We are now well into the rainy season in Taiwan, so remember to always bring your umbrella. Still, the rain can't stop us from going out to places where we can find some happenings and bargains.

For the young and trendy items Ximending, near Taipei Train Station and Wu Fen Pu, close to Houshanpi MRT Station, is popular. Some shops are roofed over and some are out in the open air. A great place for shopping is the underground shopping mall at Taipei Main Station, close to the Y exits, which will also take you into the new QSquare shopping mall. As always, the night markets: Shilin Night Market at Jiantan MRT Station, Rao He Night Market - one of the oldest night markets close to Songshan Train Station / Houshanpi MRT Station, and Gong Guan Night Market at the MRT Station with the same name, just to mention a few, are all fun to visit but be prepared to hit the crowd.

A "newcomer" among the market places is Tianmu Market, intersection Tianmu East Rd. / Tianmu West Rd., open Friday 4.00 pm - 10.00 pm, Saturday 9.00 am - 10.00 and Sunday 3.00 pm - 9.00 pm. Taipei's answer to "Portobello Market".

For more traditional indoor shopping we have the fantastic Guang Hua Digital Plaza, Jinshan North Rd. # 77, corner Civic Blvd. / BaDe Rd. open 9.00 am - 10.00 pm daily, is a new 7-storey building filled with computer equipment and other electronic gadgets. Also to be found are branded sportswear, DVDs, mobile phones and much more. Prices are reasonable but you may bargain. English is rarely spoken and care must be taken as systems may not be compatible globally. For the camera gear check out "Camera Street", Han Kou St. Sec. 1, near Taipei Main Station.

The bigger department stores in Taiwan are: Sogo, Mitsukoshi, Far Eastern and in Taipei there are also: Taipei 101, New York New York, Takashimaya and the latest among them all, Bellavita in the Xinyi area. Eslite Bookstore can also be considered as a department store since they have a considerable amount of other items except books. A "heaven" for gift shopping is the Taiwan Handicraft Promotion Center, Hsu Chou Rd. / corner of Zhong Shan S Rd., which is a government-sponsored store that offers a wide selection of Chinese handicrafts. Open 9.00 am - 5.30 pm daily. English is spoken.