Well the rain didn’t stop us today although it was pretty consistent all day. We were informed of the weather by Chris and Sarma who had gone for their normal walk in the morning. The difference was this morning they returned with umbrellas. Sarma has a self closing mechanism which was pretty cool. We all rain coated or umbrellaed up and got set to start the day.
We stopped at Dante’s cafe which was just around the corner and ventured in to get breakfast there. Chris took adventuring to the next level and ordered a sandwich with ham, egg, lettuce and peanut butter. He said is was alright. We has a laugh over breakfast and all took pictures of Sarma to create a 3D Sarma image.
Full and ready for adventure we set off into the rain and made our way to Taipei Zoo. We had to take 2 trains to get there but the journey was easy and convenient. It makes such a difference to be able to quickly swap lines to get where you want. The line for Taipei Zoo took us out into the suburbs and then further into the mountain which was very different scenery from Taipei. It was still raining when we got to the zoo but we made our way into the entrance and payed the admission by swiping our train card. It only cost 60 NTD which equates to the ridiculously cheap price of $2.50 AUD. For such a cheap ticket you would expect a small and bad zoo, however this is not the case for this zoo.
I had decided that of course our first port of call should be to the Pandas and we made our way over to there. The pandas were very cute and one of them was enjoying a sleep out in the rain. As we made our way through the panda enclosure I got excited because we came across a gift shop. Anthony made a penny for the zoo in there and I procured a panda hair tie, a key ring and a lanyard. We made our way slowly through the zoo and were surprised by how loud and awake the animals were. Bellowing noises from various monkeys and baboons could be heard from every corner. The elusive Tiger and leopard were both out an roaming and were very active.
The zoo was huge and took forever to walk through. We stopped for a snack at a cafe, and then continued on. The walkways around Taipei Zoo are beautiful and I still cannot believe that is was only $2.50 to get in. After seeing a variety of animals and walking around most of the zoo we made our way to the cable car shuttle service. We payed $5 NTD (20c AUD) and jumped in the train. The train took us to the top of the zoo where Taipei Zoo connects with the Maokong Gondola.
The group then easily transfered onto the gondola station and before we knew it we were heading in a gondola heading up the mountains into the clouds. We departed the gondola on the next station Zhinan Station. At this stop we had a look at the beautiful pagoda in the mountains. Then walked down to Zhinan Temple. Zhinan Temple is a Taoist temple and was really beautiful. As we walked down there were all different blessings on the trees. When we got to the temple I decided to get a blessing and chose on for the Happiness and Health of Family. The lady then showed me how to fill it out and told me to choose a tree in the area to hang it on. I decided to put it at the top so it had a nice view.
A lady then decided to give us a tour of the temple and explain the parts of it. She was hard to understand and said “and you can donate to this god if you want …. long pause”. Apparently Sarma is meant to have a bad year next year and he could have fixed it by getting someone to pray for him for 1200 NTD. However the temple she took us through was amazing and showed us the different deities they pray to. While we were there we also witness a prayer going on and saw the people ringing the bell. There was a very nice ambiance to the place. Many photos later we headed back to the gondola to finish our trek up the mountain.
We arrived at the top of the mountain and the view was spectacular. Moments later the boys all disappeared to the street vendor shops that were there. With Taiwanese sausage and squid balls in hand we walked up to the main street of the mountain and looked for a tea shop like the one in some vlogs we had watched. We found a perfect one and settled in and ordered a tea ceremony with local green tea. The lady then demonstrated how to do this.
Step 1: 溫壺燙杯, wēn hú tàng bēi You need to warm the teapot and heat the cups with the boiling water.
Step 2: 鑒賞佳茗, jiàn shǎng jiā míng This is when you smell and appreciate the tea. Let me tell you this was fresh tea and smelt amazing.
Step 3: 烏龍入宮, wū lóng rù gōng, You scoop the leaves into the small pot. for us it needed to be half full with green tea.
Step 4: 懸壺高沖, xuán hú gāo chōng Fill the teapot with water til it overflows and fill the bowl the teapot is sitting in with boiling water. Allow it to brew for 30 sec.
Step 5: 毆杯沐淋, ōu bēi mù lìn Pour the tea and strain it leaving tea leaves in pot.
You can then drink it and the same leaves can be used 5 times. I will say the tea we had was amazing and it tasted different each time we brewed some. We relaxed and enjoyed the tea and Rob took over all future tea making. It was a nice way to end the day with an amazing view, tea and great company.
The trip back down the gondola was dark and we finally made it back to the hotel. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at Pepper Lunch and called it a night. A wonderful day despite the weather.
