Taipei is the most international city among others in Taiwan, attracting not only locals but foreigners to this place for traveling, studying or working. In this modern city, people can enjoy their time at Cafes, exotic restaurants, or shopping malls. When you google Taipei, there are many websites with information of foods, museums, and transportation ways for those who wanna visit here. In this city, Chinese cuisines and cultures are the most influential things and rooted here in some degree, affects the politics and the city development in the long run. It is not exaggerated that the population of Taiwanese is fewer than other ethnic groups in this area. Taipei is the basin with rains and windy weather for most of days, especially in winter, you won’t feel like living in the subtropical zone.

Bopiliao Historic Block

It is one of the historic areas with different eras from Ching dynasty, Japanese occupation and until now. To put it simply, these are the mixture of Japanese and Chinese styles in this place. Here, people can take pictures with old buildings to remind us of past years and enjoy art events and movies. For those people who like ancient sentiment, it is a recommended spot for you to have selfie. The Bopiliao is situated in Monga area where it was the first place to have development in Taipei city. The name, Monga was translated from Bangka in Basai language and later commonly known as Báng-kah for most locals. This historic block is the iconic place for citizens who have lived in Taipei for generations.

Xia-Hai city God Temple

Unlike other temples in Taiwan, the Xia-Hai city God is the most famous one here due to its Cupid inside the temple. Many followers visit here in order to worship for their good relationship, and it turned out very well, hence attracting lots of people and foreigners are included. It is said that the Cupid here likes to eat sweet things, so people who come here for praying romance will bring candies for the God. The temple is located in Dadaocheng area, one of the old streets in Taipei that locals show up for preparing New Year celebration. For travelers who want to visit Dadaocheng, I would recommend the Cafe for you to have tea. Also, buying some pork jerkies would be a good option for your snacks. With delicate processing at the food factory, the pork jerky tastes great with a cup of tea. If you would like to try, buying some pork jerkies for your souvenirs is a great choice to surprise your friends.

Shilin Night Market

Night market may not be a difficult word to understand for some Asians, but for Westerners who have not experienced night markets, it is a best place for you to see what we eat and try as many as you want. For many years, the Shilin night market was a kitchen for many people, and has served the greater Taipei area for almost a hundred year. You can eat at small restaurants for chicken soup with wine, stew meat with traditional medicine as soup base, or try the orange juice, hot dog of Taiwan style, the salty onion pancake, etc.

For young people who like fashion, we have stores to display clothing from Japan and Korea. Though Chinese cultures have deeply influenced our daily life, most people who like to dress themselves would follow the Japan trend. For the past ten years, the Korean fashion has started to infiltrate Taiwan, also Korean restaurants are popped up in many places in Taipei.

Without night market, many people could lose jobs. It is the place where common people can earn money and survive under different tides. It doesn’t take much effort to go to Shilin night market, you can take MRT or bus there.

Songshan Cultural and Creative Park

If you are a fan of design, maybe you can visit this creative park to take a look of our fashion exhibition by young designers. Here, you can appreciate artifacts and creative things; you can also find your own stuff and eat your favorite foods for the afternoon tea time. For the past century ago, this was the place for making cigarettes. Now it is the public place with garden for people to take break and enjoy their time at either bookstore or Cafe to chat with your friends.

For me, Taipei is an interesting city with traditional cultures and new technology to change our life quickly. It is also the place for young people who have dreams to be a frontrunner in each industry. Except visiting the National (Chinese) Palace Museum or Taipei 101, how about exploring this city deeply and taking a walk ?