Today was my first real day in Taipei and my goal for the day was to wander to the city centre and find an USB-based battery-charger for my camera. I’ve heard that there was a city quarter that had a lot of camera shops. This quest of finding an USB-based charger has been quite long or actually ever since I bought my quite expensive Sony full frame camera in Thailand. My worry was that charging directly to the camera could damage it and hence the reason I wanted an external USB-charger. With my increasing interest in photography I really wanted to use the full frame camera to take pictures while exploring Taipei.

So with my goal set I went and grab some quick delicious noodle soup just outside my hotel for breakfast and then took the metro to Taipei Main Station. Taipei Main Station had a huge labyrint area with a lot of shops and people in the sub-ground floor! I spent quite a while wandering around in this area trying to find a way up to the ground floor and out of the area.

From Taipei Main Station to the shopping area where these camera shops were located wasn’t far. However thanks to my unreliable GPS on my new phone, I managed to wander to the wrong area of the city! After spending some time trying to find a “famous” soya-drink shop in this area of the city, I was  told that the shop was closed… It was time to get back on track and try to find a camera shop that sold that elusive USB-charger!

While wandering to the camera quarter of the city I stumbled on this cozy eating area that consisted on my small restaurants. I didn’t eat anything in this place, but the food looked amazing with lot of varieties and the price was quite reasonable as well!

Not far from this area I also discovered this vibrant marked selling all sorts of fruits and vegetables. Adjacent to the marked lied this amazing vegetarian restaurant that had all kind of vegetarian food that you can imagine! Although it wasn’t the cheapest food around in this area, I had to try since I had good memories of the vegetarian food from the Chinese Monastery in Nepal. Besides I really need some greens in my life! And holy yes – the food was amazing! It was undoubtedly one of the best vegetarian food I’ve ever had! This marked and restaurant turned out to be my favourite spot for food and fruits during my stay in Taipei. I also learned that there was a temple just across the street and suddenly this marked made more sense to me!

Filled with delicious vegetarian food in my tummy, it was time to once again getting back on track and find  the freaking USB-charger. Fortunately the camera quarter was just a few blocks from the vegetarian marked. When I arrived at the camera quarter I was amazed of the number of camera shops that were in this area. It was packed full with Sony, Nikon and Canon shops and signs along the street. Surely there must be a shop that sold an USB-charger for my camera? Well after visiting more that ten shops I gave up – none of them had the charger I wanted… With that my quest for this elusive device ended for the day. I was full and tired and it was time to head back to the hotel and call it a day.

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