30 December 2011 board late night bus up to taipei from kaohsiung. Bus from kaohsiung to taipei cost 530NTD with Ubus and the journey takes 5-6 hours. The reason of taking night bus is worry there will be massive jam exiting Kaohsiung and entering Taipei city due to new year eve. It is common for Taiwanese to countdown on every new year eve thus very large crowd is expected in places which held the party.
Arrive taipei main station 0500 in the morning and too early to have anything to do. So just rest and hang around bus station. Then around 0600 start to walk towards Ximending 西門町. Ximending is located at the west of Taipei city and is known as "Harajuku of Taipei" and the "Shibuya of Taipei". This area is known for its shopping district and source of Taiwan fashion and subculture. The whole area are surrounded by pubs, cafes, clubs and theaters.
Before arriving at Ximending shopping district. Walk pass Bo Ai road 博愛路 with whole row of shops selling electronics and camera stuff.
Then come to Zhongshan hall 中山堂
and its located beside Taiwan City Police headquarters 臺北市政府警察局.
All the way to the end you can see Taipei north gate 台北府城承恩門
The street looks empty since it is still early morning and all the shop are close. When night comes this whole place will be lively pack with young people for entertainment and hang out with friends. This whole street of Ximending has been change to car free pedestrian shopping area.
Some beggar/ homeless sleeping on the walkway on Ximending.
Cinemapark at further end of Ximending 電影主題公園.
Had breakfast at one of the old shop serving typical Taiwanese breakfast of fried meehoon/ noodles and different kind of pig internal organ soups.
After a filling breakfast walk eastward to The Office of the President or President Palace 總統府. On the way saw many policemen or soldier around. Some are with uniform while some plain cloth with Bluetooth earpieces. In my opinion there might be some soldier base or museum around or they are just petrolling the president office area.
Bank of taiwan 臺灣銀行
Arrive at Chiang kai-shek memorial 中正紀念堂 and saw very large crowd and news van and reporter all around only to realize Taiwan is trying to break Guinness World Record of the largest bicycle parade in the world.
Liberty Square/ Freedom Square 自由廣場
Daan Park 大安森林公園
Both the markets are strategically located under the Jianguo South Road overpass. Buyers can purchase flowers, houseplants, trees, plant containers and seeds. Both the market open during weekends and public holidays. Since the time i went is just weeks before chinese new year so there are many people buying flowers and plants to decorate their house.
National Dr.Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall 國立國父紀念館
When i arrive at city hall courtyard, preparation for the night countdown is underway. There are huge stage setup for concert in the middle of city hall courtyard with artist are rehearsing, speaker and lighting check. There are also many barricade setup to block or avoid large crowd at the front, portable toilet are setup everywhere and balloon flew up high to indicate direction and as advertisement.
Since its only 1300 but there are already many people camping or booking places to the front of stage. While its to early for me to hang outside seeing artist rehearsing and the concert will only start at 1800 so i decided to head into Taipei 101 mall to walk around and have my lunch.
Taipei main station 臺北火車站 (A) - Zhongshan hall 中山堂 & Taiwan City Police headquarters 臺北市政府警察局 (B) - Ximending 西門町 (C) - Cinemapark 電影主題公園 (D) - President Palace 總統府 (E) - Chiang kai-shek memorial 中正紀念堂 (F) - Church 救恩堂 (G) - Daan Park 大安森林公園 (H) - Jianguo holiday flower market 建國假日花市 & Jianguo holiday jade market 建國假日玉花市 (I) - National Dr.Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall 國立國父紀念館 (J) - Taipei city hall courtyard 台北市議會 & Taipei 101 台北 101 (K)
Total walking distance : 13KM
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