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Sunday, July 13, 2014

It was close to 9am when our sleepy minds finally registered that we had slept too much! Darn, a vacation should allow us ample time to rest but my curious mind just wants to explore as much as i could whenever i am overseas!

Without having a single thing to eat, we washed up and hurried to take the train to Zhongxiao Fuxing station where we would transfer to the Taipei Zoo line.

Unlike the underground platforms / tracks at Taipei main station, the brown line (Taipei Nangang Exhibition Centre - Taipei Zoo) is above ground and that means plenty for us to see!

This would also include a view of a big cluster of tombstones on the hills!

Although we were on our way to Taipei Zoo station, our main objective for that day was to check out Maokong which used to be a major tea contributor in the past. Note: Take exit number 2 to the gondola station that was just a short walk away!

For detailed postings on the nerve breaking crystal cabin and the peaceful surrounding of Maokong gondola station, please refer to the links here and here respectively.

After the harrowing experience, Alex suddenly dropped a bombshell when the cabin was about to reach Taipei Zoo south station; he insisted on paying the zoo a visit! We absolutely didn't regret this last-minute decision as we thoroughly enjoyed our time in the largest zoo in Asia. For more pictures and information, check out here.

Outside of Taipei Zoo was a bus station where you can take a bus number 679 to Shenkeng Old Street! Spotted a sheltered place where motorists can clean their cars. Looks DIY to me.

Should have touched on this earlier but i am known to be a random person; arrival of trains in Taiwan is counted down to the very second! In Singapore, we would already be thankful if the minutes even work! There were countless times the displays remained unchanged after a few minutes.

Please also keep in mind that we are required to keep to our right on escalators! Guess it has something to do with Taiwan's left hand driving (Singapore is right hand driving by the way).

Everyone kept to the lines drawn on the floor! Singapore has improved a lot compared to a few years ago although i have to add that the trains in Taiwan were seldom very crowded (not surprisingly since the train frequency was high and cars / motorbikes were quite affordable).

I was very shagged by the time we left Shenkeng at about 7pm! However, the night before visit to Shida night market had given us a valuable lesson and we opted to go straight to Ningxia Night Market instead of going back to our hotel. Take note of the circular shaped building above as it would mean you are getting very near the night market.