To the newcomer, Taipei appears crowded and confusing, a throbbing urban tangle with glimpses of cultural riches: at a corner, the beautiful face of an old women selling magnolia flowers; like-dressed schoolgirls giggling at busstops; amid the taxis, hunting for fares, pungent wafts of chou tou fu (fermented beancurd) from a sidewalk stand. All this, in a melee of traffic that fills broad boulevards and narrow, old shopping streets.
But Taipei is, really, finally defined for those who stay on by the life of its special streets—its unique neighborhoods. The longer time resident enjoys a city that is at the same time, various and coherent, its distinct districts offering a bounty for every wanderer's mood.
Taipei at work
The Bank of America Building at the junction of Minsheng East Road and Tun Hua North Road looms over Taipei's financial district in a glory of orange-gold glass. Standing side by side with the Formosa Plastics Building, it is a focal point of a vibrant, developing business area, many of whose modernistic buildings have gone up within the past five years.
International banks have clustered in this corner of Taipei, making it the workplace with, perhaps, the highest level of English-speaking fluency in Taiwan. The major American, European, and Asian banks are all here. The Sung-shan area is Taipei's equivalent to "The City" of London, or early New York's Wall Street. Its businessmen and women walk briskly through the streets, easily recognizable by evidences of the worldwide corporate culture: blue or gray pinstriped suit (the women in tailored go-togethers)…and that look of determination.
The area has plush health clubs and restaurants which cater to the business community. Particularly popular for business luncheons are the Bankers Club on Minsheng East Road and the Pacific International Businessmen's Club on Tun Hua. For variety, of course, there's always McDonald's, the nearest on Minsheng.
A Da An district coffee shop sign—Tun Hwa South Road.
Taipei uptown
Da An District is the most exclusive residential area of metropolitan Taipei. Bordered roughly by Tun Hua Road on the east, the park environs of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall on the west, Hsin Yi Road on the south, and Chung Hsiao East Road on the north, the area is traversed by wide, tree-laden avenues. The highrises of Jen Ai and Tun Hua Roads command magnificent views of downtown Taipei. Five department stores and numerous designer shops offer products from around the world. Here, more than elsewhere, young people may sport chic Paris-Tokyo fashions, and young women flaunt tradition by sipping frozen daiquiris and openly smoking in expensive, futuristic, black and white cafes.
Here, too, are most of Taipei's art galleries: the Lung Men, on Chung Hsiao East Road; the Spring Gallery, between Chung Hsiao and Jen Ai Road; and the Cave Gallery, near Chung Hsiao and Tun Hua.
In the forefront of Taipei's cultural scene—also at Tun Hua and Jen Ai—is the New Aspects Arts Center, a foundation dedicated to the Chinese arts, which sponsors performing artists from abroad. New Aspects has arranged for island performances of artists and groups ranging from French pantomime clown Marcel Marceau to the New York and U.S. National symphonies. Visiting performers are often booked at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, whose beautiful park environs also serve as a cultural and recreational center. Here octogenarians practice tai chi chuan—a sort of slow motion martial arts dance, and tots with kites or on tricycles can be seen from dawn to dusk.
Snack shops along "movie-central"—the Hsimenting district.
Taipei's Tourist Center
Chungshan North Road is a throbbing central artery of Taipei international life. Cutting north-south through the city, at any given moment, it accommodates constant streams of busses, its sidewalks virtually lined with busstops for 3.5 kilometers. The flow of taxis and motorcycles is also endless. But crossing the street is easy—a maze of underpasses is provided for pedestrians.
Chungshan North Road is more than a path. It is a bustling introduction to Taipei, its byways filled with fancy hotels, international book stores, fashion boutiques, overpriced tourist shops, Chinese bakeries, and traditional outlets for paper money and other colorful ritual objects of worship. New coffee shops like "Art Coffee," "Au Bon Cafe Salon," and simply, "Mellow," spring up frequently, adding to older refuges from the bustle and exhaust fumes on the streets.
Taipei past
Tihua Street cuts through the oldest business neighborhood in Taipei. Many of the red brick buildings here date from the late 1800's, their traditional architecture a fitting companion for the street's traditional commerce. Here, squatting by baskets of dried foods, are tiny, ancient ladies, their, creased faces echoing the dried and preserved goods they tend, including seaweeds, dried fish, squid, shrimps (of at least six types), Chinese mushrooms, and others.
Then, what at first glance seems a misplaced bit of jungle, is discerned in fact, behind strings and tangles of "weeds," to be a plant and herb shop. Star anise, cinnamon, fresh peppercorns, and thyme can be quickly distinguished.
Further on are cashews and pine nuts, served up with a smile that can't be beat. And the street goes on, with several shops selling baskets and bamboo utensils, and a lantern shop where Chinese oil paper lanterns, decorated and plain, may be bought or commissioned custom-made.
Garish theatrical come-ons are the central attraction on movie street.
