Taipei

November 1st, 2007 | Published in travel | 17 Comments

I am aware this site of mine focuses almost exclusively on South Asia (hey check out the title), and that if you’re not interested in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, or any of these places I obsess about… this site isn’t very interesting. So.

drumroll

I am going to Taipei.

Taipei! As in Taiwan. As in the Republic of China. As in.. a Chinese place. (Yes, finally.)

I’ve often told Preetam Rai we will exchange notes when push comes to shove and I do indeed go somewhere Chinese… that man’s the China/Taiwan/East Asia expert. The irony.

My wonderful, lovely, well-travelled, articulate readers: tell me something about Taipei.

Your favourite restaurant. The best place for beef noodles or ji pa. Who wins the dimsum wars. Clubs. Cafes. Interesting stories or fascinating neighbourhoods. Am I going to get by with my Hokkien. Things like that. Do you have a place or a website to recommend? I just don’t know where to start. I have all this travel research kungfu about South Asia and Southeast Asia, but none in East Asia. I keep looking for Chinese language websites about Taiwan — traditional or simplified Chinese — but I can’t be arsed to read a billion characters before finding out if the site’s any good. Better still: I’m interested in hearing from people who actually live there. I have friends in every major Indian city, but none in my (hypothetical) backyard.

Taipei seems to be such an exciting city, I can’t wait to go. Get in touch with my roots and all that, y’know. In addition to eating a lot. From what I’ve heard, Taipei might be the (Chinese) food heaven I’ve been waiting for. The older I get, the more Chinese (and Hokkien) I become, the more I look forward to great Chinese food!

Alvin Wong

http://eatbma.blogspot.com/2007/10/chuan-wang-g...

must try Chuan Wang Beef Noodles. convenient location just opposite from SOGO.

Kristiano

I'm not really interested in SEA but I don't find this blog the least boring.

Have you tried Wikitravel?

shu

i love taipei, i really do.
firstly, night markets. the mother of all night markets is shilin night market. there are quite a numbers of night markets around, so have fun.

check out the mecca of mandopop and teen idol worshiping at ximending, on a school day or during the weekend (some random pop idol is surely performing). but it's amazing to check out the crowd. shopping is fantastic as well, the shopkeepers are all nasally chirpy. oh yes, ximending would easily take you two days if you are a serious shopper (which i doubt you are. haha. if i'm wrong and you really do love shopping, go to wufenpu, it's a wholesale fashion district.) it's pretty huge and confusing.
while you are at ximending, try ah zong mee sua. it's quite impossible to miss. you order your mee sua, take a spoon, stand around and take your time to slurp it.

have gallons of bubble tea. it's different from singapore. smaller pearls and mighty large cups. and i had this mango shaved ice that was out of this world.

taipei is going to be so easy for you to get around. just take the MTR.
go to danshui, or the fisherman's wharf, the bathhouses in beitou. you will have fun la.

oh yes, taipei's 7/11 do not give plastic bags for your purchase. you have to pay for it if you ask. (one thing i like to do actually, is to explore other places' convenience stores.) taipei's amazing variety of cup noodles is really impressive.

i think you can find some good chinese guides at kino. or watch channel u or tvbs. sometimes i happen to have variety shows that introduces good places for food.

i have some links on my flickr set about my trip to taipei with some of my army friends last year. have fun hun!

Kelly

I have a taipei map stating which attractions in which mrt station.

If you like to, I can scan and email you the map. Just drop me a mail.

For Bak Chor Beng, you should also go to Hu Xiu Zhang. Let me go home and dig out the namecard.

prairieox

Ahh, I know this is not a competition, but as Homer Simpson would say, Doh! You beat me to Taipei! :)

joanna

i love taipei. so here're a few things you might wanna note:
- you must go to Lao Tian-something stall at Xi Men Ding for the duck's tongue. it's famous, celebs from all over the world visit that place.
- try to catch the changing of guards ceremony at Sun Yat Sen memorial hall
- Wu Fen Pu for shopping, definitely (if you're keen)
- if you're into donuts, there's this shopping mall called New York New York, where there's a Mister Donut. that's in the City Hall area.
- for night markets, in my opinion, Rou He night market actually beats the overrated Shi Lin.
- Tung Hua street has a stall for really good ji pa (deep fried chicken chop), complete with the spicy powder and all
- Xin Bei Dou is the place to go for spring baths
- other things: loo-rou-fan (gravy minced pork rice) is fantastic, so is the oyster omelette. you can get that at any roadside stall. and yes, eating is done mostly at those dirty-looking roadside stalls.
- oh, and taipei isn't about dimsum, that's hongkong.
- chinese is good enough, no need hokkien. and anyway your hokkien is different from theirs. they probably won't understand you, so don't bother trying. haha.

