Cityscape In Dihua Street

After filling up on soy milk and others, I decided to go to Dihua Street. This is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Taipei. In the old streets that have been around since before World War II, there are many stores selling dried fruits, Chinese herbs, dried foods, and dried mullet roe. Some of the stores sell swallows' nests, which are rarely seen in Japan.

It seems that this place, which has become a busy shopping district, was originally a settlement of the Ketagalan people, an indigenous tribe in Taiwan. The Chinese began to live there in the 19th century, and it became prosperous after it was incorporated as part of Tamsui Port, one of the treaty ports at the end of the 19th century. It is said that the consulates of Germany and the United States were once located here, so it must have been the center of commerce and politics.

I walked leisurely along Dihua Street, where there were many old buildings that reminded me of the past. There were low-rise historical buildings on both sides of the straight street, and there were many signboards hanging on the walls. They were written in Chinese characters, so I could somewhat guess what they were selling. If it said "茶", it meant a tea shop, if it said "薬", it meant a Chinese medicine store. And there was a blue sky above the road.