Lovers' Trilogy in Taipei: Part 3

Post date：2015-04-22

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Travel days: 1-Day Tour
Themed Itineraries: Happiness

Introduction

Taipei Zoo ─ relive your childhood memories with a fresh perspective [suggested time allowance: 3 hours]→Maokong: a tea-inspired culinary experience [suggested time allowance: 2 hours]→Zhinan Temple & Lover's Mecca: a prayer for everlasting love [suggested time allowance: 1 hour]→Chengmei Riverside Park & Rainbow Bridge: whisper your love at the water's edge [suggested time allowance: 2 hours]→Raohe St. Night Market: a treat for your picky taste buds [suggested time allowance: 2 hours]

Taipei Zoo ─ relive your childhood memories with a fresh perspective [suggested time allowance: 3 hours] Getting there: Take MRT Route 1 (Wenhu Line) and get off at Taipei Zoo Station.
The sprawling Taipei Zoo, with its access to Muzha area's scenic and ecological resources, is home to many ingenious animals. The Zoo recreated natural habitats and living conditions of tropical, subtropical, temperate and frigid animals, including many endangered native species (the Formosan black bears, etc.) and the perpetually popular penguins, giant pandas and koalas.
Maokong: a tea-inspired culinary experience [suggested time allowance: 2 hours] Getting there: Take Maokong Gondola at Taipei Zoo South Station and get off at Maokong Station.
Maokong is a nationally renowned Tieguanyin production community in Taipei's Muzha area. The authentic Maokong Tieguanyin boasts rich flavors that vary with time, climate and even the farmers' cultivation techniques. Other than terraced, hillside-clinging tea plantations, reflecting a myriad shades of green, Maokong is famous for exquisite tea parlors and lounges that allow you to unwind over an aromatic brew and tea-inspired delicacies, while immersing in Muzha's picturesque, tea-blanketed landscape.
Zhinan Temple & Lover's Mecca: a prayer for everlasting love [suggested time allowance: 1 hour] Getting there: Take Maokong Gondola at Maokong Station and get off at Zhinan Temple Station.
Lover's Mecca is a public art project located right next to Zhinan Temple, atop the backside of the hill to ensure a fantastically panoramic view of Taipei Basin. Architectural highlights of the project include “lover's stairs”, a viewing deck with interlocked hearts, benches resembling divination blocks and “lover's locks”, all designed to offer couples, married or not, an amazing backdrop of prayers to the Yue Lao (literally the “old man under the moon”) - the Chinese Cupid.
Chengmei Riverside Park & Rainbow Bridge: whisper your love at the water's edge [suggested time allowance: 2 hours] Getting there: Take Maokong Gondola at Zhinan Temple Station, get off at Taipei Zoo Station and make a transfer on MRT Route 1 (Wenhu Line), get off at Nanjing-Fuxing Station and change to MRT Route 3 (Songshan-Xindian Line), get off at Songshan Station (Exit 3), walk along Section 4, Bade Road towards Songshan Elementary School, turn left onto Zhongpo N. Road, keep walking and turn right again onto Songhe Street, and continue for about 3 minutes to reach the Park.
Chengmei Riverside Park South lies between the Keelung River-spanning Chenggong Bridge and the Nangang end of MacArthur Bridge No. 1. After sunset, a corridor of light and water connects the Park to its northern stretch, promising a romantic Valentine's experience. You can sit on a stone bench, styled after the word “forever”, and watch illuminated waterfront sculptures and the nightscape beyond. You can also hang “padlocks of love” on gigantic letters of LOVE or IOU, and walk hand-in-hand down the stunning Rainbow Bridge.
Raohe St. Night Market: a treat for your picky taste buds [suggested time allowance: 2 hours] Getting there: Move downtown from Watergate No. 4 (i.e. Raohe Evacuation Gate, right beside the Rainbow Bridge) to reach the night market.
Among the countless must-try delicacies served in Raohe St. Night Market are the famous rice noodles with oysters; crunchy, well-braised pork intestines; delightful Chinese herbal pork ribs that promise to chase away winter chill minus the offensive odor of meat; assorted stews, including the ultra-bouncy Dongshan Duck Heads that taste heavenly when chilled; tender crab legs; old-fashioned Taiwanese tofu pudding; and many more!