sauce) and the taste is far from curry sauce. The McNuggets was also quite dry but the corn soup was still as yummy as before.
I had a fulfilling day today! First time seeing Panda in my life, they are so adorable!! Met new friends along the way and we've exchanged contacts too. I guess this is one of the perks of traveling alone as it will be easier for you to know more people and go wherever you feel like going without compromising your time to go to places that your friends want to go (but not you). Of course, you will feel lonely at some point, and that's why I got myself a Taiwan SIM card so that I can viber/skype my family/boyfriend when I want to talk to them. Two more days to the end of the trip. Good night!
More on Solo Trip to Taiwan:
Day 1: Taipei to Taichung
Day 2: Taichung
Day 3: Taichung to Taipei
Day 5 & 6: Taipei
hi may i ask iszit possible to just take the cable car to maokong station instead of paying entree fee to the zoo as i would like to skip visit to the zoo? however, im not sure after the cable car ride where do you alight and how to get bck to taipei? tq
ReplyDeleteHi there! Yes! No worries, they are separate. You can choose to only go to Maokong and ignore the zoo. Just alight at the station where you originally boarded the cable car (Taipei Zoo Station of Gondola), walk back to Taipei Zoo Station (metro) and get back to the station nearest to your hotel. =)
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