Activity 1: Breakfast at Fu Hang Dou Jiang
If you are looking an authentic and traditional Taiwanese breakfast, fried dough fritters (油條) accompanied by a good cup of soy bean milk (豆漿) is your best bet. While hundreds, if not thousands of eateries in Taipei sells these Chinese delights, Fu Hang Dou Jiang 阜杭豆漿 dominates the rest of them.
Located at Huashan Market, Fu Hang Dou Jiang is not only well-known for its food, but also for its insane, long queues as well. According to my internet research beforehand, one can easy wait up to an hour before ordering on a good weekend. Prior to this, we decided to head out early on a Wednesday morning and was no less surprised that it already has at least a 40-person queue. By the moment I joined the queue, I was at the staircase. That's how long it is and there is even a queue diagram on how to line up!
Activity 2: Taipei 101
Formally known as the Taipei World Financial Center, the iconic Taipei 101 (台北101) is officially the tallest and largest green building in the world as of July 2011. It comprises of 101 stories and 5 floors underground, with 6 stories dedicated to shopping. The 509m building features a 660 metric-ton damper which reduces up to 40% of swaying movement and is built to withstand strong winds and earthquake tremors.
Besides holding a world record as one of the tallest building, Taipei 101 is also equipped with the fastest elevators built with state-of-art technology, which goes up to the 89th floor in just 37 seconds - that's a whopping vertical speed of 3314 ft per minute!
Activity 3: Ximending
Widely known as the "Harajuku of Taipei", Xi Men Ding is the place to head for modern fashion, good eats and culture, that is partially influenced by the Japanese. With several departmental stores such as Wanguo and Eslite, bookstores, pubs and individual vendors selling a wide variety of clothes, accessories, souvenirs and local eats, Xi Men Ding attracts shoppers and tourists of different age groups and cultures. Based on Wikipedia, it attracts more than 3 million visitors in a month!
The streets and alleys of Xi Men Ding are so vast and filled with excitement in every single corner. One night or even an entire day of exploration is definitely not enough, that we realized. Similarly to night markets, some items sold are repetitive, therefore putting on your determination and exploration spirit might just find you a better deal elsewhere.
Activity 4: Shida Night Market
There are some rumours that Shida (師大夜市) has been closed down, but I would like to clarify that it is up and running (as of Nov 2012). Maybe a portion of it has been downed, but Shida Night Market still holds its vibrancy. It is located near a couple of universities, so do expect no less than crowded streets flocked by university students.
