Taipei

Taipei city is home to one of the world's tallest building, Taipei 101. We stayed at the Sherwood Hotel, a 5-star hotel known for its past VIPs like George and Barbara Bush. A plush and comfortable hotel, it had a feeling of austerity and old grandeur. Getting around the city was pretty easy as the subway network covered a large part of Taipei and taxis were plentiful and inexpensive. Taipei city is set out on a east-west grid so navigation is straight forward, though distances can be very deceiving as boulevards were huge, some with 6 carriageways and streets seemed to stretch for miles. Street names were in Chinese characters and Hanyu Pinyin so a working knowledge of Mandarin is helpful.

Day 1: I took the subway to Ximending shopping This is a popular district with the younger generation. Emerging from the Ximen station, loud music blaring from nearby CD shops, flashy and garish garments, fashion accessories, other fashion nicknacks and snack food stands beckons the youthful crowd. I chanced upon an enterprising youth who had a small printing machine and a PC set up. He had a variety of sticky labels where you can have your name printed. I had some made for my little nieces. Later, i continued on foot northwards towards the Taipei Main Station shopping area. It was a long and dusty walk because the boulevards were huge and traffic fumes choked the air. Meandering through the smaller streets with names like Nanyang Street, Hankou street (cameras and photography ) was the best way to discover the city. There were shops selling motor parts, textile, electronic gadgets, sundries even jewellery.

By mid afternoon my feet were aching and i stopped at one of the many foot massage salons for some foot reflexology. Taiwan is reputed to have the best in Asia. My next stop was to visit Dihua street with its many chinese medicine halls and dried chinese produce. The heavy smell of herbal medicine filled the air and inside the shops there were huge glass jars filled with all kinds of medicinal plants and what-have-you.

Day 2: Having heard about the Wufenpu shopping area where wholesalers hawk the lastest in Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese fashion, I decided to visit this place. A cavernous building housed rows of shops selling garments, belts, shoes, accessories etc.. Bulk as well as per piece purchase is possible here. It is said that even local superstars come to this area to shop, but if you are looking for smart outfits, you're better off elsewehere. You can find outlandish outfits (hence suitable if you're in showbiz) to otherwise, basic pieces like jeans, tees and tops. It is true that all kinds of trendy belts, shoes, bags abound but you have to be under 25 years old to carry them off.

Next stop is the ZhongXiao east and Xinyi shopping area. Here the stores are like anywhere you find in big cities. Taipei 101, the skyscraper is worth a visit. In the same complex, there are at least 4 shopping malls. An interesting stop is the Eslite bookstore, where you can find a good selection of cookbooks. As Taiwanese have a penchant for food and healthy cooking, their recipes are innovative and well written.

In the evening, we went to a Szechuan restaurant near RenAi street. It was just the type of typical familial restaurant i wanted. We dined on some Szechuan favourites like Camphor tea smoked duck, crispy salted chicken, dried fried beef and tofu dishes.

Day 3: National Palace Museum is not to be missed. Impressive collections of artworks ranging from precious paintings to art objects revealed the wealth and heritage of the chinese culture.

On the ground floor of this massive building is the museum shop where you can pick up favourite replicas of some of the artworks.

At night, we explored the Longshan area, famous for the Longshan Temple and Huaxi nightmarkets. The temple was built some hundred years ago, dedicated to seafarers.

Patrons still throng the temples with offerings of

food and burning joss-sticks. The mortals then cross over to the nightmarket to sup on steaming bowls of noodles, buns, deepfried snacks, succulent duck feet etc.. Luckily for us, we were treated to a well known seafood restaurant located inside snake alley, we didnt dine on snakes thankfully, but we had the most delicate and scrumptious meal in Taipei. You first picked your live seafood and then it is expertly prepared. Inside the restaurant was another surprise: the interiors were awashed with baroque style a la Versailles. It was extravagant and so was the bill!

Day4: I set off for the Shilin market at around 6pm one evening which turned out to be a disaster as traffic in Taipei practically came to a standstill. The young cab driver told me that the best time to go to the night market is after 10pm as the nightmarkets continued till the wee hours of morning and i would not be stuck in peak-hour traffic. Alas, it was an advice that came too late. Shilin market jostled with people. I had been cautioned against carrying a handbag but just to stuff money in my pockets. It is the biggest nightmarket i have ever been to and to top it all, there are many more nightmarkets scattered around Taipei alone. Clothes, food, shoes, sundries and snacks vie for attention. I have the impression that Taiwanese do not sleep a lot.