So, unlike any ikea in Canada or the UK, the Ikea here is actually located in a downtown location.  Happy to see this, makes it way easier to get to (one metro stop away for us), and dead easy to flag a taxi down at the end with our purchases.   Its strange though, it is in a commercial building several stories high shared with other shops and no parking that would could see.   Not your typical ikea big box store.

But they still managed to pack in all their show rooms, plus the typical cafeteria/restaurant and huge market place.  Funny to be on the other side of the world and yet in the familiar world of Billy bookcases and poang chairs.

The Chinese trend of hanging out in Ikea appears to be true here in Taipei as well.  We saw plenty of people lounging in the show rooms – including one family where the young daughter was lying lengthwise across the entire couch, reading, with a blanket pulled up to her chin.  interesting thing to do on a Saturday i guess?  bonus for us, with so many of the patrons with either their feet up on the showroom coffee tables, napping in the show beds or rammed into the restaurant devouring meatballs with lingonberry sauce, that left the checkout queue empty and made our shopping experience the fastest I’ve ever had at an Ikea.

The other bonus for us: the cab ride home cost less than £2.