David on Formosa

On Saturday afternoon I headed to Ximending (西門町) to meet a friend and see what was happening. The place was abuzz with activity. One of the first things I spotted was this concert going on in the plaza beside the Red Theatre (紅樓). The plaza also has a lively market where young designers and artists tout their wares.

Standing outside the MRT Station two young college students approached me. Their teacher had asked them to speak to some foreigners to practice their English. I patiently and politely obliged their request (while silently cursing their English teacher).

A young lady chatted on her mobile phone as she moved through the crowd.

Wandering along a little way I discovered some cosplay with a Gothic theme happening.

And a blind man playing the erhu.

The reason I came to Ximending on this day was to see Kou Chou Ching (拷秋勤) perform outside the in89 Movie Theatre. I have embedded a video of them performing their song “Grey Coastlines” (灰色海岸線) above. I missed the intro to the song. The official music video is available on Facebook.

After Kou Chou Ching’s set a few guys stepped up to do some beatbox. The man pictured above was doing his first public performance after a year of practicing. He was pretty good.

I discovered a “Longstay Hotel”. I thought most of the hotels in this area specialised in short stay!

The man in the photo above was busy writing people’s names with a very artistic style of Chinese characters. A large crowd gathered round to watch.

The last stop was at some of the art shops in the Red Theatre. I discovered a small shop called Mago Life Shop which has a very interesting range of Buddhist t-shirts. The photo above shows John, the designer, with a “The Buddha is my mind mentor” t-shirt.