Taiwan: When You're Bored Play...Ki Bi Bo!!

Monday was our last full day in Taipei, so we wanted to make sure we got as much as done as we could. Nicole and I started the morning off by visiting The National Palace Museum. It was a bit of an overcast day, but we rocked T-shirts anyways.

Nicole and I in front of the Museum sans a zoom because it's broken on her camera. Posing all Korean in front of a statue outside the Museum.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so the Museum ones end here. We estimated that we would only need an hour in the Museum and then we would head to the zoo. However, the Museum ended up being absolutely massive and three stories high, so after spending just an hour alone on the first floor, we flew through the second and third and even skipped over stuff.

On our way to the zoo it started rain and we didn't have umbrellas. When we got to the zoo though Nicole decided to buy a bright yellow poncho and I just out on my sweater.

Nicole showing off her bright yellow poncho and attempt at being a lion outside the entrance to the zoo. Black Black Bear, What do you see?? Some Taiwanese Macaques. They were a pleasure to see. We must have hung out for a good 15 minutes watching them play. This sign for the toilets was too hilarious to not take a picture of. We were looking for face masks to wear, but instead stumbled upon these ridiculous animal hats, which we did not purchase, but should have. This is an amazng picture of this monkey that I took. One of them kept making a hilarious sound that Nicole mimicked to taunt it. No zoo would be complete without giraffe's and this zoo had quite a few to offer. Nicole was more interested in the statue animals than the real ones, since we saw more of them than the real deal. In case you are wondering why there are so few hippos in the world, it is because the Taipei zoo has them all...go ahead and count. Like a kid in a candy shop when it comes to the zoo.

Nicole and I wander through a good portion of the zoo and wondered why it was so quiet and why we weren't seeing very many animals. Turns out the zoo closed at 5:00 p.m. and when we actually exited it it was almost 6:00 p.m. That clearly explains why the statue animals were far more appealing.

After the zoo we headed to Zhiangxao Soho deptartment store because we were told there was a great dumplings restaurant there. Apparently, such stars as Brad Pitt, have made appearances there. We were also told the wait to get in was about an hour, so we anticipated that. However, when we arrived we flipped through the menu, ordered the food and were sitted within 15 minutes.

Here is what we ordered. Two different kinds of dumplings, a gluten-free sticky rice wrap and some vegetable-shrimp soup.

It was definitely worth the money we spent and the 15 minute wait...lol!

We couldn't decide what we wanted to do afterward because it was our last night there, so we didn't want to get too drunk because a plane ride hungover would suck. We ended up deciding on the Xiamen night market again. We wanted to try and get to all the bars there before we left Taipei. Considering how many times we went to this area for drinks you'd think we would have taken more pictures, but nope, not until our last night.

Nicole was enjoying her beverage, but she liked mine better.

My drink was really really good, that is why I had three of them :)

We headed back to the hostel eventually because we wanted a relatively early night because we had to leave by 11:00 a.m.

We woke-up early, so that we could head to the airport with plenty of time to enjoy the business lounge. Once we got to Taipei main station we went on a search an airport bus. After walking around in the heat for a good twenty minutes we found a foreigner guy with his Taiwanese friend who gave us directions to the bus depot. Once we finally got there we were offered a great deal on a taxi ride to the airport and it would get us there faster than the bus. Of course, we took them up on the offer because there was much free drinking too be done. We got to the airport around noon, so that gave us 2.5 hours of all we can eat and drink before boarding the plane for more all we can drink. The Taipei aiport business lounge was nicer than the Korean one. It was huge and the food selection was way better.

Me in the business lounge enjoying my free food, free beer and the Boston Red Sox kicking some serious Yankee ass!! Nicole was very excited they served hot dogs in the business lounge. However, she was disappointed in how sweet the bun tasted.

We were one of the last ones to board the plane again, but we managed to make it through the business class doors this time. The plane ride back was awesome, we had our own TV's, loads of leg room and we took advantage of the free booze.

When we landed back in Korea it felt good to be home. The train ride home wasn't that great because it takes about 90 minutes, so the buzz we had from drinking was dying down.

Nicole and I parted ways to go home, shower, change, unpack, etc before we met up again and did some more drinking...Taiwan was a GREAT time and I can't wait for my next vacation.

THE END