Taipei - Day 3

"We're going to the zoo zoo zoo ... how about you you you?" 

The weather was finally looking better this morning so we made our way to Asia's largest zoo - the Taipei zoo  . While the facilities are not as high tech as Singapore but the zoo had everything it needed, from Pandas to Giraffes, Leopards and elephants. It was big but could be conquered in under 3 hours and the weather was absolutely lovely. What was the most memorable was the Siamang who was howling away , apparently to mark their territory. It was also quite scary as we were afraid it would jump out at us after it started swinging wildly.

Next, we went to the Huaxi Street Night Market (used to be famous for snake eating) to eat what was supposed to be the best 滷肉飯 ever .. "Ah1 Yi4 Lu3 Rou4 Fan4" , Eel noodles and this special fish called Si1 Mu4 Yu2. Cayen enjoyed the 滷肉飯 thoroughly , in fact he stole some fatty meats right under my nose when I was not looking. Tsk tsk! 

Then we ate some special Taiwanese fruits that is a cross of Custard Apple and Pineapple which was really sweet.

Then, we went to walk around that area and apparently many of the foods and cakes there reminded my parents of what they had when they were young. So I guess there are many similarities between life in Taiwan and Singapore some 30-40 years ago.

Then, I passed by this street where there was a strange aura in the air as I noticed there's quite a few ladies in heels lurking around these staircases. I suspected that this might be some red light district but I wasn't very sure as they were all bundled up (as weather was cold) and they don't looked particularly vampish. Nonetheless, my suspicion was confirmed by my in laws later on and also by my father who said someone grabbed his arms to proposition him! 

Next, we made our way to Ximending for a while to look around a little and I tried to find some shoes to replace my new boots (gotten last night as my shoes gave way last night after all that rain) that were killing me. Managed to pick up a few pairs of shoes for my sis and myself since they averaged less than $20 per pair and looked pretty good. 

Then, we headed back to hotel to take a rest but Cayen was not ready for bed.  So we headed out to Taipei 101 to stroll around. On the way there, Cayen was squirming in my arms and I was wondering why he was so fidgety. Then I realised he was playing peek-a-boo with 2 girls walking behind us! What a young casanova! Then we went to the supermarket in 101 where there's this cute little trolley for kids. Cayen loved it so much !

That evening, we ate at a seafood restaurant helmed by this famous chef at Tong1 Hua4 Jie1. Next we ventured around the night market and decided to buy Cayen a pair of shoes. We made the mistake of letting him choose first and when we decided to walk away after we saw the price tag (unreasonably high for night market), he was super upset. He kept turning back to point towards the shoes even after we walked quite a few shops away from the show shoe shop. Learning: Do not let him choose before we know the price. He actually have clear preferences and he remembers!

Given that my FIL entertained him in the shops where you could "catch" the soft toys, Cayen developed this radar for these shops along the shop. He would look out for these shops and exclaimed with great excitement whenever he passed by one. That was one thing that kept him engaged whenever we attempted to do shopping of any sort and it might well surpassed his obsession for Macdonalds which he fondly referred to as 麦. We ended the night feeling very full as usual. 

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