Night Markets and Outdoor Day Markets

This is one of the truly great aspects about living in Asia. Wherever you end up living in Taiwan, you will almost certainly live within walking distance of a good day market. Fresh produce, fruits, vegetables, fish, bean curd, etc., is brought in by local farmers every day to the day markets. If you do any cooking, you won't believe the variety and cheap prices of most of Taiwan's produce. Foreign fruits like imported grapes and apples are really expensive compared to mangoes, bananas, papaya and guava. Most of the apples come from Washington State and New Zealand and are always very expensive.

At night, the city comes alive with its night markets. T-shirts, jackets, shoes, fashionable and outrageous clothing, people selling puppies and kittens, jewelry and watches, everything and anything can be bought and sold. Around the fringes are street stalls of fragrant soups, rice and noodle dishes, fruit smoothies and shaved ice stands, and vendors selling medicinal teas. These are great places to go and people watch, snack and do a bit of inexpensive shopping.

Department Stores

Taiwan is literally a place where you can shop till you drop. Some of the best places to do so are the modern multistory department stores fashioned after some of the best stores of the United States, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Anything you can find in the States and much you won't find there can be found in these modern stores. Just be mindful that the prices reflect the modernism and convenience of familiar name brand products.