The Taiwan Chronicles: Day 2

I’m more tired today than yesterday! My legs really hurt and I feel like they’re about to come off! HAHA. I must have walked for almost 8 hours today! I’m happy though. I found out that I can NOT get lost. Yay me! I tried to wake up at around 8AM but it was so hard, because I slept past 2AM last night. I eventually woke up at around 9AM. My uncle, aunt, and cousin had left the house. LOL! I ate breakfast (cheesedog sandwich), took a bath, and prepared. I left the house at a little past 10 and walked to the MRT station.

I went to Taipei Zoo 台北市動物園! I changed trains twice! Woo I now understand their system. I dunno if I said this yesterday (and I’m too lazy to check) but their MRT system is really cool! There are a lot of signs so you won’t get lost inside. It’s also very orderly and it’s very clean! My uncle said that Taiwan’s MRT system won as the best in the world or something like that. On the MRT, I saw this hot American guy. Heeeee! Eye candy for the day.

I spent around 2 hours at the zoo. I was able to look at almost all the animals they have there. The highlight of my trip there was the panda 熊貓!! It’s sooo cute! I was even lucky enough to see the panda biting off bamboo, and then after that it ate some leaves off some branches. Awesome! I also saw a koala and some penguins 企鵝! They weren’t as spectacular (in my opinion) though. But I’m still happy that I got to see them. I also saw animals from Africa (in the African Animal Area) like the hippopotamus (shiny black skin), zebra, giraffe, African elephant (it’s really big!), etc. I won’t enumerate all the animals I saw but suffice to say, it was reallyyy tiring to walk around the zoo looking at the animals!

After that, I ate lunch at McDo. I wanted to eat at a restaurant in the zoo but they were all so expensive!! I ordered a McChicken burger with fries and a drink and it only cost 79NT (I think it’s around 110PHP?) It’s cheaper than McDo in the Philippines! Their drink is also huuuge!

After lunch, I decided to go to Red (Play)house 西門紅樓 near Ximen Station. It had exhibits about the place (it’s a Western-style red-brick octagonal structure built in 1908, and it is Taiwan’s first public market and the most well preserved class III historical site) and it also had a creative boutique inside. The things that were on sale there were expensive though! I also saw this quote from one of the walls: “If you haven’t been to Taipei, you don’t know the prosperity of Taiwan. If you haven’t been to Ximending, you don’t know the excitement of Taipei.” Apparently, this was a popular saying back in the days. Since I’m currently in Taipei, and I’ve been to Ximending, YAY ME! Hahahaha. I wanted to take a picture in front of this wall that had “Hola” written on it but I couldn’t find someone who could take my picture. Eventually, I found someone. YAY!

I then went to this temple that was located nearby. It was very peaceful and relaxing. The smell of incense was heavy but I dunno, I found it to be relaxing. I went back to the MRT station and decided to get off at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station 中正紀念堂. I saw the National Theater Hall 國家戲劇院, the National Concert Hall 國家音樂廳, and finally, I saw the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. Wow! I climbed up the 100 steps (YES, I counted!) to see the giant statue! I also asked someone to take a picture of me in front of the statue. Woo! I was reallyyy so tired by then so I decided to go home. Time to rest!

Cheesedog sandwich!

Taipei Zoo!

Koala!

Pandaaaa!

Shiny rhino!

Penguins! Spot the not!

Lunch!

Red House

Holaaaa

National Theater Hall

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

Going down the steps for the closing ceremonies