After devouring that sinful strawberry ice cream waffle at Lugo Cafe in Taipei 101, off we go to our next point of interest - Maokong Gondola station. By this time, it has started to drizzle which will hamper the almost sunset view but it did not dampen everyone's spirit. Naks! Haha! But mainly this is also because the main agenda is what lies at the end of the gondola - the tea shop!
This is the part when I realized that we are really getting old, lol! I mean, yes we are pressed for time since the SG girls (Plok and Wen) have a rather shorter stay than ours but foregoing the view just to get to a tea shop is something uhmm adults with a purpose do. Right? Lol. Anyway, it'd not like we haven't ridden a cable car all our lives. Toinks! Haha!
The distance between the two attractions is quite long since the gondolas are located in the suburbs. The travel time took almost an hour. And because I was bored on the way... (lol!)
It had started to rain when we reached the Maokong station. In here, you can also find the Taipei zoo, something we didn't have time for. The gondolas used the theme Hello Kitty (around Dec 2013) to boost its operations as a result I guess of a closure for 16 months due to a safety concern. Of course this is something I only found out as I write this post today which also explains why we're so happy that the gondola ride which covers a total of 4 stations is very cheap. The news article I read also cited that it is losing money. How sad. But anyway, to some happy pics,
We wanted the transparent cable car but it can only accommodate 5 people, so...
Maokong station, the last of the four, is popular for tea culture and for viewing the night scenery of Taipei city. This is also the go-to place for hiking and climbing. Honestly, they were just there to buy the teas. But the saleslady is keen to give us a lecture on tea ceremony so we all sat down and observed. Afterwards, it's time to practice...
And then there were more adult conversations on our way back, talking about our life, our statuses while munching on some green tea nougat...Gaaaah!
or ourF last stop on Day 1, what better way than to cap it off with a night market visit? I figured some of my friends weren't prepared for the weather (haha!) so it's wise to spend them clothes here. Also, finally I got to try all the xiao chi (small eats) they had to offer since I didn't explore much of it on my first visit.
It turns out you don't need a proper sitting down dinner when you go to night markets in Taipei. These attractions have got a lot to offer. There were so many delicacies to try - from the Hot Star deep fried chicken, the calamaris (gosh I wish you can just buy it from the sidewalks here too), the free taste of ginger teas..to uhm weird looking popsicles (below)...EVERYTHING! They will leave you full right after. In short, my diet was ruined. Lol! It is truly an experience not to be missed!
We were divided into two groups because of different shopping needs and we took time buying stuffs - something that the men weren't happy about. Haha! Anyway, it was a really long day with lots of walking so back in our apartment we were all just grateful for this little machine - we took turns using it. =D
This ends my Day 1 post. More to come =)
No comments:
Post a Comment