Tuesday, August 13, 2013

28 Reasons To Love Taipei, maybe not

(N.B: the following list is by no means a ranking hierarchy.)

1. Family Mart, 7-Eleven, and other convenience stores have everything.

One of the highest per capita concentrations of convenience stores on earth. Where else can you pay your college tuition, eat dinner, print Mayday concert tickets, send express mail, and buy a handle of Johnny Walker at 4:30 a.m.?
Family Mart, 7-Eleven, and other convenience stores have everything.

2. Before every election, the streets look like this:

The perils of democracy and advertising. Look nice? horrible? Your taste....
Before every election, the streets look like this:

3. Taipei has the coolest cafés.

Eat it, Seattle. Boomers worry that today’s Taipei kids don’t want to conquer the world — they just want to open cafés with their friends. Coffee shops are basically bars in Taipei. Check out Sugared n Spiced for some choice spots.
Taipei has the coolest cafés.

4. Eslite Dunnan is the world’s only 24-hour bookstore.

Saturday night people-watching at Eslite Bookstore Dunnan is never a bad way to sober up. Time magazine named it Asia’s best bookstore in 2004, after that (2004) it never been mention by anyone~~~~
Eslite Dunnan is the world's only 24-hour bookstore.

5. Karaoke is a 24/7 sport too or entertainment?

A 12-floor palace devoted to karaoke? Sure. Cashbox Partyworld does brisk business on typhoon holidays.
Karaoke is a 24/7 sport too.

6. Shrimping’s also 24/7.

Possibly the weirdest gastro-sport ever. Time to bust out your jorts and six-pack (of delicious Taiwan Beer). Great for time wasting, if only you are local....
Shrimping's also 24/7.

7. You won’t recognize 50% of the things sold at your local market.

Is that a crab or a cursed alien slipper? Why is that chicken blue? Guess the author eitehr seldom go local market or live in a place (high mountain) where seafood is not available.
You won't recognize 50% of the things sold at your local market.

8. Beef noodle soup is Taipei’s official religion.

Taipei hosts a Beef Noodle Soup Festival every year. Everyone swears a blood oath to their favorite shops. If you don’t like beef noodle soup, you are a disgusting pervert and I don’t want to know you.
Beef noodle soup is Taipei's official religion.

9. Yonghe has the best breakfast, maybe?

Sweet soy milk and fried Chinese doughnuts forever.

IMO 阜杭豆漿is a lot better than 永和 for breakfast.. The 45 min - 1 hour wait that the locals endure is testimony to their awesomeness. They used to only open from 6am - 10am but have since extended their business hours to 12.30 after they moved to a larger location with more seats.
Yonghe has the best breakfast.

10. There’s a great bar called That Fucking Place.

“You have checked in to That Fucking Place on Foursquare.”
There's a great bar called That Fucking Place.
There's a great bar called That Fucking Place.

11. There’s a toilet-themed restaurant.

Please kindly invite your friends to eat shit. Modern Toilet offers enticing fare like “baby’s explosive diarrhea” (actually just green curry) served in mini toilet bowls. There's a toilet-themed restaurant.

note: we have here in Malaysia too (sg.Wang Plaza) and there's one in ShenZhen (Dong Meng), China
There's a toilet-themed restaurant.

12. You can also dine at prison-, Barbie-, and hospital-themed restaurants.

Keep Taipei weird, yall.
  

13. Yongkang Street is a great place to get your Asian retro-chic on.

Antiquing central. And James’ Kitchen is arguably the best Taiwanese restaurant in town.
Yongkang Street is a great place to get your Asian retro-chic on.

14. Zhongxiao has all the modernity you can want.

Zhongxiao has all the modernity you can want.

15. Taipei is the Chinese pop/indie music capital.

From C-pop megastars to symphonic metal, hip-hop, post-rock, and folk singer-songwriters, Taipei exports the best Mandarin pop music in the world. You’ll also catch bands like Neutral Milk Hotel at surprisingly small venues (The Wall and Legacy). For schedules, check GigGuide Taiwan.
Taipei is the Chinese pop/indie music capital.
BTW,地下社會is no more. They closed early this year 2013. 

16. There’s always some design or music festival.

Formoz, Simple Life, Huashan, Hohaiyan beach festival. Tizzy Bac speaking their minds.
There's always some design or music festival.

17. The clubbing scene’s no slouch either.

Decidedly less douchey than clubbing in many other big cities. Every year there’s a new club du jour, but Luxy was your first fake-ID love.
The clubbing scene's no slouch either.

18. There’s a whole street devoted to wedding photographers.

Chungshan North Road Section 2. I have never seen this in any other city. Keep. Taipei. Weird.

Its really weird, they have that in Las Tunas Dr. in Temple City, CA and in Malaysia (PJ SS2), you should travel more around the world if you found it weird.
There's a whole street devoted to wedding photographers.

19. Yangmingshan National Park is a bus ride away.

On the rare occasion the sun’s out, you can take day hikes on a whim.
Yangmingshan National Park is a bus ride away.

20. Ximending is cosplayers and otakus galore.

Get your gothic loli on. But don't expect to see it everyday or during weekend, you gotta be lucky. You actually see more gays (local & foreigner) then cosplayers there!

Ximending is cosplayers and otakus galore.

21. The garbage trucks sing to you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uuIDKMTRg8o

22. If you piss off the students, you WILL hear from them.

Flawed democracy is still democracy. Read. And not just the srudents~~~
If you piss off the students, you WILL hear from them.

23. GuangHua is basically a Tatooine junkyard of electronic bargains.

Brave the clouds of nerd-sweat at GuangHua for a steal on a new computer. Bring your haggling A-game. (Also, RIP old GuangHua.) Not really for tourist, the products price not much different in your own comtry even for their local brand (Acer /Asus) price doesn't look attractive.
GuangHua is basically a Tatooine junkyard of electronic bargains.

24. Night markets. All of them.

Imagine hundreds of street-food carts and pop-up stores crammed in 10 city blocks. Everyone goes to Shilin, but Shida has the coolest stuff. Too bad the government’s scaling it down. And you see it one, you see it all, they are all he same with different name and location.
Night markets. All of them.

25. Beitou has great hot-spring spas.

The northern suburbs appeal to the geriatric in us all.
Beitou has great hot-spring spas.

26. Sick of the rainy north? You can get to Kenting Beach in four hours…

Sick of the rainy north? You can get to Kenting Beach in four hours...
…on a Cartoon Network-themed bullet train.
  

27. Taipei 101 has one of the best New Year’s fireworks.

Camping out at a park near Taipei 101 with your friends, drinking 7-Eleven whiskey, watching fireworks, then seeing the flag-raising ceremony at sunrise at the Presidential Palace = best way to start a year.

Best New Year’s fireworks? It's over rated, you mostly see a of large fire pillar with lots of smoke :) I would say the of of the best environment and friendly people but definitely not the firework!
28 Reasons To Love Taipei

28. F O O D
http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/eat/40-taiwanese-food-296093
Food is good. I like food. Everyone and their mothers’ dogs have a food blog in Taipei. A Hungry Girl’s Guide to Taipei is a good place to start. But friendly speaking, Malaysia have more varieties of food (almost any food you can fidn in Taipei/Taiwan, you can find in KL, Malaysia) than Taipei can offer and taste better too not to mention much cheaper too.
F O O D

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