Shopping and Souvenirs

Taipei sits squarely on the crossroads of the ancient and the modern, and whether you're looking for a gift reeking of antiquity or the latest timesaving electronic gadget, chances are that you can find it in Taipei. The city has everything from the ultra-expensive and chic to the kitschy and cheap.

The weekend jade market is a great place to buy jade, it's located under the Jiengguo Road overpass by Ren Ai Road and is open only on Friday and Saturday. The Kuanghua Computer Market is known as one of the best places in Asia to buy discount computer equipment. Though modern stores abound, our favorite place for cyberpunk shopping is one block north of the Chunghsiao Hsinsheng Station, where hundreds of small hole-in-the-wall shops compete you’re your computer business. West of Taipei Main Station on Hankou Street by Po Ai Road is an area called Camera Street, bargain hard and you can wind up getting a new digital camera for half what you might pay back home. The Chinese Handicraft Market is an excellent place to find jeweler, ceramic pieces, calligraphy, sculpture and other traditional Chinese objects d'art, it's on the corner of Zhongshan North and Xuzhuo Road.