Taipei Zoo

On Saturday we traveled with some of Mel's co-workers by MRT to the Taipei Zoo. It's the largest zoo in Asia and is a great way to spend the day for only 60 NT ($1.75). After buying our tickets we were greeted in a way that's starting to feel familiar: by a local wearing a surgical mask and sporting a thermometer. Luckily, we still don't have H1N1 so we were allowed in.


Upon entry we were given time-sensitive tickets to the giant panda exhibit. Our appointment to see the pandas was ticketed at just 10 minutes after we walked through the gate, so we hiked through the park to see the pandas in question. The zoos' two pandas were a gift from China, and were meant to be a gesture of unity. I'd never seen a panda before, but these two seemed quite happy with their surroundings. They were messing about with some tubes and a ball which made it hard to get a decent picture of them, while (to keep them active?) cheetos fell from the ceiling every so often for them to munch on.


Panda reproduction is a BIG DEAL.


After enjoying the panda exhibit, why not buy some panda stuff? There was so much panda stuff. Mel bought a mug.

There was a lot of ground to cover, and the park closes ridiculously early- at 5pm, so we worked it hardcore to see as much as we could. Please enjoy the following pictures of animals:


Camel reproduction is a BIG DEAL. Yes, there's also a video of this.


Cereal pitchman.


There was an aviary cage with over 12,000 different birds flying around... with you inside the cage! It was cool, but it totally stunk. There were a lot of good photo ops, but as you can see in the above image, not everybody liked to be photographed.



Elephants!


Mel finally got to see her favorite animal up close.


It's got to be hot in that sweater.


A rendering of everyone's favorite bird of flight, the rooster, soaring into the heavens.


Because your visit wouldn't be complete without some sort of ridiculous sign, please remember to keep off the birds. That's right- you'll have to go to some other zoo if you're expecting to ride the peacocks.



A major theme being pushed by the zoo was that of educating the visitor about the animals' poop. Every single washroom had some sort of awesome display of cartoon animals pooping or of poop super heroes. Asia loves poop.


FYI: You're drying your hair with poo air.


Poo art: a poo flower, spongebob squarepoo, poo ice cream, poo + horns, and so on. There was also a giant poo you could play in but it had rained a bit so it was all wet inside :(


The Taipei Zoo really has everything you'd want to see- there was elephants, lions, tigers, monkeys, giraffes, penguins... you name it. The grounds were beautifully landscaped, there was lots of shade to escape the heat, and the price was definitely right! It was a really fun day and I'm sure we'll be back. But of course as you might be able to tell from the above photo, the animals weren't the only ones on display as the zoo on Saturday. It's pretty flattering when you're more interesting to look at than an elephant!