Kaohsiung-Saturday

We got up early on Saturday, ready to see the city.  We ate breakfast at the hotel, and took a cab to Monkey Mountain.  There was some confusion with the cab driver, and we ended up at the zoo first.  Another tourist there knew where we wanted to go, and we came to the right place a few minutes later.  We started up the hill, and hiked through some of the most beautiful scenery I had ever seen.

Banyan Tree

Linda and I stumbled upon a formal garden, in the middle of the jungle.

Monkey Rock

Wild Lilies

View of Kaohsiung

Huge plants, views of the city, even a mountain goat-but no monkeys.  Peggy stopped to rest for awhile, and Linda and I kept going, all the way to the top of the mountain.  Still no monkeys.  We started back down, and then got that fateful text from Peggy:

I have Monkeys

We found her, and the monkeys.  Too many to count, fighting, playing, and grooming.  The babies make cooing sounds.  These pictures were not zoomed, this is how close they came.

They're well protected, and are not fed by the tourists.  If they feel the need to defend their territory, they'll grunt and show you their beautiful white fangs.  True story.
In all, we hiked about four hours, and according to Peggy's app, 10 miles.  Next, we went to the Dream Mall, and had a late lunch at TGIFriday's.  We wandered through the mall, and went up to the amusement park on the roof to ride the Ferris Wheel.

After we came back down, we went back to the hotel, and Linda went to Pingtung to see her old coworkers, and Peggy and I hung out at the hotel.  Dinner was a sandwich, after all that good food, I needed something light.