Walking Around Yongkang Street, Taipei

Yongkang Street has a special place in my adventure's list as this is the first place I explored on my solo trip around Taipei. I stayed in the area for three days, getting a chance to go walk around at a leisurely pace for hours. The easiest way to get to Yongkang Street is by train. The train station closest to it is Dongmen Station. It helps that it's an interchange station, meaning two rail lines pass by here, the MRT Red Line and Xinzhuang Line. It won't take many steps from the station to reach Yongkang. There are also bus stops in the area, but I was too afraid to ride and miss my stop on buses here, considering I know zero Mandarin.

The street at first glace is this busy mix of tourists and locals, thanks to the popularity of some restaurants in the area, including the michelin star restaurant Din Tai Fung down at Xinyi Road. They're known for their dimsums and xiao long bao. The vibe of the area is more of this artsy back alley that has a mix of popularly staple restaurants with small independent cafes and shops. It's a hip residential area with price ranging at roughly mid-to-high price points with a meal that can cost for around 100TWD for up to over 700TWD per person. The best time to be in the area is either before lunch or late afternoon to avoid the crowds. As early as 9pm though, you'll find yourself almost alone as tourists tend to disperse right after dinner, leaving a couple of young locals just chilling within the area.

I'll walk you through briefly with some of the photos I took along the way. And fyi, I travel to eat...so the ratio of images of restos to other shops is 3:1 in this post. 

My first pit stop in Yongkang. They serve lemon-lime preserved drinks for 60-80 TWD. 

Lime Organic is the name of the shop and I love it's unique tangy taste that you can only get
through the slow process of fermentation. They have jars of pickled lemons and limes in the shop.
This creepy looking salamander in the shop reminds me of Chrono Cross dragons somehow.

Smoothie House is a popular dessert place chock full of tourists all day. Apparently they have another shop
a few steps away on another street serving the same food with no queues. I didn't try it though as I had
no craving for a mango dessert throughout the duration of my stay in Yongkang.

One of the themed milktea cafes...that I didn't get to try.

There are random corners with cool graffiti that you'll find every now and then. 

Eilong is a nice shop that sells artisan tea sets...you're not allowed to take photos
inside the shop unfortunately. But you'll find some interesting souvenirs in there. Pricey though.

A cool artsy store that sells random stuff. I couldn't resist buying at least one of the
cutest magnets EVER! I got the sleeping corgi on the top right. I wanted more,
but my budget said NO! It's also a cafe by the way...that sits two customers only. :(

This is another one of the popular stores with never ending lines even in the morning.

They sell this nice chewy veggie pancake that is similar to the texture of pratha. 

Don't you just want to sit right beside Charlie Brown? This bench is located right in
front of La Petite Perle, a nice quaint cafe...that I didn't get a photo of...and didn't get to try.

I would totally recommend D-Ka Bun for their local dishes that are hearty
yet at the same time affordable. My meals here cost me around 150TWD. Not bad.

Now this was my biggest frustration. I was saving this traditional tea cafe for my last
night in YongKang, trying to budget my remaining money...only to blow up my budget
because I couldn't understand what the old lady was saying at another resto. Given a chance
to go back to Taipei, I have my eyes set on this one. 

Simply called Taiwanese restaurant, this was the restaurant that I most regretted trying.
Not for the taste of the food, but for the sheer cost of my one meal that set my budget
back several folds. I paid 620TWD for my meal here, thanks to language barrier.

The resto you see on top is the resto that has taught me one of the most valuable lessons when traveling. When there is zero understanding of the language, make sure you don't nod your head to everything that an old lady is asking or pointing at...because you're gonna end up paying a whole lot in the end. This was the most expensive meal I ate in Taiwan, at 620TWD, it was more expensive than the four course meal I ate over at the Virginal Restaurant of The Old England Manor! The scenario was that I wanted something local and authentic, so I randomly entered this resto where locals were dining in and the servers were old ladies. I stared at the menu and there were no English translations, just characters with pictures thankfully. So, I pointed at one pork dish that looked tasty, then the old lady nodded her head pointing at the display of ingredients. I dumbly kept saying yes with my head assuming she was pointing at the ingredients of the dish I ordered. I just wanted to get it over with the uninterpretable questions and have myself seated. Fast forward 10-minutes, a vegetable dish arrived, then another pork stew with the same vegetables arrived, aaaand finally the dish that I ordered reached my table...with more of the same vegetables. Apparently, she was asking me if I wanted additional orders on top of what I had pointed...and I unknowingly agreed to all of them!!! That was supposedly the price of my three meals in one sitting. And just like that, I was left to cut my expenses in half on the last day...AAAAND give up on my plan of trying the traditional tea house that I've been saving for. Grrr... 

I just loved staring at this resto...it made me feel like I was in Japan....but I didn't get to try.

A cute window for a milktea shop...but I didn't get to try.

A warm looking cafe...but I didn't get to try.

I finally got to taste Coco without having to fall in line.
This was also the street where I stayed in Yongkang.

Oftentimes when I'm alone and truly enjoy the sights, I can manage to walk block after block and before I knew it I made it to another part of the Da'an area. Roughly a 20-minute walk from Yongkang is the Da'an Forest Park. It's one train station away from Dongmen, but totally doable by foot. The area is surrounded by commercial and office buildings that you can stroll along. There's even a catholic church in the area, and a block after it is a mosque. It's always interesting to see these structures in foreign areas, especially when a different religion dominates.

I made my way in the church to pray and give thanks for a bit. There wasn't a single person in the church that I could hear a pin drop. I didn't stay in the area for too long though, there wasn't much to see in the park as well save for a few sculptures and flowers.

This is Da'an Park Station that connects directly to Da'an Park

One cute flower fairy that reminds me of my friend Ana.

Da'an park is a nice quiet park with lots of trees. A nice place to stroll around.

They also have a couple of wire sculptures scattered around the park with
colorful flower patterns on the grounds.

I stumbled upon the Holy Family Catholic Church. No one was
around when I entered the premises.

They have beautiful stained glass windows all around. 

Back at Yongkang area on my last day...

I was craving for a noodle dish and ended up in a ramen place in Yongkang.

TenRen's Tea is a local tea that can be perfect for pasalubongs.

This was my last meal on this trip. With a tight budget, it took a while before I found
a local store that serves a filling meal at a very affordable price. This cost me 120TWD
for the fried chicken. squash, bok choi and rice. The taste was just ok though.
It was more familiar than foreign. Just boiled veggies with sweet and sour sauce.

This was the AirBnb where I stayed in. The deciding factor was their shiba inu that
I wanted to play with. It was perfect for me, the location plus the adorable doggie.

I can only eat and spend so much in the days I spent in Yongkang that I wish I had more backup friends to help me try and taste as much as I could. All in all, I'd recommend this place to a young hip crowd who likes a good Instagram feed and those who want to look for quirky finds. A few hours of walking around the area should suffice, after all, it's really easy to get here by train.

Here's a poor shot of unedited video I took during one of my walks in the area one night.

And here's the shiba inu that I really loved cuddling with.