TaipeiToddler: March 2009

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

CSS

CSS office is 10 -15 minutes walk from the hotel. Look out for the Pizza Hut sign at street level ([1] on the map).

CSS office building and street

CSS nursery is roughly one hour away by taxi (depending on the traffic, it could be forty minutes or one and a half hour).

View from CSS nursery

On the corner of SongXin Rd and SongLong Rd ([2] on the map) on the first floor –on the ground floor there is a Matsusei supermarket- there is a great baby pharmacy that stocks everything from baby formula to child-proofing material. From the Agora Garden, it takes five minutes by taxi and fifteen minutes on foot to get to the pharmacy. I went there often during our three-week stay and three out of four times I found helpful English speaking staff who taught me how to use a Japanese-made digital thermometer, found the right teats for the bottles I had brought from home (Avent with 1 drop holes as opposed to the 3 drops I needed for my child) and helped me with the door stoppers and padded corners I needed to childproof our hotel room. They also helped me find pacifiers (dummies) that are not exactly the same as the ones that CSS uses but are similar enough for our son to accept (CSS uses dummies that do not have a “cherry” or bubble at the end; theirs have a straight shape that is not common in Australia and that I found difficult to find in Taipei too; when I did find a few brands that seemed acceptable I spent A$90 stocking up for the months ahead and I am glad I did).

Pharmacy Street

Pharmacy entrance

Business card with address in Chinese and phone number

Baby Supplies (2)

On a tiny lane behind the BenQ sign at the end of Songren Rd ([3] on the map) there is another pharmacy. Very small and with no English speaking staff when I visited but well-stocked with baby stuff and useful to pick up the odd jar of baby food while waiting for our Vietnamese pho and rice paper rolls to be ready for collection (pls. see below my comments on the traffic on that narrow lane).

Baby Supplies (3)

On Zhongxiao Rd, there is a French Geant supermarket (marked yellow on the map) that sells everything from fresh food to grand pianos (literally!). The supermarket covers several floors but it is completely underground and has a rather modest entrance on the side of the Tango Hotel.

Baby Supplies (4)

On the 5^th and 6^th floor of building A4 in the Mitsukoshi Dept store (marked blue on the map) one can find baby clothes and toys. The department store is very posh. Here you can find a big selection of ritzy western brands at expensive prices. In a corner of the 6^th floor there is a small and colourful padded playground. It cost approximately A$10 for one parent and one child to enter (you will need to take your shoes off and wash your hands with an alcohol solution on entry). The crowd, when we went there was rich little kids in designer clothes accompanied by their nannies. The games on offer are appropriate for a toddler (slide, balloons, large foam blocks, rocking teddybears, “waterbed”, padded merry-go-round). If you are picking up a toddler or you are travelling with one and you are at a loss to entertain him/her on a rainy day (or –as I did- you walked out of the hotel with your child strapped onto you and you forgot to bring his shoes), it might be worth a visit.

Food

We found that our son was much calmer and happier if we stuck to the routine (sleeping and feeding times) he was used to in the CSS nursery and we found it helpful to come back to the hotel at lunch time, put him down for his nap and then pick up a lunch take-away while one of us held fort at the hotel. We tried the hotel buffet once and ended up taking terms scoffing down food, while one of us was walking up and down the lobby trying to entertain a restless baby. After that experience, we went looking for quick take-away places at walking distance from the hotel. Here is what we found:

Food (1)

On Songxin Rd ([5] on the map) there are a number of tiny Chinese food stalls where you can buy lunch for two with A$12. I went there often and ordered dumplings, steamed greens, fried tofu and marinated peanuts. These are rather basic food stalls patronised by office workers and school kids. The fare is simple but nice and you can order it (as I did) by pointing at what other customers are eating. The price to pay is often typed on a calculator by the store chef.

Food (2)

On the same tiny lane behind the BenQ sign at the end of Songren Rd ([4] on the map) we found an excellent Vietnamese restaurant for pho. The lane where it is is pretty busy and does not have pedestrian side-walks so, if Asian-style traffic disconcerts you, do not go there. If you are willing to take the risk, though you can get a cheap (A$14 buy you two seafood pho and two serves of rice paper rolls) delicious quick lunch to take back to the hotel.

Food (3)

On the restaurant floor (5^th?) on the A4 building in the Mitsukoshi Dept store (marked blue on the map) you can find take-away sushi (expect to pay approximately A$30 for two small portions of sushi).

On the second underground floor on the A8 building in the Mitsukoshi Dept store, which is in front of the A4 building (marked blue on the map) there is a food court with lots of Chinese take-away booths. On the same floor there is a good selection of sweets and chocolate boxes, which we found useful for small thank you gifts.

On the seventh floor of the A9 building there are more restaurants (we did not try them).

Food (4)

On 1^st floor of the NEO19 building (marked green on the map) you can find sushi and a western steak house chain (we did not try them so I can’t rate them).

