Last Full Day: Gondola Take 2 & (Finally) Taipei 101

I almost shed a tear as I had my last meal at the hotel restaurant. As with my Mexico trip, it will be difficult coming home and eating...less.  Fun fact: George Lucas dined at this restaurant. To prove it, there was a signed picture of him with some waitresses that said "the force is with you."

Not wanting a repeat of Thursday, I made sure to get an early start and head straight to the gondola station. No Crystal Cabin for me this time, the line was insane! But no worries, I enjoyed a beautiful and rain-free ride along with a lady and her two, cute kids. That was until the gondola broke. And by broke I mean completely stopped. So there I hung (not literally, Mom!), freaking out. An announcement in Mandarin came over a speaker in the cable car, and judging by the worried look on the lady's face, things didn't seem good. For the next 15-20 minutes, we didn't move, and I sat there envisioning myself falling/jumping/dying. Finally, after another announcement, the lady and her kids gave me a thumbs up (the universal language for "we're cool") and we started moving again. Whew!

Hello Kitty Themed Cable Cars

I rode the gondola all the way to the last stop, Maokong Station. Maokong is a mountainous area on the edge of Taipei that became famous for its tea plantations. While most of the tea is now grown in other parts of the country, Maokong is still home to small plantations and many tea houses for tastings. I'm a daily green tea drinker, so I was excited to taste and explore.

Coffee with a view!

I ventured off on foot and walked for about 45 minutes, taking in the sights of the beautiful mountains and the Taipei 101 in the distance. I've heard of this area being compared to Jurassic Park, and I could certainly see why. The land was lush, green, and mostly uninhabited. I continued walking past the  Tainen Temple and finally arrived at the Taipei Tea Promotion Center. There I got to learn a bit about the history of tea making, like how to brew teas to bring out their optimal flavors. More importantly, I was able to sample some delicious tea! On the way back to the gondola station, I stopped at one of the many tea houses overlooking the mountains. I enjoyed more tea, a Jasmin Oolong mix, while soaking in the beautiful scenery. I also learned how to brew tea leaves, and took a package home with me.

 

I hopped back on the gondola and rode it down to the Zhinan Station, home to the magnificent Chi Nan temple, one of the oldest temples in Taipei. The pictures explain themselves. This place was massive, with four main halls, five secondary halls, and many walkways. Chi Nan is sometimes called "the temple of a thousand steps" - there are literally 1,200 stone steps that lead up to it. Apparently you live an extra 20 seconds for each step you climb. Some people were doing rituals and kissing each step as they went. Me? I was sweating my butt off, stopping for a breather every so often. :)

Next up on the agenda was to meet up with Tyler and finally go see the Taipei 101, one of the most famous landmarks in Taiwan. The 101 is one of the tallest buildings in the world and considered to be the country's engineering masterpiece. As you've seen from my pictures this past week, the 101 is visible from most of Taipei, helping all directionally challenged people (me) navigate through the city. Unlike the Empire State Building, it's worth the ~$15 to go to the top.



You start by riding the world's fastest passenger elevator. Warning - your ears will pop! Once at the top, there is a free audio tour that takes you around different viewpoints and shares facts about the building. We passed on the tour, but had a great time wondering around. Tyler has been 3 or 4 times, so he knew the ropes and I just followed along. Highlights for me were the outside observatory deck (it was so windy up there!) as well as the huge damper that stabilizes the building. There was a video of the damper swaying during a typhoon...ugh, I couldn't imagine. Before taking the elevator back down, we passed through a display of various red coral statues for sale, some costing upwards of $6 million USD. I couldn't help but think, who actually buys this stuff?!

On the Observatory Deck

Yours for $6M

Now starving, we stopped by the ATT 4 Fun building (a large building with indoor and outdoor shops and restaurants) for dinner. You could spend days shopping in Taiwan. It was hard to resist. Anyway, Tyler wanted to eat at the Diner, a restaurant he'd dined at during his 2012 visit. The Diner is an Westernized restaurant specializing in burgers and brunch. It had a modern and rustic vibe. Tyler ate banana bread french toast and Eggs Benedict (did I mention we were hungry?). I got a huge chili jalapeno burger, and I am too ashamed to post a picture of it (lol). Everything was delicious!



After dinner, we took a quick stop by Shilin Night Market so that I could pick up a few souvenirs. Then it was back to the hotel to pack up for my journey back West.

Oh The Weather Outside Is...Rainy.

Let it stop! Let it stop! Let it stop!

It's more rainy than usual, and to top it off, it's frigid! Okay, actually it's probably in the 50s, but still, I'm not digging it.

As I previously mentioned, I forgot to set an alarm and slept way too long today. This was particularly unfortunate because I had a full list activities planned. I was still going to make every effort to see everything.

I hopped on the MRT and took the brown line all the way to the Taipei Zoo exit, which took about 25 minutes. I know what you're thinking, why are you going to a zoo? Well, I love seeing animals, and they have some pretty cool ones here. Like penguins. And hippos. And pandas. The main reason was for the pandas. The zoo was huge! And cheap. My ticket was only 60 NT. I brought along my long-range lens and got some awesome shots of the animals. All animals except...the pandas. The baby was too little to be outside, and the mother only came out from behind a bush for a few seconds. So, I did see her, I just didn't get to document it. Bummer.

Still bitter about the pandas

The Taipei Zoo Station is the last stop of the MRT brown line. To go any further, you can walk down the street and catch the Maokong Gondola. The gondola is an extension of the MRT. For just 50 NT, you can ride over 4km outside of the city and above the Taiwan countryside. I did a similar gondola ride back in 2011 at Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro. I couldn't wait for my next.






As you wait to board the gondolas, there are two lines. The first line, which is faster moving, is for a normal gondola with glass walls and a metal floor. The second line, which typically has a longer wait, is for a Crystal Cabin, or an all-glass gondola that even has a glass floor. The crappy weather meant that lines were short, so I was able to grab a spot in a Crystal Cabin with no wait. The ride was gorgeous! My pictures do not do it justice, as the windows were wet and foggy and it was difficult to get a good shot. I loved seeing the mountains and escaping the busy city.







 
I had two planned stops on the gondola. First stop was going to be about halfway up, at the Zhinan Station, so I could visit the beautiful Chi Nan Temple. The next stop was going to be Maokong Station, which was also the final stop of the gondolas. Maokong is a famous place for drinking tea. I got off at Zhinan Station and I swear the temperature had dropped 20 degrees. It was also getting dark. I kicked myself for waking up so late, and decided to just head back to the hotel, with plans to make the trip another day (probably Sunday).

Bummed out, I got back and waited to meet up with Tyler. We headed to Malibu West for dinner, a nearby Westernized bar/restaurant where many of the outage workers hang out. We had come here my first night in town. I had a Carlsberg beer and shrimp fried rice, with red Habanero peppers scattered throughout (I need to be careful when asking for spicy over here).

After Malibu, we took the MRT to the Shilin Night Market, the largest night market in Taiwan. This night market is one of the must-see destinations in Taipei, and I could definitely see why. Think of NYC's Chinatown and multiply that by a LOT and you get Shilin. They had all the street food you could imagine, games, clothes, shoes upon shoes (most for only 380 NT!), accessories, etc etc. It was also an excellent opportunity to people watch and get a real feel for the culture in Taiwan. My gloomy day turned right around once I bought a jacket (that the woman let me try on!) and some gifts. I had read online that the night market had puppies on display, so of course we looked for them, but without success. Tyler and I both had a great time at Shilin, but it was getting late, so we'll have to come back another night.

OMG. Shoes.