So I'm going to take you on a brief virtual tour of my neighbourhood.
First, here the main street of the neighbourhood. This the only thing you will see if you drive. No, it's not very beautiful, is it?
However, the streets only serve as transportation links to the main attraction: the 'lanes'.
Here I am on street, and I'm pointing at a lane that I'm just about to turn into.
Wow, it's already starting to look better. The lane is much narrower, and the buildings are covered in beautiful signs and there's more of a human buzz.
However, while there's a lot of fun along these lanes, they further link into 'alleys'.
Below I'm pointing into an alley that I am just about to turn into.
Yay, this is getting really exciting. As you can see, we've been transported maybe twenty, thirty years back in time. More signs and strange neon lights. Street food vendors. Wall-to-wall restaurants and bars.
Of course, those are pictures from a summer day, under scorching sun, so it's not as buzzing as when night falls and temperaturs turn slightly more humane (27 degrees I'm guessing)
So here's an lane/alley intersection not far from where I live where picked up a really big meal (pork, chicken, rice) for £2
Hopefully, this will have convinced you that Taipei is a beautiful city, unique in it's own way. The idea of small streets leading of the main street reminds me of the Beijing hutongs, although these lane/alleys are arranged in a much more regular manner. It's got some of the chaos you get in Bangkok. But it also has a nice/weird western feeling- difficult to point at anything specifically, but one thing is there are lots of little family owned cafes around the place.
All in all: nice.
