Month: November 2015

Yesterday we went to see the Taipei Zoo, a zoo that seems to have lots of animal-friendly habitats designed with animals in mind rather than spectacle. It is comparable to Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna in that way, except that due to the subtropical flora, the zoo appears more exotic even when you are just walking between the enclosures and buildings. Lots of orchids and palmtrees in the parks. Also quite humid and hot – I got bitten several times by asian tiger mosquitoes. I hate those things.

 

 

 

 

After the zoo, we went up to Maokong by the Maokong Gondola during sunset. Maokong is an area/suburb that is famous for its locally grown tea. So we went to a teahouse with a spectacular view on Taipei City.

 

On Sunday evening, we stumbled across a Barbecue place in a backstreet that turned out to have really good food! Here are some impressions.

The place is 寶島燒‧創意食堂 (Bǎodǎo shāo‧chuàngyì shítáng – Google Translate tells me that’s “Taiwan Burn – Creative Canteen”. Hm.) near Minquan West Road MRT Station in Taipei City.

 

 

 

Spontaneous visit to Jiaoxi in Yilan County. This area is well known for its Hot Springs, and this weekend there were a lot of people there.

We had dinner at a luxurious place called the Formosa Pearl. It was a restaurant inside a japanese-style garden, and also had a little wood craft museum with delicate wood carved sculptures (which, unfortunately, were not allowed to be photographed).

The food was also japanese, 10 courses with mostly variations of seafood dishes like Sashimi, Seafood hotpot, and also really tasty Sake. Unfortunately, they told us also that it is not allowed to take pictures inside the restaurant or of the food, so here are some shots from the exterior garden area. It was already dark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I finally arrived in Taiwan.

 

It is really hot here, even for Taiwan’s standards – 30+ degrees Celsius. I am actively looking for places under shades with some wind, in order to rest. Still tired from jetlag.