Destination 6.1.2 : Around Taipei City, It's all about shopping!!!

View from MRT Entrance

Now it's something around the Taipei City

Stlll in Taipei
Shopping? This is the post you should read.
Meals from breakfast to supper are included.

All of the tourism area listed here are close to the Taipei Main Station and reachable by MRT. So, it is possible to fit them into a day (excluding lengthy shopping hour).
Suggested itinerary? At the end of the page...

Start with the place I stayed

Ximen 西門

You can reach here by Blue line, Ximen

It's just next to Taipei Main Station

Time estimation for here? Maybe half day from evening till midnight for shopaholic.

Street performance with Stage Built (one night only)

Illegal Food Stalls

This place is sort of a shopping street where it's crowded from noon to night

You won't feel bored if you stay here

It's very close to the MRT station

Stores and restaurants all along the town

This place is famous for street art also

You can see a lot of street artists showing their talents from drawing to singing along the street

At night, maybe around 10+pm, you can see a lot of stalls selling food and fashion accessories 

Actually... these stalls are illegal, you might see them running away from police raiding

Some of those food really taste great

We had potato balls, some traditional onion pancake, and non-taiwanese kebab XD

If these foods are kinda too cheap for you

There's a Japanese restaurant in the Eslite Mall (the one closer to the MRT Station)

Azabu Sabo (麻布茶房）

Very bling bling menu

Each set cost from 300 to 400 NTD included drink

Beef Set

Curry Chicken Set

100NTD Extra for Dessert

The portion is somehow a little too much for me

Sharing is recommended

Breakfast?
This is a famous one around the 1st junction in the town from the station.

This is the only food you eat there...
It costs around 50NTD per bowl

Across the road, you will this red bricked building

Ximen Red Bricked Building

This area is sort of artistic town

You can find a lot of stalls in the evening during weekend

Oh and there are gay bars behind the street also

Whole row of the street are gay bars with lotsa people

Lotsa sign board

We spent our last night here with these

Cocktails

and these... XD

Snack platter : Kimchi, tofu, sausages, vege, etc

Let me add-on something interesting before I leave Ximen

Tata!!

Dog riding bike

oopsss...

almost forgot my 1st meal in Taiwan
Also in Ximen, just next to our accommodation building
This is one of the recommended steamboat by our tour guide (Taiwanese).  

Steamboat buffet (open till late)
~500NTD per pax

Buffet with seafood, meat, vege
Pork slice? Order from waiter without extra charges

Dessert : Haagen Dazs (BUFFET!!!) 

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Too busy with the street?

You can go to visit a temple nearby

Just next to Ximen if you ride MRT
(MRT Blue Line : LongShan Temple 龍山寺)

Longshan Temple Station

Longshan Temple

As the station name, it's a temple

There's two way to reach there

You may go through the park outdoor

where there's a lot of grannies around

The park that's facing the temple

or the underground shopping mall

which normally opened at 11am

Breakfast?

There's a street beside the temple

with a lot of food stalls

just grabbed whatever you wanna eat

I don't think you can get these easily at other places

Well....

There's kinda a lotsa people chanting in the temple

It's the first time I see this much of people chanting in a temple by their own

The way to pray... just follow what everybody's doing

and THROW the joss stick to the pot

ya throw...

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okay...

get back to the busy town

shopping again?

MRT Blue line : Zhong Xiao Fu Xin (忠孝復興）Exit No.4

The biggest Sogo department store in Taiwan

There are 2 Sogo malls there

You can find a very nice food in one of them

It's steamboat :D

Something unique for this is the soya milk soup
and MEEEAAAATTTTT for shabu shabu *drooling*
And it cost around 45,000NTD per set (per pax).

Around this area, you can go to few underground shopping streets from the MRT station. 

The Otaku Street in Y Taipei City Mall (Y臺北地下街）

Around the area of Y20 (from map)

Selling a lotsa console games, figurine, anime and etc

Or even something more classy that is also linked to the street

This mall sells fashion related products.

Girls, you might like this

The Hello Kitty cafe that is few walk from here

Everything is so pinky inside

Avoid this cafe if you are having phobia toward pink

And there's term and condition to dine in the cafe

Minimum spending of 300NTD per pax

AND you can only stay for 1.5 hours

I'm sure Hello Kitty fans don't wanna miss these... (I'm not a hello kitty fan okay...)

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So what's for dinner?
of course it's night market again!!!
(MRT Red Line: ShuangLian (雙連）
For NingXia night market, there's only food you can find
Length is about 0.5km with stalls from both side

These were the stalls we tried and they have freaking long queue
(we only tried them for their long queue, we don't have extra space for extra food)
Recommended!!!

In Taiwan, there's always fried chicken. This stall had them well seasoned.

This one is famous for fried Taro (yam) ball
They sell either with or without egg within
The queue for this is damn long but the service is fast

This is one of the stall you need to grab a seat
Fried Udon, Oden and sushi roll.
Sushi roll and fried udon are the most ordered dishes from the crowded. 

The last one (one that is close to the station)
Fried bun with salad filling

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Although the next destination is a bit far
but I think it is better to fit it here as it is too far to fit it into other Taiwan post of mine
(Or maybe you can come here while you're going to Taipei 101

It's the garment shopping paradise (because they are so so cheap, yup... i'm a cheapskate >.<)
The place is called WuFenPu 五分埔
You can reach here by MRT Blue Line HouShanPi 後山埤(Somewhere around the end of right)


You can more cheaper garments when it's about the end of a season.
Sense of fashion? Asian (Close to Japanese).

It is only open to public from  to , 3pm to 6pm
This place is meant for wholesale and you can only buy less at these time

This place is quite crowded and please beware of you belongings
Even the storekeepers around kept warn us for this

Since most of the items are so cheap, you can't really try them except for shoes or some pants.
Please bargain the price before you try any item, it will be too late to bargain after you tried them.

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Suggested very busy itinerary of the day :

1) Breakfast : Mee Sua in Ximen / Food stalls beside LongShan Temple

2) Warm up : LongShan Temple

3) Shopping : Sogo / Undergound shopping street 

4) Lunch : Steamboat in Sogo

5) Continue to shop till you drop

6) Tea Time : Hello Kitty Cafe around Sogo

7) Shopping : Wu Fen Pu wholesale center

8) Dinner : NingXia Night Market at ShuangLian Station

9) Shopping : Ximen

10) Supper : Around Ximen

These are the suggestion to fit everything tightly in a day.

Enjoy your shopping.

把錢花光，為國爭光。