Taipei - Mao Kong Gondola

While in Taipei with Florence, we tried the Mao Kong Gondola. Taipei is sometimes described as a city at the bottom of a bowl made of mountains. So the Gondola goes from the bottom of the bowl up to the top of one of the surrounding mountains. The length of the gondola route is 4030 meters, so almost 2.5 miles.

In Taipei, most transportation services can be paid for with the Easy Card. The subway, buses and the Gondola can all be paid with the Easy Card, I think there are plans to make taxis also payable with the Easy Card. Adding funds to the Easy Card is easy, you can do it at many stations including 7/11 stores. No more fumbling with correct change.

The day we went it was drizzling and so we didn't get much of a view, but of course if the weather was good we would have to fight the crowds. Always there are tradeoffs.

On nice feature is that some of the gondolas are "Crystal Gondolas" meaning they have a glass floor so you can look down.

There have been a few interruptions in service since gondola service was started on July 4th, 2007. Some have been due to mudslides and typhoons. While we were there service was halted for a few minutes because of an small earthquake. In Taiwan, small tremors happen all the time, usually they're no big deal.

At the top there is a station and then a temple and some restaurants.

The restaurant at the top served the indigenous Taiwanese dishes which are different from the more usual Chinese dishes. We would have had a better view while eating but again it was drizzling.

They say some people come up to the top at night to see the night lights of Taipei below. We'll have to try that someday.