Adventures with Catherine, The Taipei Zoo

Sunday was the second in our planned series of excursions together. We decided to stay close to home for this one because we wanted to catch a movie that night. We headed over to the Taipei Zoo at about 11:30. It's about a 30-45 minute subway trip to the southeastern part of the city. The weather was perfect. When we got to the gate, we were shocked to see the crowd, the place was packed. Wall-to-Wall kids. That's OK, part of the fun is seeing the little kid's reactions to the animals. Admission to the zoo is only about $2 American, a bargain. We took our time and enjoyed the tour. Before we knew it, it was nearly 5:00. We were both pretty hungry so we decided to head over to near the movie theater and grab some dinner. I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story...

These guys are Formosan Macaque's. They are monkeys indigenous to Taiwan. We spent a lot of time just watching them interact. It's remarkable how social they are. It was like watching a reality TV show...lol.

Here are the macaques tending to each other. We watched one pick the bugs off the stomach of another and eat them...fascinating stuff...lol. They were very playful and seemed to feed off of the attention from the visitors.

Catherine looking cute, as usual. She had a lot of fun, except when we were looking at the snakes and lizards.

He just couldn't be bothered. It was pretty hot so I think he didn't feel much like entertaining.

An Asian elephant. Catherine told me that there are a lot of these in her country. This guy looks pretty old. The Asian elephants didn't seem quite as active as the African elephants that are pictured in a later shot. Quite a few kids were huddled around and in awe of every move by this guy.

Taipei Zoo cont'd

Catherine always wants me to be in the pictures with her...I ruined a perfectly good shot..lol.

Up close and personal. Can't remember what this lizard is called. There were two of them and their heads bobbed up and down wildly.

This is just outside the Penguin house. It's nice to be so close to the crazy city and not have to see the ugly gray buildings and choke on the air.

Mugging for the camera. We had a lot of fun. Catherine is the ideal companion for these trips. She is so easy-going. I think it's perfect because I am such a spaz.

There were many other animals that we enjoyed but the pics just didn't turn out too good. Also, I was a little disappointed by the condition of some of the animals. The famous Taiwan Black Bears looked a little rough. Psychologically, the animals have to be a bit strained. I have always been skeptical about zoos. I know that often times a zoos can rescue a species from extinction. But, at the same time, what the heck are we doing caging them for our amusement? Oh well, we had a nice day and trip #2 was a success!