Groove with the Young and Trendy at Ximending

The hip and trendy at Ximending

Are you young (or at least young at heart), fashionable, trendy, and hippy? If you answer ‘Yes’ to all the mentioned descriptions, you got what it takes to be seen at Taipei most popular, trendy upbeat shopping haven! If Tokyo has its Ginza, New York City has its Broadway St, then Ximending is definitely the ‘it’ place for Taipei. This hot spot is choke-ful of shops selling everything a youngster could ask for. Be it fashion, fast food, tattoo, piercing, sunglasses, sneakers, snacks, CDs, magazines, movies, theatre shows……you can basically find everything here that fits the ‘cool’ bill for a hippy, hormone-raging youth. Well, I know I mentioned Ximending is a shopping haven, but for a light traveler like me, I’ve managed to learn to curb the shopping maniac side of me when I go see the world. All because it just look so-not-cool to walk out of the airport/bus station/ train station carrying loads of bags, looking tired and haggard just handling the load, even before any sightseeing starts. So yeah… no shop-until-I-drop indulgences on traveling trips for me. (Unless it’s specifically a shopping trip!)

What is youth culture without grafitti?

So what do I do at a place like Ximending with no intention to shop? Worry-not. The sights itself is enough to steal my soul away. Ximending dates back to the Japanese era when it rules Taipei. It has developed and grown with time, filling up the need for fashion and entertainment for the people. Trendy and upbeat as it is, Ximending has an underlying solid tone that tells you that though it serves the young and feeds the youth culture; it has no doubt successfully hidden itself as a true old grandpa place, ever so faithfully dishing out candies to passing youth.

My favourite cheapest travel itinerary: people-watch

With storefronts covered in kitschy neon lights, naked wire, artsy graffiti, and jumble of colours, it makes a perfect study for the ‘art of raking up a new look’ for an old historical place. If you look carefully into the street alleys, away from the crowd, you’d find the edgier side of Taiwan’s youth culture where they truly work and shop. It’s a discovery of the true Ximending, on how life can be, in an alleyway right in the heart of Taipei city, building an understanding for a culture, dissecting the similarities or differentiation of lifestyles, away from what you see at home.

Be wowed and entertained by street stunts & performances!

Besides the alleyways, the crowds make a great opportunity to do people-watching. At the pedestrian streets of Ximending, you’d see youth parading around at their best. Though it may be somewhat different to what I’d normally wear when I was their age, but hey! Don’t discriminate, being a youth is all about being different.

Thank God they're doing this on the street during day light time! (Street shows)

I often get amused with the most bizarre way of dressing up that a person can get away with. What can look totally dynamic and stylish on one person can just totally make another look so ‘off’. I used to drab myself in safe boring colours and shapeless big Ts, until my very own dad got fed up with me and insist upon the role of my personal fashion advisor. I couldn’t help but smile watching teens in their choice of style, and I wonder what their parents think.

Get lucky to run into celebrities' CD albums launches

Walking along the streets at Ximending is definitely a must if you want to feel of the vibe of youth culture in Taipei. With random street performances, music CDs launches from hip atiste, small concerts, this is certainly not a place to have the chance to feel bored with. Ximending is there for what it serves in the first place: to entertain. Find great travel deals to Taipei at PYOtravel.com Photos credit to Flickr contributors.