Little America
New York has its Little Italy and its Chinatown. Taipei has a "Little America" in the suburb of Tienmu. Not that long ago, Tienmu was mostly rice paddies, with a sprinkling of establishments catering to the American military mission. Now, Tienmu is an active and complete Western-style community. Here, the Taipei American School (TAS) and the Taipei Youth Activities Center (TYPA) provide education and recreation for English-speaking children. Such proverbial American institutions as Cub Scouts and Little League baseball flourish here.
Up at the far north end of Chungshan North Road, grocery shops like Johnson's and Susan's Kitchen offer Western canned goods and cereals, Oscar Mayer cold cuts, and (best of all) almost twenty varieties of cheese (Dutch, French, Swedish, Nowegian, and American).
G & G and Tasters provide baked goods to suit many international palates, from pita and bagels to cinnamon buns, croissants, and kiwi tarts.
Tienmu is also rich in Chinese antique shops—tempting wooden temple carvings, antique canopy beds, elaborately carved screens, chests, and much more, usually at arguable, inflated prices.
The nightmarket
Shihlin is a suburb notable and noted for its nightmarket, a phenomenon not comparable to any other shopping experience in the world. Exclusively Asian phenomena, Taipei's nightmarkets are the closest one may come on the island to the stereotypically exciting Asian city of old.
Characterized by its lack of order, but abundance of everything else, Shihlin holds endless discoveries for the visitor among a range of goods and services too diverse to fathom—foods, clothes galore, household products, electronic equipment, and jewelry.
Looking for earrings? Here are feathers, or macrame, jade, or plastic in the shape of little airplanes.
Looking for decorations? Try paper noisemakers or painted gourds or peacock feathers.
Looking for a mundane bathplug? Shihlin nightmarket offers seven different sizes.
Be sure to visit a Chinese medicine shop here, with exotica from ginseng to dried seahorses and ground deer horn. And tea shops here do not merely sell tea leaves, but tea-based candies and incense as well.
Along Tun Hwa South Road, one of the tree-lined boulevards that cut through Da An.
A good portion of the nightmarket is devoted to food and enjoyment. There are many "ice shops," which sell a smorgasbord of fruits, sweet beans, and exotic "jellos," served over crushed ice. In a covered area at the back of the market, small sitdown stalls offer oyster omelets, well-spiced squid stew...and individual vendors happily hawk the virtues of their own dishes as compared to those cooked by their neighbors.
Just outside the covered market area lies a small temple where children behave quietly as their elders worship.
Taipei downtown
Hsimenting is the major downtown shopping and entertainment district, where boyfriends and girlfriends head for a Saturday afternoon walk and movie.
Along Chunghua Road are a lineup of three-tier shops known as Haggler's Alley. Miscellaneous items appear here, but the uppermost story is devoted to art and antiques. Amidst many more mediocre pieces, the occasional treasure awaits discovery.
Taipei's department stores and movie theaters are especially concentrated in Hsimenting—fourteen theaters within a radius of about three blocks; the department stores are more scattered. The latest foreign and domestic films are shown, and ticket lines ate invariably long. In the heart of the district is Lion's Plaza, adjacent to the Lai Lai Department Store, where ice, noodle, and snack shops sustain those waiting in surrounding movie lines, and a few benches and trees serve those weary of bucking the crowd.
Sidewalk artists here paint, sketch, or pastel your likeness, as idle observers look on. A plaza bust of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founder of Asia's oldest republic, looks out serenely over all the commotion, signifying—"this part of the world is for all." Evidently, everyone agrees.
Snow King, a jewel of an ice cream shop on Wu Chang Street, offers 73 flavors of homemade ice creams. At 50 NT (US$1.25) a scoop, this ice cream is by no means cheap, but worth it. Choices extend far beyond the mundane chocolate and strawberry, and beyond papaya, coconut, almonds, and kumquats. We have cinnamon and ginseng, and perhaps most exotic, chrysanthemum, jasmine, oolong tea, and bamboo wine. And for the adventurous, curry, seaweed, pork fluff, beancurd, and even Johnny Walker Black Label.
Intellectual Taipei
The Tai Da neighborhood (National Taiwan University area) is where Taiwan's foremost students work and play. The enthusiasm and taste of youth are evident here. Bookstores of all sizes nestle along Roosevelt Road, several run by alumni of Tai Da's foreign languages department. They offer a good selection of foreign books as well as textbooks.
In the winding alleys behind Roosevelt Road, quite a few restaurants feature Southeast Asian cuisines (Thai, Burmese, Vietnamese) at student prices.
Coffee shops here provide desks equipped with lamps, so students may linger over a beverage and book, or chat for hours. Tea houses, too, are plentiful, and many a fervent intellectual discussion may be overheard.
From skyscrapers to ginseng, pulsing traffic to tranquil teacups, Taipei is a city of many facets, reflecting the ever changing expression of a fast-developing, culturally ancient society.