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Today was my first full day in Taipei! I am staying in the Ximen neighborhood my first few nights.

In the morning I was hungry and disoriented, and attempted to order breakfast at a local spot, but left when I realized there might not be any vegan options (and otherwise became socially anxious).

I noticed I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to effectively navigate social situations in fluent Mandarin, despite knowing full well—but perhaps not accepting—that my current speaking (and listening) abilities would make this impossible.

I decided to check out 上頂皇家, a vegetarian to-go spot just around my hotel. I simply asked “what’s good” in English, soon had some pot stickers in my system. Having successfully used cash to pay for food, I was emboldened. I ate like a 豬 (🐷) the rest of the day.

Next stops included Ximen Mango Shaved Ice, where I grabbed some warm soy milk and a bready thing whose name escapes me (both of questionable veganity). I continued my rampage at Popcorn Chicken King Ximen 台灣鹽酥雞 西門直營店 where I ordered vegan fried chicken and fried oyster mushrooms.

I continued wandering around Ximen the rest of the day.

I accidentally stumbled into a cute market (東三水街市場、新富市場) on the way to Lungshan Temple.

I found Lungshan Temple after navigating the closure surrounding Bangka Park (I needed to go underground; not sure if this is normally required).

After Lungshan, I wandered through the Bopiliao Historical Block (剝皮寮歷史街區), where the most notable sight on this rainy afternoon was a mob of children breakdancing, which I watched in delight for a few moments with a handful of other onlookers.

I wandered through some more side streets as I made my way back to the hotel for a brief rest before dinner. I happened to pass through yet another night market (Huaxi Street Night Market 臺北華西街夜市)—no photo, but below are a few others I took along the way.

I also stopped in a music store, where I shared a cute moment with the shopkeeper and his young son (~8 years old), who was keeping watch at the counter. When I came in, and the father emerged from the back, I said in English that I would just be looking around (I was curious to see if they had any smaller instruments I could take with me the rest of the trip—sadly, they did not), and I was met with a dismissive wave. Just as I was about to turn around and leave, I heard the son quietly say to his father, “…看一看…”, which I recognized as a translation of what I had said, so I said “谢谢” (thank you) to the son, which roused a bit of a chuckle from the father; this sudden warmth made me feel comfortable wandering for a few moments before heading out.

For dinner, I returned to a Sichuan cold noodle place I had discovered in my earlier wanderings (Sichuan style cold noodles 四川涼麵).

I then took a brief post-dinner nap at the hotel before making a visit to check out The Red House (西門紅樓), where there are a number of LGBTQ+ bars. I felt quite out of place as most people there were in groups, and it was less the fluid mingling vibe I had come to expect from my travel guide (Gemini), and more a bunch of pre-existing groups chatting and (presumably) pregaming for more happening spots later in the evening.

It was also still raining (and more heavily now), so I concluded my night early and got some much-needed sleep at the hotel.

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When I randomly awoke at around 4am, I grabbed some snacks at the 7-11 nearby before heading back to sleep.