Taiwan 4: Maokong Gondola Ride Near Taipei Zoo (17. Jan. '18)

Just outside of Taipei, but still connected to the city's MRT, is the Taipei Zoo.
How was the zoo? I have no idea. I went there for the Maokong Gondola, nothing else.
Besides, I like to take my time--and I was leaving Taipei the next day.
Taipei Zoo will have to wait.

Gondola ride, here I come!

The ride up

Getting off at Exit 1 of Taipei Zoo MRT Station, just walk about 3 min. to the Maokong Gondola Taipei Zoo Station. If you have an EasyCard, you can just tap it and avoid the ticket lines altogether. I believe you also get a small discount.

Signs from the MRT station pointing in the right direction.

Apparently, there are separate lanes for motorbikes & cars.

Let's get on a gondola and move on up!

FYI: some gondolas have clear glass floors, but you need to reserve them. For everyone else, you get the regular floors that you can't see through. Wish I knew that ahead of time.

My gondola's shadow

This was the 1st of 3 such stations.

If you look at the next picture, you'll see the gondola route has 4 stations. Between each of these stations is a separate "No disembarkation at this station" station. I'm pretty sure this is to make the gondolas more stable (says the knows-nothing tourist).

Have you noticed in the picture above this gondola route is 4 km long?

Looking back towards the bottom station.

Panorama of Taipei (from the southwestern corner looking northeast). Can you spot Taipei 101?

Well, that's it. Time to get off and explore.

Being up there

Let's explore!

Nice little path right by the gondola station.

Oh yeah, this is nice.

Hmm, you have any teahouses up here?

Forget tea, get ice cream!

I want to say that was green tea ice cream, but I have no idea.

The cat cookie was kinda cute, but also quite dry.

Route Map

Observatory Point (-ish)

You really can see Taipei 101 from anywhere in Taipei!

This may seem like a short walk because it was. Normally, I would've walked through that entire route--and some side-routes too. However, I'm plagued with plantar fasciitis and really shouldn't be walking.

If I'm honest, I probably shouldn't be traveling.

I figure if people with chronic pain can travel, why can't I? I can still move, I just need to be more careful.

I wanted to go back down. There were several options.

1. Hike/Walk down (out of the question)

2. Bus (and risk carsickness)

3. Taxi (and be guaranteed carsickness)

4. Gondola (with long lines)

I tend to be the kind of person who goes one way and comes back another. I also hate lines. Then again, when will I have the opportunity to ride a gondola for 8 km roundtrip again?

Gondola it is.

The ride back down

The lines were moving faster than I expected, to my joy. Then I understood.
When I went up, I had the gondola all to myself. Many people wanted to take it down (it was around 16:00), so the gondolas were filled (6-person capacity).
Meh, not what I would've preferred, but let's roll with it.

Here I go again.

It looked way better in person than in this picture.

That same highway again (at the same "don't get off here" station).

Coming down to Home.

Let's go back to the hostel and call it a night.

Wait! I haven't gotten my souvenirs yet! Time to remedy that.