On the ground floor of the NEO19 building (marked green on the map), there is an Italian restaurant called Macaroni. It is nothing like mum’s cooking but it does quick take-aways (we tried large salads and chicken schnitzels and paid approximately A$45 for two portions and complimentary garlic bread).

Monday, March 30, 2009

Food (5)

There are Hagen Dasz ice cream parlours both on 1^st floor of the A4 building in the Mitsukoshi Dept store and on 4^th floor of the Taipei 101 tower (next to the Page 1 bookshop, which has a good children section, by the way).

We found a large number of patisseries scattered around town. The baking is not always up to scratch but the crème caramel and panna cottas that we tried were just fantastic!

The 7-11 convenience stores and Starbucks coffee shops are omnipresent and opened at times when other places might not be. Shops normally operate between 10am and 10pm so if you are out early with your little one and you need a caffeine fix, Starbucks will likely be your best chance.

Entertaining a Toddler

We found it a bit difficult to discover places where a 14-month baby could be let loose for an hour and burn off some energy. The city is dense and public places are not always child-friendly. Here are some ideas:

Entertainment (1)

Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall ([6] on the map) has a large paved yard around the building and a few large patches of grass (beware of mosquitoes, they were lurking in the grass even in winter). It is a bit stark for Australian standards but it is spacious and on the weekend when we went it was populated by dozens of kids’ groups armed with portable stereos trying their dance routines. I am not sure whether that is common or whether they were getting ready for a competition at that particular time of the year but it sure made for a great atmosphere! The hall houses a museum and a large statue of Sun Yat-Sen, where you can see the change of the guard every hour on the hour (if you are into cheerleaders’ style acrobatics performed with a bayonet in place of the traditional baton, don’t miss it). On the lower ground floor there is a library that has a children section. While the furniture have a few sharp corners, the children section has a door and a few child-size tables and chairs. It is not wildly entertaining but it is free and good to keep in mind for a rainy day (you will be asked by the attendant to take your shoes off before entering).

Entertainment (2)

We spent a fair bit of time in the pedestrian area around the Mitsukoshi Department Store where several stalls and performance platforms appear during the weekend and offer a good opportunity for people watching.

Entertainment (3)

The pedestrian lane behind the hotel’s garden is quiet (apart from the time when kids head home from the local school) and we found it helpful to walk up and down the lane with our son strapped to us in a koala sling and when trying to settle him. We used a sling called ERGObaby and found it very comfortable even with a 10Kg baby –strongly recommended!

Entertainment (4)

The National Palace Museum (www.npm.gov.tw) houses an amazing loot of Chinese art (I went there twice during my stay) but we found it unpleasantly crowded. The grounds of the museum house a famous Chinese garden, which I personally found not as beautiful as Sydney’s Chinese garden –admittedly I visited in winter. The museum is not served by the Taipei Metro (MRT). We went there by Taxi and had a hell of a time: we were stuck in traffic for an hour and our son became inconsolably restless, which made the whole experience very stressful. If your baby is unsettled by being in a car, you can get there travelling North on the metro (Danshui Line to the Shilin Station, where there is a taxi rank) and then getting to the Palace Museum by Taxi (a ten minutes ride only). Using that system I had a much more enjoyable second trip. The way back to the hotel was a painless (not in rush hour) 25 minutes ride in a taxi, which the help desk of the museum was happy to call for me.

Entertainment (5)

Longshan Temple is beautiful and historic and seems continuously packed with worshippers. It has its own stop on the Taipei Metro (MRT), which makes for an easy visit. I found it fascinating (although admittedly this is not a spot where you can easily entertain a child).

Entertainment (6)

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (www.cksmh.gov.tw) is imposing and a bit stark. It has a large paved area all round it, houses a big statue of Chiang Kai-shek (complete with guards that change hourly), and a museum. The gardens around the monument are a cool haven in a hot afternoon. When I visited they were quiet and pleasant. I saw a Buddhist nun officiating a service there and lots of elderly people ambling around. The porticos against the fencing walls are equally cool and nice. Our son had a lovely time running around there.

Entertainment (7)

The 2-28 Memorial Museum (http://228.culture.gov.tw/web/web-eng/museum/museum-2.htm) documents a 1947 Taiwanese uprising and following repression. We found this interesting and helpful in understanding modern Taiwan a bit better. The exhibits are predominantly photographs, which makes the space reasonably child-friendly. Furthermore, the park outside (2-28 Peace Park) has a children playground and a café. The NTU University Hospital stop on the MRT has an exit directly inside the park, which makes transport easy.

Entertainment (8)

We really enjoyed having a stroll in the large gardens around the Shilin Official Residence (not far from the MRT Shilin stop). The city’s density led us to seek green public spaces and the Shilin gardens are spacious and offered us a real break from the city and its noise. When we visited, the gardens were housing an impressive chrysanthemum display and were packed with visitors. We rather enjoyed the experience.