10. Shihta

South and west of the Ta-an Forest Park, you'll find Shihta Road, a cool little strip with a market, plenty to eat and lots of coffee shops for whiling away the time. This area is located right next to National Taiwan Normal University ("Shihta"), which hosts the most popular Chinese-language study program for foreign college students, the Mandarin Training Center. It is also very close to National Taiwan University, so this district sees a lot of college students - locals, Westerners, Japanese and Koreans alike.

Just east of the Shihta area directly on Hsinsheng South Road, you can find the Wisteria teahouse. One of the longest established teahouses in the city, the Wisteria is an antique Japanese-era house. The interior is low-slung, with tatamis and pillows at every table. Despite its distinctly Japanese look, the tea and snacks are pure Chinese.


11. Kungkuan

Further on south from the Shihta area is the Kungkuan district, dominated by National Taiwan University (NTU). South and east of the university you'll find lots of restaurants and coffee shops and a few nice pubs.


12. Kuanghua Market

North of the Ta-an Forest Park, at the corner of Hsinsheng North Road and Pa-te Road, is the sprawling Kuanghua Market. Once dedicated strictly to jade, antiques and books, the market has been progressively taken over through the years by the computer trade. It is now the prime venue for hardware, software, peripherals and anything else in the information industry.

Taiwan manufactures the lion's share of the world's IBM-based personal computers, and this is a great place to get one - or build your own on the spot. Antiques and curio shops can still be discovered in the odd nook, so an hour or two of exploration makes for an intriguing high-tech adventure with a distinctly Asian flavor, even if you don't want to load down your backpack with the latest mega-gigabyte hard drive.

Next Page | Top | Back to Index