Today was the first beautiful day we've had in Taiwan. Partly cloudy and 23 degrees. Perfect zoo weather. Took the MRT down to the zoo after lunch. Everyone at school was quite jealous.
The Taipei zoo is quite nice and very large. I still haven't seen the whole thing, and I've been there four times. Of course, I always seem to be in the African Animals area as that is what kids like most. So, I've seen that part four times. It costs less than $2 Canadian to get in, and Michael is free, so we should be going fairly often as soon as it stops raining. They have a little train with one stop near the entrance, and the other at the far end that costs about 15 cents, which is great, because then you can just walk back towards the entrance, and it's mostly downhill.
Now Michael had gone to the bathroom right before we left the school. But, even so, before we got on the train, I asked him if he wanted to go potty. "No, thank you." (He's so polite.) And what should happen once I've paid our fare and we're waiting in line, not even two minutes after asking him to go? "Uh, oh. Mommy, me wet." Well, I couldn't exactly change him there, so he waited in his wet pants (which were a navy blue, so I don't think anyone could tell) for the train. We took the train up, and then found the nearest bathroom, after watching a giant tortoise poke it's head out and move one leg (it was huge!).
Michael had told everyone at school that he was going to the zoo, and he was pretty excited about it, but I think the longest he ever stayed looking at one animal was maybe 10 seconds (and that's only when I got out the camera to take a picture of him). He really wanted to see the monkeys, but once we got there, he wanted to see the lions, then the elephants, then the giraffes. You get the idea. It was a pleasant walk anyways.
A white three year old boy with blue eyes sure does generate a lot of attention here. Especially among the late teen, early twenties female crowd. There were at least four that came up to us at the zoo asking for pictures with Michael, and I noticed a lot of others taking pictures without asking. Some other parents would nudge their kids close to Michael so that they could get him in their pictures as well. He'll be famous by the time we leave.
Michael was too tired to walk back to the entrance, so we took the zoo train again. We then decided to go to the zoo mall because I had heard about all the cool things that they had done to it. Well, they either hadn't started or they had already closed it down, because the only things that were open were a couple of souvenir shops, a McDonalds and one Chinese restaurant. Michael was begging for ice cream, so I dragged him down the long empty strip to where the TCBYs used to be. Gone. So all the way back to the other end to stand in the insanely long line at McDonalds. Then we got take out at the Chinese restaurant.
We were both exhausted by this point, but managed to make it to the bus stop. I knew that one of the buses that went to the zoo went right by our house, but when I looked at the bus route map (all in Chinese), it seemed to me that my house was at one end and the zoo was at the other. With many many stops all over in between. We waited about ten minutes, and then I just decided to take a taxi.
This was the first time that I've taken a taxi without someone else there to give directions. I had my address written in Chinese, but most drivers don't recognize my street, although they know which community it's in because of the name (kind of like Calgary in that respect). I knew my house was fairly close by, just in the community across from the zoo (although they're separated by a river, which can only be crossed at certain points). I've also never approached my community from the zoo side so I had no idea how to get to my street. At one point I told the driver to go right, when he should have gone left, because I recognized the intersection. It was right by where the stairs come down, but I didn't feel like walking up 219 stairs. We got back eventually, and it cost a little more than I expected (around $5 Canadian), but we made it safe and sound.
I think in the future, I'll just take the MRT and bus. If a sunny future does await me... I'm getting really tired of the cold and rain.
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