TAIWAN XIMENDING - Day 3

I woke up on the third day with a serious sore throat and runny nose so decided it was better to keep nearby and visit a shopping area to purchase some medicine. Our hotel shuttle brought us to Ximending (西門町), Taipei's version of shopping streets Harajuku/Shibuya. Ximen is also accessible by the blue line MRT.

This attracted me while I was walking past. The toy shop is located upstairs, selling collectible figurines (公仔). A lot of shops are located on the 2nd floor and in Taiwan you tend to climb a lot of slopes or stairs. A friendly young guy beckoned us to take a look so we did.

Snapped this while the retail assistant wasn't looking muahaha. His name is Monkey. I didn't get what I was looking for, but he had nice Totoro toys which were comparable to Singapore's prices (slightly cheaper because I could haggle). My mom bought a Disney Aristocat torch.

A Totoro pin and Hello Kitty pin from a lady on the side of the street. Counterfeits of course. She displays the pins by sticking them on a large umbrella. One for 15NTD (US$0.50), 10 for 100NTD.

Tea everywhere in Taiwan. This red tea (no boba pearls) costs only 15NTD (US$0.50), they have the giant cups 1000CC but mine's the small one, I couldn't finish it as it was too sweet.

My mom and I decided to have some Japanese food. Can't remember the name of this shop, it is located on the 2nd floor. I ordered a vegetarian tomato soup hot pot for I think 195NTD (about US$6.50) and my mom a grilled saba (mackerel) fish meal (180NTD). There were 2 delicious hazelnut chocolate cubes given as a dessert! Yum. I gave one to my mom since my throat was too painful to enjoy lol, so she had 3 pieces. We also ordered a pot of hot blueberry tea which was 35NTD if purchased with a meal. 

This is the view from the window while eating.

This is a historical landmark in Ximending. Called the Ximen Red House (西門紅樓). I think it used to be a theatre. They have a little shopping alley inside where indie artisans set up shop.

Cool stamps in the Red House exbibit. Taiwanese use rubber stamps with their names or companies as substitutes for hand-signatures.

Gets very crowded at night.

The meds I bought from Watsons. The left one is called Sinphar TROGIN for pain relief. Also Sinphar Nocough syrup and Panadol Flu tablets. Pretty effective as long as you keep taking them.