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title:Taipei Day 2 - Taipei Zoo, Shida Night Market, Shilin Night Market and Raohe Night Market

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7:18 PM
Friday, March 23, 2012

Taipei Day 2 - Taipei Zoo, Shida, Shilin & Raohe Night Market

During my second day in Taipei, we had Cup Noodles for our breakfast. You know what, Taiwan Cup Noodles are slightly different from the normal cup noodles which are sold in Singapore. It was common to see chunks of chicken/pork/beef in the package and there was a large variety of flavours for you to choose from. Simply patronize any 7Eleven shops to make your purchase. Anyway, the first stop which we left our footmarks was Taipei Zoo. Taipei Zoo was merely a few minutes walking distance from Taipei Zoo Mrt Station (Brown Line). The admission fee was relatively cheap as it cost merely TWD60 for the adult ticket. As compared to Singapore Zoo, the admission fee is so much cheaper. However, cheap entrance fee simply meant inactive animals. The animals which we saw in Taipei Zoo were sluggish and inactive - most of them were sleeping in the early morning. Besides that, it was less crowded and we were overwhelmed by the "Monday Blues Atmosphere" around the Zoo. In addition, you could also pay TWD5 for a short trip around the Zoo.

Taiwan Cup Noodles (:

Taipei Zoo Entrance

Purchase your tickets beside the main entrance, TWD60 per adult

Lockers in the Zoo

Lonely panda

In the Panda Souvenirs Shop(:

Pay TWD5 for a short ride around the Taipei Zoo (:

The kids were wearing their school uniforms, so much different from Singapore (:

After spending nearly 2hours in the Zoo, we headed off to "Hello Kitty Sweet" which was just a walking distance from ZhongXiao FuXing Mrt station. What's so special about this cafe is that you have to make reservation in advance. Simply give them a call yourself or seek help from the hotel assistants (in that case, you will have to pay tips to the hotel assistant) to make your reservation. Since ShiYing had the simCard which we could use it to make calls in Taiwan, we called one day before to book a table. When you make a call to book your reservation, the person would probably tell you that it's a must to spend a minimum of TWD300 (per person) and you could only book 2hours. The prices of the desserts ranged from TWD300-TWD450 and thus, it was easy to hit the minimum spending. Upon reaching the entrance of Hello Kitty Sweet Cafe, you would probably see fans of Hello Kitty spamming photographs. Well, I'm not really the typical obsessed fan but Hello Kitty Sweet Cafe is really a "Must Patronize Cafe" when you are in Taipei. The cafe was well-decorated, ambiance was great and even the toilet caught my fullest attention. Their desserts were amazingly attractive; stroll down and take a look at what we've ordered there. I just couldn't deny that the person who came up with this innovative idea of opening a cafe of the Hello Kitty Theme was pretty creative. Thumbs up to the beautiful interior design of the cafe; it's really amazingly beautiful.

Mango Pudding (:

Believe your eyes, it's the washroom (:

After dining in at Hello Kitty Sweets, we headed off to Shida Night Market. Shida Night Market was located near Taipower Building Mrt Station (Green Line) and it was merely a 3 minutes walking distance. Sound convenient isn't it? Shida Night Market opens at 2pm daily and it's a place for you to exercise your mouth, feet and muster your shopping feel. Even though it opened at 2pm, most of the shops were closed when we reached at 230pm. Hence, if you wish to patronize Shida Night Market I suggest you go after 3pm. Anyway, bear with me because my second day in Taipei was really a hectic day. After which, we headed off to Shilin night market; one of the popular night markets in Taiwan. Simply board the train and alight at JianTan Mrt Station. From there, you could follow the crowd and find your way to the night market. Well, if you were to walk around Shilin Night Market, you would see that 1000cc of milk tea was really common. Furthermore, if you are a scallop lover like me, it's a must for you to try the grilled scallops there. Well, I bet most of you have heard of the famous Shilin chicken - personally I didn't really like it because the chicken consisted of bones. Hence, if you are looking for boneless chicken breast, don't waste your money trying it. The next thing I would urge you to try is this.... It's definitely "cheesy potatolicious". Till today, I couldn't forget the taste and I have been hoping that I could find it in Singapore.

The popular yet non-boneless Shilin Chicken

Grilled Scallops (5 per stick)

After patronizing the few places, the next thing we did was to head back to hotel to take a rest before continuing to shop at WuFenPu and Raohe Night Market. You know what, that's where my heart could really drop upon knowing the prices. One whole set of podka dots Bra & Panties cost TWD190 which was less than SGD9. A pair of heels cost less than SGD9! Tell me tell me, how can I even control my spending there? Usually when you shopped around Bugis Street, the cheapest wallet which you could find there cost SGD10 but here, you could purchase it at SGD6. Don't ever try to control your spending in Taipei because you would definitely go crazy when friends around you are spending like mad shopaholics. I'm pretty sure you will go green with envy.