Read this blog: The one where we can’t avoid a glass floor
Monday 3rd March 2025
We had decided to take a ride on the Maokong Gondola which runs between Taipei Zoo and Maokong [literally translated this means ‘cat area’ probably after the wild cats which lived there]. Matilda was initially expecting a boat ride on water until she realised that the Maokong Gondola was in fact a cable car.
We took the Wenhu line to the Taipei Zoo stop then walked the short distance to the gondola station.
Having queued at the ticket office we were told that it was “cash only” at the booth and we had to use the machines if we wanted to pay by card. An all day pass costs NT$300.
The Maokong Gondola opened on 4 July 2007. Matilda was pleased that she had not known in advance that on the first day of operation in 2007, a faulty door lock left both the serving Mayor and the former Mayor of Taipei suspended in mid-air for 10 minutes.
Our ride went more smoothly. The cable car spans 4.3 km or 2.7 miles and has four passenger stations although not all of them were in use when we travelled.
Looking down we saw that the cherry blossom seems to flower early in Taipei: usually in the UK the blossom doesn’t appear until April or May.
The valleys are lush and green with vegetation.
Maokong used to be the biggest tea growing area of Taipei. Now it is famous for growing oolong tea and you can still see neat rows of tea plants in the fields below.
Tea houses at the top of the cable car ride specialise in Baozhong tea, which is a lighter oolong with subtle melon fragrance, and Tieguanyin tea [or Iron Goddess] tea, which is a slightly darker oolong with a roasted flavour, although we did not try either of them.
We then took the cable car down to the Zhinan Temple station stop to see the cherry blossom. First we admired the golden dragon fountain at the Greeting the Celestials Pavilion [see also feature photo and Video of the day].
We walked up to the cherry orchard where a sign told us that this variety of cherry tree was Prunus campanulata.
It is traditional to have your photo taken amongst the cherry blossom [see also Selfie of the day].
We walked under the cable cars.
Matilda’s Chinese Zodiac is the Year of the Ox and she thought this smiling statue looked truly benevolent.
One station down from the top is the Zhinan Temple station. The temple was founded in 1882.
Popular folklore holds that unmarried couples who visit the temple together will break up but as we have been married for almost 35 years, we can probably circumvent this fate.
As in Hong Kong on the Ngong Ping 360 cable car up to the Big Buddha there were different types of cabins and a different queue for those who had opted for a ‘Crystal Cabin’. We were surprised [and a little disconcerted] when on the way down, instead of being made to wait for a standard cabin, we were ushered into a glass-bottomed one. I think the member of staff supervising the queue thought he was doing us a favour.
However, as previously mentioned, neither of us is very comfortable walking on glass above a very, very long drop.
Thirty glass-bottomed cabins were added to the Maokong Gondola in 2010, having been retrofitted with 48mm thick glass floors. Capacity in a Crystal Cabin is limited to five people and one comes every three minutes.
It is not as bad if you look outwards rather than downwards.
We did at least have seats to sit on so we were not dependent on the glass to support all our weight. Robert wanted to be safe rather than sorry.
After our sightseeing, we returned to the Red House to visit a bar and then eat. Matilda is beginning to feel she must be in Italy based on her meals [see Dish of the day].
Video of the day:
Selfie of the day:
Dish of the day:
Route Map:
