I try to go clubbing in every cit I visit if I have time, and Taipei was no exception. I went with one of my friends, her brother, and some of his friends. First was a dark, tiny bar where his friend worked. I wish I could have taken pictures: it was a grunge-ily (?) awesome. After that we went to a club in Xinyi called Room18. It was alright. They had two rooms, one for hiphop and the other for techno/house/trance.

I spent the rest of the weekend in Ilan and Jiufen. Jiufen, a tiny town on the north coast famous for mining, was especially pretty. It was rainy that day, but it somehow added to the atmosphere.

After I got back on Monday, I didn’t do much but shop. I shopped. A LOT. Ximending, Wufenpu, Dunhua, SOGO, Breeze, Mitsukoshi, you name it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that impressed by it. The clothes are cheap, yes, but because the quality isn’t so great. Also, because I don’t speak any Chinese, it was pretty much impossible to bargain, so I didn’t have as much fun as I could at night markets. Actually, what I bought most there were Korean and Japanese cosmetics. Japanese cosmetics are cheaper in Taiwan, and Korean brands aren’t that much more expensive. So I ended up with quite a lot of Skin Food, The Face Shop, Etude House, KATE, and Majolica Majorca stuff.

So, all in all, my trip to Taiwan was pretty fun! I could definitely see myself going back again, although I would learn some functional Mandarin before doing so. You can see the rest of my pictures here on flickr. Next, my crazy six days in Tokyo~

It was rainy season, so my first two days there were pretty wet. I spent an entire day exploring all of the different underground malls that connect the metro stations together. The next day, though, my legs were killing me, so I spent some time around Taipei Main, checking out the department stores and Bo Ai/Hankou Streets, which are famous for their heavy concentration of camera stores. I spent a leisurely time at Sun Yat Sen memorial, where the locals were hanging out for lunch.

The next day was my trip to Wulai, a tiny hot springs town about a 40-minute bus ride away from the most southern MRT station, Xindian. It was really picturesque. I’m not much of a hiking/outdoor-sy person, but I did take the time to walk up to the waterfall, although there was also a cute little train that takes you up there.

After I returned that evening, I did even more hiking. Just a twenty minute walk from Taipei 101 is a place called “Elephant Mountain” where you can get a great view of the entire city. I didn’t stay until sundown because the mosquitoes were eating me alive, but I got some great sunset shots.

Next installment: food, clubbing, Ilan, Jiufen, and shopping~

On this trip, I will be shooting (more or less) only film. I’m bringing my Olympus E-P1 as a digital backup, but I’ve decided that most of the photo work will be done by my trusty Nikon FM and 2 lenses (50mm f/1.8D and 35mm f/2). I was worried about taking the FM, since it is a fully manual camera, and I even bought a Nikon FE so I would have the choice of aperture priority. Unfortunately, the test roll came out iffy, so I’m going with my old favorite. It will be slower, but I don’t really do action shots or anything so no biggie.

I started making up plans, but it looks like Taipei is going to be rainy the entire time I’m there, so I don’t know if I can go hiking like planned. I know I’ll be doing a lot of shopping, and night market exploring, though. Tokyo I’m not worrying about too much, since I’m mostly there to visit friends. I do know that I want to visit Koenji (mori girl shopping area), Disney Sea, and Sweets Paradise (the best pasta/dessert buffet ever). Any other recommendations? Especially for Taiwan..