What you are looking at is the Taipei Train station. Over the last decade this area has changed drastically. What was once a very old style train station when I first arrived in Taiwan, is now a more modern place. Inside are art exhibits, an expensive new food court, and best of all a new high speed rail system. I often wonder how long it will be until the outside of the building gets the same face lift that the inside has gotten.
To the north and south of the train station are two underground malls which are slowly becoming gentrified if i may use that word. cheap clothing stores, massage parlors, and nicknack shops are being replaced by high end boutiques and specialty restaurants.
Which unfortunately has changed the clientele in the area. What used to be an area where immigrants from various South East Asian countries would come to shop, now is place for twenty somethings to hang out between their time spent at the various department stores in the area.
I'm sure that the Taipei city government looks upon this as a good thing, while I can't help but feel sadden and a bit worried by all this. In a city where already each district looks similar to the next, slowly any uniqueness is being taken away and replaced by the same department stores, restaurants and other trappings of modern commercialization. I can't help be feel like soon there will be a serious problem when they find there aren't enough consumers to support a department store and high end boutiques on each block of the city.
