Sunday 27th March, 2016
Hello again strangers!
It’s been a while. I’ve just got back from my month-long trip to Cambodia and Vietnam and had a bit of spare time to catch up with you.
I can’t believe this was almost half a year ago – time flies!
Anyway, let’s do this.
On our final full day in Taipei, we visited Ximending, also known as the “Harajuku” of Taipei, a shopping haven full of clothing shops, eclectic restaurants, clubs and bars.
It is also the most important consumer district of Taipei.
Located just one MRT stop away from Taipei Main Station in the historic Wanhua District, Ximending was founded during the Japanese colonization era as a recreation district.
Today, it has grown into a cultural icon with inspiration drawn from its Japanese roots.
Here’s a little clip of us spinning around in the centre.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BDdaEDYlePA/?taken-by=queenie.kylee
The area is very popular with tourists and Taipei youth and it also hosts many street performances and exhibitions.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate how great this outfit is?!
I snapped up that shirt, pronto!
This is an awesome shop 😉
We tried to go to the Ma La Hotpot Buffet Restaurant the previous night but unfortunately they were fully booked so we decided to try our luck at lunchtime instead.
We were ecstatic to be seated immediately and devoured to our heart’s content.
There are lots of meat options.
Oh and they have all you can eat Häagen-Dazs and Mövenpick ice cream!
My personal faves are Mövenpick’s Mango & Cream, Raspberry and Swiss Chocolate ❤
Just across the street from the Ximen MRT Exit 1 is an old building called the Red House.
Ximending’s most iconic building was built in 1908 to serve as Taipei’s first public market.
In the Japanese era, the Red House came to symbolise the bustling commercialism of the district.
Post WW2, it was an opera house, a performance theatre, a movie theatre and finally, a derelict building.
These days, it’s once again the centerpiece of the district, acting as a multifunctional cultural centre with regular live performances and exhibitions.
It is filled with two floors full of Taiwanese indie art shops! ❤
As we visited on the weekend, we were also treated to stands filled with indie art outside the theatre.
If you know me, you will know how excited I would have been to see this!
There were so many unique and beautiful designs so suffice to say, I was in card, postcard and sticker heaven 😉
After a few hours, we headed over to the Raohe Street Night Market which was my favourite night market of the trip due to the huge selection of delicious food on offer!
It is one of the oldest and most popular night markets in Taipei.
This 600 metre path along Raohe Street in the Songshan District is packed with fun and interesting food and snacks, souvenirs, cute clothes shops and carnival games with prizes.
To get there, take the green line (3) to the terminal station, Songshan via MRT and take exit 5.
The night market entrance is just to the right across the street next to the temple.
We started off with a couple of mini egg tarts.
MMM, SHELLFISH!
I went for a stick of abalone in sweet chili sauce.
Passionfruit Yakult is delicious!
As were these super-thin pizzas, SO GOOD!
I don’t feel like I did the food justice through photos so go check out Migrationology for some beautiful photos of the delicious food on offer!
And that brings us to an end to our trip to Taipei, I hope that you’ve enjoyed the ride and hopefully it’s given you some inspiration for places to visit and things to eat 😉
xxx
Peanut Butter and Mussels 