I needed a few days to process the first impressions and adapt to Taipei before writing about the city.
The city has turned a cold shoulder on us. As I said, it was 13 degrees when we arrived and that without my coat. It rained in the first 2 days, everything grey in grey. Most of, and in the meantime all of the stores and restaurants are closed due to the Lunar new year. In a city environment, this is just not a friendly picture and not welcoming. By now, we have realized that our hotel is located on an edge of Zhongshan, a quieter area. Actually, that is a good thing, just that it's even quieter now.
The city of Taipei is huge, all streets are boulevards. Even with our 8 days, we were only able to see a small part of it. I wanted even to go to the South, to Kaohsiung. Only because our in-laws told us to avoid travelling during CNY we gave up on the idea.
On our first day here, our son suggested to go to the Ximenting area. We've been there before 11am and all stores were still close. The impression of the area is that the buildings here are also quite old. There are lots of Japanese influence and for that many Japanese Izakaya, a popular type of gastronomy in Japa is around.
There are quite some sights around in this area within the Wanhua district. We visited the following sights and can recommend all of them.
The Red House
The octagonal building has been designed by a Japanese architect back in 1908. It is one of the first public market hall built by the goverment and also the best preserved ancient building in Taiwan. Today, it is a place to present local crafts. The products change every few months.
Longshan Temple
This is the most famous old temple in Taiwan. It has already been built during the Qing dynasty in 1740. It is dedicated to the goddess Guanyin, goddess of mercy. On the compound, they have created a small water fall by the wall. Before and during Lunar new year's days, a lot of worshipper brought offerings and pray here.
Bopiliao Historical Block
It is mainly a historical old street which existed already before the Qing dynasty. The Basay tribe lived in this area tausends of years before the Chinese started settle down during the Qing dynasty in 1763. Taiwanese traded i.e. with tea and coal. It was the first commercial area in Taipei which was properous due to the trading. During the Japanese era, the area lost their importance.
The first part of the name means peeling skin and refer to the background that the Basay tribe transported animals to this area to skin them.
In 2006, the Taipei government started a renovation project and created a museum from the old street. The one and two-storey shop houses have been well preserved and opened to public. Today, art performances and exhibitions are held in the shop houses regularly.
Early evening, we went to the Ningxia night market, a smaller and less known market nearby. We had delicious street food some of which are unknown to us. But, I'll write about this more in a separate food post.
Comments