Day 26 (Aug 3): Exploring Taipei, Day 2

Finally hitting the hay at around six, we slept through breakfast to catch about two and a half hours of sleep before forcing ourselves up to visit Yangmingshan National Park. Much of the park is within Taipei City limits, covering the mountains directly North of Taipei. Unlike Toronto, which seems to expand northward endlessly, with housing gradually become more and more sparse, Taipei (and most of Taiwan's other cities) don't really have much of a suburbia - driving north, the city simply ends and you're driving up the mountain in Yangmingshan National Park.

On the road to Yangmingshan. (only about an hour from the downtown core)

The geological treasure here is the volcanic activity, making its presence with fumaroles (small gaps that allow steam and gases to escape; not geysers) and sulfur deposits, thus giving the nearby air the flavour of rotten eggs (note: it's actually the sulfur dioxide that gives the smell, not the sulfur itself). There are hot springs in the park as well, but we didn't get to go there =(.

Left: The main fumarole. Right: Some gas/steam escaping by some rocks.

We were promised a hike, but all we got was a short paved path between the small visitor centre to the main fumarole. If you've ever had the pleasure of visiting Yellowstone National Park - Yangmingshan is like a super-scaled down version, though in the mountains, featuring simliar geological features and not much plantlife due to the acidic soil. If you haven't been to Yellowstone... you should!

Later, we did find a trail of about two hundred metres leading upwards to a small observation platform, giving us a view of the mountains on one side, and Taipei on the other. The mountains here don't have much plant life though, so the sight wasn't as majestic as our other mountains shots, but it was nice to see Taipei from a different point of view. 

Left: We hiked up this trail! Right: within the trail (not me, but the earlier blog hijacker =P)

The view of the city. Taipei 101 is in the eastern side of the city, so it's cut off by the mountain on the left.

The weather was very hot though, so eventually, we all congregated on the lower floor of the visitor centre, which sold some snacks and an array of cold drinks. For lunch, we were bussed back to the Jiantan Youth Center. I don't remember napping afterwards, but the fact that I don't remember what I was doing might signal that I probably was =P. It wouldn't have been too long though, because at two, we were headed towards the Taipei Zoo. 

I have worked a summer in the Toronto Zoo - known to be a very spacious (the largest in Canada), providing plenty of space for many exhibits, and plenty of living areas for the animals. The Taipei Zoo is just as impressive (do I dare say even more than Toronto?), with more animals than you can see in a day, and lots of beautiful flora throughout the park (Toronto's vegetation can't compare with the tropics =P). The Zoo is Asia's largest; still smaller than Toronto's by land area, but with its exhibits are placed much closer together (individual exhibits are still very spacious though), the zoo has a lot to see. 

Admittedly, what I find most surprising about the zoo is its price: $60 NT for regular admission, and $30 NT if you're a student. That's less than toonie for an adult, and cheaper than anything in a dollar store if you're still at school. That's compared to $21 CAD if you want to visit the Toronto Zoo. Both are government operated. Luckily, most elementary schools in Toronto bring kids to the zoo for a much lower fee, but at regular costs, the Toronto Zoo becomes a pricey outing for a family. 

As an animal lover, I did enjoy my time at the zoo - if I had known the price, I probably would've visited even earlier on one of the free days so I could spend more time there. I won't go through the animals one by one, but there is a slideshow below with lots of pictures. Highlights included the Penguins (which aren't at the Toronto Zoo =/) and of course, I went to go see the tigers! The Taipei Zoo features the Bengal Tiger; I haven't seen one of those in a while since the Toronto Zoo has Siberians and Sumatrans tigers instead.

My last stop was to see the zoo's famous pandas, a gift from Taiwan's neighbour. Mr. Ma accepted these two pandas from China in '08, named Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan (meaning "union"), while we sent them macaques. It seemed that the unity spirit wasn't very alive today though, as this was the best shot I could take:

Poor guy. Should return home.

Shenkeng Old Street.

Anyways, we left the zoo at around five, and headed to our last dinner in "touring" mode. We stopped at a restaurant, and sat at our respective tables (Table 7!). After some food and some guava, we were dropped off at another night market, this time at the Shenkeng Old Street. We weren't given any descriptions or anything, but some post-visit research tells me that the area is most famous for its remodeled old-style buildings, and stinky tofu! Unfortunately, with the sun already down, I didn't take much note of its architecture, but we could definitely smell the stinky tofu throughout the street!

Late at night, we were back at Jiantan. Needless to say, we were quite tired, and we collapsed in bed in no time.