24 Hour Eslite Taipei
"Do you know there's a 24 hours bookstore in Taipei?"
"Wait, there is?! HOLY, WHERE IS IT?"
"I'm pretty sure there is one, I came across it online"
"Okay, let me go see! Do you wanna go?!"
"Well, sure! That's something different, right?"
A strange reconnection bought us to a very short yet memorable misadventure. I gesture Lina over our hostel, bought her around and even do introductions so she'll get to know people here. It is one of the random days when you never thought you'll meet a secondary school mate that you'll never speak to here, and the funny thing is that, you'll realize that there are so many things to a person that you would never know.
We hung out and deleted to take the last train out to the book store. Situated near Zhongxiao Dunhua Station, we took exit 6 and walked along Dunhua South Road. The place is dimly lit and we might have missed it if not for the GPS. It is hard to tell when everything is dark. There is a security guard by the door and he gestured us in after seeing that we are dressed up like library nerds.
We took the lift up to level 2 which is the main entrance. The rest of the space seems to be closed when we went, even the "cafe" the bar and some other places seemed to be cordoned off. However across the entrance lies a sea of lights, and under the sea of lights are thousands of books waiting for us to discover. We ran through so many books, and I went through so many book titles that I'll love to read but I'll never. It is a strange habit of mine, to photography books that I'll never read. It slowly became a collective and perhaps I should show it somewhere. The rawness on holding a book by its cover, thinking that this book has the answer you need.
I flipped through several books, as the sound sends whisper down my spine. I stopped randomly on this page, as the book is said to give me answers. And here is what it told me.
I froze, as vague as it be, but seers, shrines, temples have given me bizarre encourage to preserve. Be it for the better or worse, I have to keep going, keep writing the chapters, keep reading to push on. Maybe this is what I need, for the Universe to send me messages and whispers from books, and people to encourage me to keep living, to keep working forward.
I love the quiet of the place, with fellow introverts amongst the shelves, and retreating behind the page to themselves. The place is huge, and we all will have our own corner as we hide our faces behind the books that kept us safe at night. It is nothing but therapeutic, and I love it.
An amazing place to hang out at night, and we walked back after that. We even stopped by for a soothing and comforting cup noodles before I head back home.
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Details
Name: Eslite 24 Hour Bookstore (誠品24小時書店)
Address: 台北市敦化南路一段245號
(Website)
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