Taiwan Day 155: Year of the Horse - Feb. 2, 2014

My Chinese New Year celebration was not yet over! Since today was still a holiday most of the tourist destinations, restaurants and malls were still closed but a few were open to offer people some place to relax. Taipei Zoo was one of them. It was only closed in Chinese New Year's Eve but for the rest of the days it was open.

It was my second time here in Taipei Zoo and the first time was in Taiwan Day 63. I only explored the Formosan Animal Area, Amphibian and Reptile House, Penguin House and the brown bear on that day. I'm not a typical tourist so I don't need to make an amazing race type of trip in Taiwan.

I expected that there will be a few people visiting the zoo because of the holidays but I was wrong. Taipei Zoo was packed with people about three or four times my first visit. The number of visitors tremendously increased when the baby panda have his/her debut in the Panda House.

I have planned to see the baby panda but before I bought the entrance tickets a sign was place on the window telling all people that all the tickets to the Panda House were already distributed. I don't have to pay anything to enter the Panda House but based on the rules the tickets were randomly picked at the gate and the tickets have different entry times. Aside from that there was also a limit on the number of people who can enter the Panda House on a single day. Anyway seeing the baby panda was just an option in this weekend travel adventure so it was okay.

It was hot that morning. The temperature was around 24 degrees Celsius. I don't know if winter was really officially over but maybe since I have seen in the news that the cherry blossoms in Taiwan have started to bloom. I will see those sakura soon.

I have visited first the Education Center since there was an exhibit about the Horse Family. I was surprised that there was a separate ticket but it was only 20 NTD. The exhibit was not that exciting but I was able to have a feel on the texture of the skin of zebras. I learned from that exhibit that there were many kinds of zebras. I didn't know that since they all look the same. lol

After that exhibit, I went around the zoo to look for all horses. I have my Taipei Zoo map that I got in Taiwan Day 63 and I already marked with a star the five horses in that map. I took photos of the donkey and the mini-horse. In the Taipei Zoo map there was no mini-horse but a pony but I'm sure that the mini-horses that I saw were the pony. They were located in the Children's Zoo area.

I made a long walk all the way to the African Animal Area with all the hundreds of Taiwanese walking along with their kids. Sunday was really a family day in Taipei! I first saw the Chapman's zebra (Equus quagga chapmani) and I was awed with the view. There were lots of them in their cage. I maybe wrong to describe that it was a cage. Their place was just too big and it looks like they were in their natural habitat.

After I saw the Chapman's zebra I encountered the next horse on my list. It was the Grévy's zebra (Equus grevyi). It was just alone in its area. I checked wikipedia and I found out that this animal was territorial and an endangered specie. I don't know if people who visited the zebras I mentioned noticed the difference.

The last horse that I saw was the Przewalski's Wild Horse (Equus ferus przewalskii). I have made good photos and it was fun watching them.

Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year as I always hear in the news. Whatever name they call it, 2014 is definitely the Year of the Horse.

Yah! tigidig... tigidig...

Sakura Series - Taiwan

2026 Forecast

Taipei 101 first flowers

Tianyuan Palace backyard

Taipei Flower Test Center

Pingjing St. Lane 42

Broadwood Park

Sunshine Sports Park kawazu sakura

Wuling Farm (武陵農場)

