I was last in Taipei in 2010 so it was a good time to fly back to Taipei again, having had such a great experience in the city because of Tina (BagSnob) and her friends who knew where to take us.
The one place I never got to check out on my last visit though, was Taipei 101. This time around, Taipei 101 is the first on our list of places to see. And see it I did.
Hard to miss this monstrous building! And inside was retail heaven-- beautiful space, really.
Some of the brands that have stores inside were: Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, Zegna, Armani, Van Cleef and Arpels, Tiffany and Co., Miu Miu, Prada, DKNY, Bottega Veneta, Dior, Cartier, Longchamp, Glashutte, Tod's *soon to open*, Gucci, Burberry, and Givenchy. I was half- expecting to see a lot more shoppers (like Pacific Place in Hong Kong) but then it was a weekday.
Taipei 101 was the only other place we visited after having lunch at Red Misua, a hole in the wall eatery that Tina had introduced to me 2 years ago.
I had a large bowl of pork entrails with misua (noodles), a large cup of milk tea, and an order of cheese and egg crepe (Taiwanese style) from across the street that served the soup. I cannot tell you how satisfying the meal was, even on an extremely hot day-- thank you Tina for the address of Red Misua :)
Had to burn off the meal by walking-- in heat (it was over 30 degC), but it was quite alright because there were plenty of stores around the area. One small boutique even had this bag!!!
It was a printed bag that was trying hard to be a Celine nano luggage tote :) I had a very good laugh at this and went inside to check the bag. Confession: I really wanted it LOL. I had to inspect it to make sure there was no "Celine" label anywhere in the bag. There were more luggage tote wannabes inside and I had a ball looking through them. The store was also carrying another birkin wannabe-- the Banane (remember those?).
After a day of walking and exploring, went with another Tina recommendation for dinner. Hotpot at Mala (馬辣鴛鴦火鍋)!
We must've spent over 2 hours eating at Mala. Both soup bases were fantastic, but it was impossible for us to tear ourselves away from that spicy red soup which left our ears and tongues burning :) Feeling very heavy from the having devoured too much over dinner, ended up walking for over 40 minutes back to our hotel. Yes, exercise was good. After all, I had this to look forward to :D
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| W Hotel Taipei |
P.S. Thank you Bagsnob for all the restaurant recommendations, and thank you CV Travel for working on the super last minute travel arrangements and the travel visa! xo
x
TheBagHag