Harrison

I'll second the part about the ice kachang - the copious servings of fruits (you can mix and match three types on the slopes of the giant mountain of shaved ice) are generous! And value-for-money indeed.

My favourite was the chong you bing (onion), which is on par with the delicious (but rather unhealthy) ji pa. Xi Men Ding sells quite a contemporary mish-mash of fashion and accessories, including loads of anime figurines and comics - the prices there are, however, rather steep.

If you're looking for more than just eating and shopping, cycling trips around Taiwan are popular with the locals over there - travelling to the southern tip of Taiwan (Kaohsiung and Kenting) is more than worth it: the villages with friendly locals blasting retro Karaoke songs at night, the fields, the beach, and the food there is really unique - you won't find it anywhere else in Taiwan, not that combination of ambience and gastronomical delights.

Have fun!

MangoOrange

Was there last year Dec... Caught a virus and went to the local hospital in JiuFen... First taste of betel nuts (arghk!)... remember many PLUs walking around in XiMenDing... Tattoo street... Personally prefer Kaohsiung than Taipei, people there are friendlier... they like to share their thoughts about taiwan politics with tourists... sitting around at the seafood stall, having a taiwan beer... anyway, hv lots of fun!

popagandhi

haha thanks all... i have already had my betel nut experience (in a coal mine in the world's wettest place with the Khasi tribesmen, no less, where it's rude to say no to betel nuts). not anxious to repeat the experience. :P the food recommendations all sound amazing. can't wait.

MangoOrange

Really? Then I would accept the betel nuts from the Khasi tribe people but I am sure that the expression I have on my face would give it all away!! XP
We have just gotten our 2nd issue of AsianGEOgraphic (this month's coverpage of a Mon girl) last week. Actually known about this mag from your site. Can't wait to read about your posting in Feb08. I hv a lot of woos & aaahs whenever I clicked one picture to another from your flickr. I am sure you will be armed with your lens/cams when you go Taipei, so you go and shoot 'em all!

popagandhi

Glad you got the Asian Geo! It's been around for some time but only up and coming in the past years. I'm quite proud that a home-grown publication is getting so good (so proud of them that i wanted them to have that story though they don't pay as well as british/european mags :P).

Did you try the betel nuts with the lime? Haha.. the betel nuts are OK, not THAT bad, but the lime they eat it with.. my god. It felt (and tasted) corrosive. I had to lick the lime off a leave :( Taipei's betel nut culture seems dominated by sleazy old men and the scantily clad betel nut ladies? (I watch a lot of taiwanese tv. haha)

MangoOrange

Sorry... forgot to add... When you go to the public toilet in Taipei, you probably will notice a sign in every cubicle... asking you NOT to throw/flush the toilet paper into the toilet bowl... You are suppose to throw used toilet paper into the rubbish bin...

*nods

tgwttihs

I was just in Taiwan last month! To be honest, I wasn't all that blown away by the street foods at Shilin..however given the ginormous amount of snacks and cheap and good good available, its a wonder that most girls there are so skinny!

I have on suggestion: Get on the train. Was looking forward to taking the Taroko line down south but had to cut short my trip. Will love to read what you have to say about it. The hotsprings at Beitou may be worth a trip too.

happy trails.

Squareface

Hey this probably won't help much in getting you around in Taipei, but hopefully the pictures of the food and some random stuff will just make you more excited or sth.

I miss the Taiwan meimeis who add an å“¦ (in first tone) at the end of every sentence.

http://squarefaced.com/2007/08/27/taipei-101-by...

dennis

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eyes

Mutton hotpot in winter in Taipei is a must try. I usually go to the one that is next to Rong Xin Garden. Can't remember the name now..need to go ask my cousins. Otherwise the ones that smell good in the night markets should be pretty good.

Rou he night market is definitely better than shih lin night market for food. I ate a ice cream pohpiah with shaved peanut candy and cilantro there once. I still dream about that. Not sure if the stall is still there now though. They have pretty good mutton hotpot there as well. The night market next to Taipei University also has good street food.

Keelung Miao Ko night market is also good for food. Stewed eel thick soup, pot edged pancake soup, snow ice, stewed pig trotters, bean noodle thick soup and grilled green beans.

Other good stuff off the top of my head is stewed soy sauce pork rice, green bean mini mooncakes, red bean xiao long bao from Din Tai Fung, cherry tomatoes with preserved prunes dipped in maltose sugar, age (fried toufu stuffed with tunghoon in sauce) from Dian Shui, Shao xian chao (hot herbal grass jelly) and grilled corn with spicy sauce

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Popagandhi

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