Lions and Tigers and Bears...Asian Style
Today was fabulous.
The timid, white Meiguoren struck out on her own for the first time since arriving. Yes, I had walked down the street solo before, but I mean get on a bus to the MRT subway to a transfer station and end up at the zoo across town kind of solo. The transportation to the zoo was kind of long, probably about 30-45 minutes, with all the waiting and transferring and so forth. I almost didn't go this morning because I was feeling really sick, and it came about spontaneously. After getting back from the gym, I was in the shower when out of nowhere I felt like I was going to throw up any minute. I walked around a couple blocks looking for an ATM and felt even worse. I decided to go back upstairs, wait a couple minutes, and drink water. I figured it might be because I was dehydrated, but that didn't make much sense, either, because I was drinking constantly. Maybe in this heat you should just bank on drinking more water than you think you need, who knows.
Anyway, once I was on the bus I felt better, so I decided to go through with my trip as originally planned. The transportation system in Taipei is great. There's this thing called the "EasyCard," which is like a transportation debit for bus, MRT, and I think the train as well. It's similar to a BART ticket in that you can add money on it at the stations, but it works for everything. And in addition, the subway cars are all air-conditioned, and there is no eating or drinking of any kind allowed. If you are caught, you are subject to a fine. This means all the stations and buses are way cleaner than anything I have ever seen in the states (downright sterile actually, which for public transportation is quite nice), and because of the air conditioning, there isn't the lingering smell I remember on my BART commutes to San Francisco last summer. With the MRT map in hand incessantly, I made it successfully to the transfer station, then to the zoo, and retraced my steps back home. I never even got off too late or too early or needed to retrace my steps. Go me! Ping had showed me how to do all this on Thursday as we were going to the museum, but it's easy not to pay attention when you are just following someone else, and I didn't think I would remember anything at all given it was my first time.
I got to the zoo around 1, got my hands on an English map, and started the self-tour. It was so ridiculously hot and sticky. I constantly had to use my T-shirt sleeves as towels, and that sentiment was shared by the myriad of exhausted parents chasing after their exuberant little ones. As I walked around from palce to place, I listened to other conversations to see if I could understand anything at all. I realized later that anything I remotely understood came out of the mouth of a three or four year-old, with exclamations like, That animal is big! Or, wow, that's pretty! Or, my favorite yet--I can't see it! I have posted a handful of pictures from the day below.
The timid, white Meiguoren struck out on her own for the first time since arriving. Yes, I had walked down the street solo before, but I mean get on a bus to the MRT subway to a transfer station and end up at the zoo across town kind of solo. The transportation to the zoo was kind of long, probably about 30-45 minutes, with all the waiting and transferring and so forth. I almost didn't go this morning because I was feeling really sick, and it came about spontaneously. After getting back from the gym, I was in the shower when out of nowhere I felt like I was going to throw up any minute. I walked around a couple blocks looking for an ATM and felt even worse. I decided to go back upstairs, wait a couple minutes, and drink water. I figured it might be because I was dehydrated, but that didn't make much sense, either, because I was drinking constantly. Maybe in this heat you should just bank on drinking more water than you think you need, who knows.
Anyway, once I was on the bus I felt better, so I decided to go through with my trip as originally planned. The transportation system in Taipei is great. There's this thing called the "EasyCard," which is like a transportation debit for bus, MRT, and I think the train as well. It's similar to a BART ticket in that you can add money on it at the stations, but it works for everything. And in addition, the subway cars are all air-conditioned, and there is no eating or drinking of any kind allowed. If you are caught, you are subject to a fine. This means all the stations and buses are way cleaner than anything I have ever seen in the states (downright sterile actually, which for public transportation is quite nice), and because of the air conditioning, there isn't the lingering smell I remember on my BART commutes to San Francisco last summer. With the MRT map in hand incessantly, I made it successfully to the transfer station, then to the zoo, and retraced my steps back home. I never even got off too late or too early or needed to retrace my steps. Go me! Ping had showed me how to do all this on Thursday as we were going to the museum, but it's easy not to pay attention when you are just following someone else, and I didn't think I would remember anything at all given it was my first time.
