Rawr, today’s my last night in Taiwan. There’s still so many things that I want to get, but the credit card tends to disagree with me with the car insurance coming along the way. But I think my favourite place to go to for shopping in Taipei goes to 東區 and 信義區.

東區

The alleys of 敦化北路 and 復興北路 are filled with little shops with weird cool stuff as well as countless tea shops, restaurants and lounges. There are many tiny clothing shops here with some really nice stuff at a reasonable price. Don’t let the big brand name stores along the main road grab all of your attention. There’s a lot to discover in this neighbourhood. Although I’d say a good 90% of the stores and merchandises are targeted towards the female crowd, there’s still places to go and look at for guys.

信義區

This area is home to Shin Kong Matsukoshi, Taipei 101, and other shopping centres. Believe it or not, I actually got sweeter deals at Shin Kong Matsukoshi than in 東區 when I was shopping for brand named stuff. Not only do you get the same offers at the retail stores, you also get the promotions offered by the department store. Bargaining is still welcomed here. =)

西門町

I found that the crowd here is quite a bit younger with mostly teenagers. There’s close to none in terms of clothing stores for guys. There are a lot of little gift shops here though with stuff that you probably won’t find at other places. The most interesting thing I found here was a 大同電鍋 ashtray. 大同電鍋 is a particular Taiwanese ricecooker that dates back to my grandma’s age and the same model is also still in production to this day. I think you’ll have to be Taiwanese though (read: fob) to be able to truly appreciate the coolness of having a 大同電鍋 ashtray.

Not so far away from here besides the Office of the President in 桃源街 lies many small restaurants that were opened by the war veterans when KMT retreated to Taiwan. If they are still open so many decades later, you can be assured that the food must be good. You probably won’t be able to visit all of them in one day though, because 西門町 itself is filled with tons of delicious food.

And if you walk a little bit further, on 重慶南路 between 衡陽街 and 武昌街 you’ll find dozens of bookstores where you can buy all sorts of books. Books written by Sedra for example. *wink wink*

Side note: The graniph store I wrote about previously has a larger store here as well, but when I visited them, they weren’t as well stocked. It may have been because they’ve just opened that location that week.