| Taipei |
Click on Images to view images I took of Taipei. Impression Of Taipei My impression of Taipei is that, Taipei is pretty much of a fun place to be in, but i don't think there would be much fun left after being there for 4 times in 2 years, the reason why I get to go Taipei so many times in 2 years it's purely because of work :P. The 1st time, every place was filled with a lot of "cultural" feeling. Shopping in Taipei is a very good experience especially who peeps who are into NIKE, Adidas, Puma etc. They have a very wide range of sports products at their shopping areas. Shopping areas would include places like Shi Lin Night Market(NM), Xi Meng Ding, Rao He NM, Wu Fen Pu, Taipei 101, Xing Guang San Yue so on. For shoppers who are into cheap deals, going to Wu Fen Pu and the Night Markets would be a better ideas as these places carries nice and trendy apparels at low cost :). It's up to individual bargaining skills at these places, if you're good at bargaining, no doubt you will be able to get a good deal. During the 4 times I've been to Taipei, i managed to get to stay at a variety of hotels mainly low-cost 3-star hotels which doesnt look sleazy from the outside, shoppers might wanna consider hotels like Rainbow Hotel or Royal Castle Hotel as this 2 hotels are pretty much near to shopping areas. Rainbow Hotel is exactly at the centre of Xin Meng Ding, considered 1 of the hottest spots for teenagers to hang around with. Other choices would includes FuChun, Emperor, Vienna. These are pretty low cost for budget travellers. Travelling around in Taipei is quite hassle-free too, you can choose to walk, take a cab or use the train system. The train system is almost fool-proof, anyone can just use the train system, it's almost the same as any other train system in the other parts of the world. I would prefer taking cabs, simply because it's more comfortable, or if you're looking for excitement, cab would be a good idea as some cab drivers are racer wannabe. Try to pickup a Mitsubishi Evo cab at Xi Meng Ding, "sports" cab are quite common at Xi Meng Ding. As for food, the nice food are probably along the streets. Those roadside stalls offers some of the very nice delicacies of Taipei like smelly beancurd, oyster mee-sua, tian bu la and so on. Weak stomach need not think much, stick to Mcdonalds, fast food or restuarants. For people who intend to travel to Taipei, try to get at least 1 person who knows how to speak simple Mandarin if not, you'll be spending half of the time trying to understand what the other person is trying to say. They listens to songs from 50 Cents, Eminem, Linkin Park etc, but they cant really speak english that well. If you're short of local currency, stores like 7-11 carries ATM machines where you can draw out money if you have logos like CIRRUS, VISA or Mastercard and so on.
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