I got to the zoo around 1, got my hands on an English map, and started the self-tour. It was so ridiculously hot and sticky. I constantly had to use my T-shirt sleeves as towels, and that sentiment was shared by the myriad of exhausted parents chasing after their exuberant little ones. As I walked around from palce to place, I listened to other conversations to see if I could understand anything at all. I realized later that anything I remotely understood came out of the mouth of a three or four year-old, with exclamations like, That animal is big! Or, wow, that's pretty! Or, my favorite yet--I can't see it! I have posted a handful of pictures from the day below.
This is me, being stupid. I wanted to see the Formosan boar which was just across the way, but it was hiding somewhere and I couldn't spot it for the life of me. So I did the next best thing--take a picture with a sculpture.
A Malayan porcupine. What a sight they are. 
The first thing I saw upon entering the zoo in the Formosan animal area. I know they are related to chimps, but not exactly the same.
I caught this guy scrounging for water. He wasn't the only one--I must have made five or six stops at the water/tea machines in the mere four hours I was there.
The penguins. I'm guessing they're not indigenous.
Any guesses?
I forgot what species this bird was called, but is an absolute beauty.
Sometimes I really think turtles have the life.
Rats. I couldn't hide forever. Surprisingly, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.
The world-famous white rhinocero!
Here he is...
...and his cousin, too.
A special species of zebra, the name of which I have naturally already forgotten.
I have pictures of the giraffes on their own, but as I was gazing at the scene in front of me, this little guy in the lower-left corner nonchalantly jumped out of the bushes to see what all the fuss was about. Unimpressed, he decides to chill on the ledge.
A real emu!
Asiatic elephant.
These are only a few of the many pictures I took, so I will try to post the entire album very shortly. I spoke Chinese to two cashiers at two different zoo stores, and I understood what they said, and they understood me. Who woulda thought, huh? My first question was, do you take credit cards? And then depending on whether they seemed remotely warm or not, I would try to practice a little bit more.
After arriving home, surprisingly in one piece and with a newfound false sense of confidence that I can coverse with people, I bravely made my way to an independent food stand a few streets over from my dorm. All I could read was "mian" (noodles), but I figured if I ask for beef and noodles, it couldn't be that hard to understand, right? I asked for it then she said something which I naturally panicked about and didn't understand, and then just nodded and said "dui le." I ended up with a prawn and oyster in my noodles, which is probably what she asked about, but it was no problem because I could easily take them out and throw them in the trash, which is exactly what I did. Other than that, I have my beef and noodles, and there is even egg and cabbage in there (hooray finally for protein and nutrients!).
(Update: Now that I'm getting to the bottom of the bowl, there are definitely a lot more "surprises." I bit into this brown thick piece of something that looked like beef, but definiely was NOT.)
Tomorrow I might head over to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, which is one of the first MRT stops and closer to my residence than the zoo. It's also right in the middle of town, so I might wander around and perhaps do some shopping there, too. Got to get used to this city sooner or later.
After arriving home, surprisingly in one piece and with a newfound false sense of confidence that I can coverse with people, I bravely made my way to an independent food stand a few streets over from my dorm. All I could read was "mian" (noodles), but I figured if I ask for beef and noodles, it couldn't be that hard to understand, right? I asked for it then she said something which I naturally panicked about and didn't understand, and then just nodded and said "dui le." I ended up with a prawn and oyster in my noodles, which is probably what she asked about, but it was no problem because I could easily take them out and throw them in the trash, which is exactly what I did. Other than that, I have my beef and noodles, and there is even egg and cabbage in there (hooray finally for protein and nutrients!).
(Update: Now that I'm getting to the bottom of the bowl, there are definitely a lot more "surprises." I bit into this brown thick piece of something that looked like beef, but definiely was NOT.)
Tomorrow I might head over to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, which is one of the first MRT stops and closer to my residence than the zoo. It's also right in the middle of town, so I might wander around and perhaps do some shopping there, too. Got to get used to this city sooner or later.
posted by Shannon @ 6:15 PM
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