Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Taiwan Travelogue: Exploring Xinyi District at night



Taipei is a city that never sleeps, like most of the major and capital cities in the world where nightlife is just part of the lifestyle. As most capitals in the world, Taipei is also focusing on its financial city status where most of the banking and financial institutions call the city their homes in the center of the hustle bustle of the metropolis.
Xinyi District fits in exactly as the financial center of Taipei; housing the major corporations and important landmarks well known to the world, such as Taipei 101, Taipei World Trade Center, Taipei International Convention Center, Taipei City Council and large shopping complexes with internationally known luxury designer brands in its alley.



Vibrant city scenes and buzzing traffic in both directions on the main road; swerving between the lanes and the beeping sounds of the traffic lights notifying the pedestrians to cross the road, switches interchangeably between hordes of people standing obediently behind the borders and then crossing the road are just the scenes so strikingly familiar to cities; especially when you are right in the center of the busiest part of the cities. This would probably be part of the description for Xinyi District which was kept alive by the seamless transition of the scenes at one point or another, forming that big picture of what would constitute the main theme of the streets themselves.



While I was here to visit the famous Taipei 101, I couldn't help being fascinated with the commotion and the lively scenes playing before me, although this is just another part of my lifestyle from where I came from; having grown up in a big city myself. The colorful and animated moving picture in Xinyi District just reminded me of my own home city, but with that foreign touch to it as a reminder that I am in a foreign country, but it still felt very much like home (if you get what I mean).
With the festivities around the corner, the streets were also beautifully lit with bright and blinking neon lights to create that fairyland-like environment, and without a doubt, it was indeed quite a sight to revel in at the time when darkness falls.











Besides being a financial district, Xinyi is also a major shopping district in Taipei, filled with major departmental stores and huge shopping malls. Shin Kong Mitsukoshi is one of the anchor departmental store; hailing from Japan as one of the high end retail stores in the area, alongside the Taipei 101 Mall which housed the majority of the internationally known luxury designer brands from around the world.
There is also the premier Eslite Bookstore which is located in this area; and with its seven floors of a book store, it is the city's largest bookstore to date.
    



Scenes of the decor in conjunction with the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year near Shin Kong Mitsukoshi






Be it for the shopping or just purely for sightseeing at night around the city of Taipei to experience a little of the nightlife, Xinyi district should be on the list as it is truly a window to the vibrant cosmopolitan city depicted of Taipei.



Also, what is there so say no to when the city's pride of the iconic skyscraper is in your photography landscape, and there is a good opportunity to capture it in its full glory?





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