Day 5 ~ Presidential Palace and the Taipei Zoo

Day 5 began with a visit to the presidential palace near West downtown Taipei.  We weren't able to take photos inside the palace itself, aside from one of the gardens.  We were given a tour and a brief overview of the political history of Taiwan.  The next presidential election will be held in January, next month.  After the presidential palace visit, we spent some time in the surrounding city, the West side of Taipei, exploring different streets specializing in different goods.  One street was filled with shoe stores, another with books, and another was filled with camera stores.  After a bit of shopping, we headed to the Taipei Zoo.  It is outside of the city proper, and set into a valley.  The entire zoo is designed around the jungle theme, with plants everywhere, and the animal pens surrounded by trenches and plants instead of a lot of concrete.  The zoo was very well maintained also.  I was able to see many animals that I have never seen at home which was very exciting.  The pandas were my favorite.