SYS kawazu sakura

Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village

CKS Memorial Hall

Shibafen Yoshino Sakura

Hope River

Dongfang Temple

Tianyuan Palace

Neicou Stream Trail

Orange Garden Cafe

Yangming Park Visitor Information Center

Yangming Park Service Center Bus Stop

Huashan Road

Qianshan Park

Zhongshan Hall Entrance

Tenglong Sakura Farm

Flower Test Center Shōwa Sakura

Neihu Creek Trail

Shulin Land Office

Xióng Kōng Cherry Blossom Forest

Lung Yen Sakura Forest

Yangming Park cherry stream

Yangming Park fountain

CKS Memorial Hall Tairyō sakura

Wugu District Tianyi Road

CKS Memorial Hall yaesakura

Loving Farm

Yong Long Farm

Zhongbaling Sakura Road

Sun Link Sea

Tai'an Police Station

Cherry Hill Slope

Hsinchu Park

Taipei 101

Kāng Gào Kēng Creek

New Garden City

Broadwood Park

Tianyuan Palace backyard

Pingjing St. Lane 42

Alishan Ranger Station

Alishan House

Alishan Police Station

Alishan Forest Railway

Alishan Station

Alishan Entrance

Alishan Gou Hotel

Alishan Magnolia Garden

Wulai tour

Wun Chang Elementary School

Bishanyan

Sanzhi Sansheng Trail

Sakura Series - Taiwan

Nei Cuo Stream

Orange Garden Cafe

Sansheng Trail

Tenglong Sakura Farm

Yangming Park Cherry Stream

Yangming Park Fountain

Flower Test Center

Broadwood Park

New Garden City

Yinghua Park

Pingjing St. Lane 42

Yangmingshan Visitor Center

Taipei 101

Tianyuan Palace backyard

Sakura Series - Japan

Kamonyama Park

Near the Nippon Maru Memorial Park

Shinko Park

Minato-mirai 21 area

Tokyo Tech Suzukakedai Campus

Onda River

Tenryuji

Byodoin

Kiyomizudera

Himuro shrine and Yakushi-ji Temple

Hōryū-ji Temple

Nara Park attractions

Tokyo Tech Ookayama Campus

Sumida River

Tsuruma Park

Gion

Maple Series

Taipei Aowanda

Shimen Dam

Alishan

Aowanda

Shanlinxi

Taoyuan Valley Garden

Fushoushan Farm

Yehliu to Jiufen? Yehliu to Shifen? Cheaper than yellow taxis

The "Taipei kong mahal" (My beloved Taipei)

Always in my heart

MRT birdman

Valentine's Day

Tulips Festival

2018 Taipei Lantern Festival

City of Azaleas

Linji Huguo Temple

Nanjichang Night Market

Gudetama Chef restaurant

Dalongdong Bao'an Temple

Shilin hollyhocks

Ningxia Night Market

Ximending graffiti

Discovery Center of Taipei

Chunghwa Postal Museum

Double-Decker Bus

Shilin Cold Balls

Jingimoo

GomanMango

mud volcanic ice

Fire and Ice Dumpling

Opium Fen-Yuan

Ichiran Ramen

Liu Shandong Beef Noodles

hydrangea flowers

National Palace Museum

Other attractions in Taipei

Taipei on a budget

Japanese buildings

Dāoxiāomiàn beef noodles

Presidential Office Building

Yongkang St. and Elephant Mountain

CKS and SYS Hall

City tour

Beitou ramen

MRT Monopoly Game

Winter city tour

Zhicheng Park

Shilin Plum Blossom

Art museums

Shopping in Taipei

Summer desserts

Qingtiangang

Qixingshan hiking

2015 Calla lily

2016 Calla lily

Beitou tour

Beitou-Zhuzihu tour

NTU

Confucius Temple

2015 Dadaocheng Festival

Puppet Museum

Fantasy Ice World

2016 Bread Show

Strawberry picking

2015 Rose Garden

Modern Toilet

Shilin Night Market

NASA Exhibit

Raohe Night Market

Longshan Temple

2013 Taipei Zoo

Maokong Gondola

Lupin flowers

Taipei 101 day visit

Taipei 101 night visit

Tiger Mountain

Din Tai Fung

Taipei Story House

2014 Flower Show

Chrysanthemum Show

Miramar Ferris wheel

Miniatures Museum

Archery

1600 Pandas

Wulaoguo hot pot

Upside Down House

2016 101 Fireworks

New Taipei

Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival

Elephant Rock SUP/kayaking

Meteor Garden school

Tamsui Pumpkin Tunnel

Shifen Waterfall

2017 Sand Sculpture

Dragon Caves

New Taipei tour

2016 Kite Festival

Pingxi Crags

Bitou Cape

2016 Sand Sculpture

2015 Christmasland

Juming - Jinshan

Houtong - Pingxi

Sandiaoling Waterfall

Jiufen foodtrip

Guanyinshan hike

Yehliu Ocean World

2014 Kite Festival

Pingxi Rail tour

Jinguashi tour

Vigor Kobo Pineapple

British Consulate

Yehliu Geopark

2014 Sand Sculpture

Paragliding

2014 Christmasland

2014 Pingxi Lantern

firefly watching

Yingge Ceramics Street

Jiufen tour