May 2 is commemorated as the National Education Day in Indonesia, and this year, coincides with the date, Indonesian students in Taiwan declared the establishment of Persatuan Pelajar Indonesia (PPI) Taiwan (Indonesia Student Union in Taiwan). 

Held in Chung Yuan Christian University (CYCU) in ChungLi, the special event was attended by the Head of Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei Mr. Suhartono and his staff, along with the Vice President of CYCU Professor Chyang; and also many students from Indonesian Students Association from all Taiwan (cover Northern Taiwan, Central Taiwan, and Southern Taiwan), PERPITA (the union of Indonesian high school students in Taiwan), FORMMIT (Indonesian Moslem Students Association), and other Indonesian associations. 

In his speech, the head of PPI Taiwan declaration Mr. Hadi Kuntjara delivered great appreciation toward all Indonesian students in Taiwan and many parties which have helped to finally hold the event of the declaration. Professor Chyang also expressed his hope that PPI Taiwan can help many Indonesian students all over Taiwan to ‘blend’ and act as one family. He even said some sentences in Indonesian, resulting in great applauses from the attendants.

As for Mr. Suhartono, he underlined the importance of capacity and character building for the sake of Indonesian development. By studying in other country, Indonesian students can learn much and later can use the knowledge to take part in improving Indonesia from many aspects. The declaration was then signed by both Mr. Hadi Kuntjara and Mr. Suhartono, witnessed by Prof. Chyang and all of the attendants. 

Indonesian folk dance Saman was performed beautifully by Aceh students in Taiwan, together with Indonesian pop song by the representative of Indonesian student union in Tainan, and of course, the angklung performance from NTUST ISA, covering ‘Bendera’, a song originally sung by Cokelat band. Check out the video here.

After all, NTUST ISA is very happy and proud to be a part of PPI Taiwan Declaration.

Xinyi Area located in the center of Taipei. This area is filled with shopping malls, business buildings, and the icon of Taipei, Taipei 101. Bookstores located there are Eslite Xinyi (誠品 信義) and Page One bookstore (inside Taipei 101). To get to Eslite from NTUST, use bus number 650 and get off at MRT City Hall Station, then walk for 5 minutes to Eslite Building.

Eslite Xinyi Store (誠品 信義) — 11 SongGao Rd, Taipei

Opening hours:  10:00 AM – 02:00 AM (Fri-Sat); 10:00 AM – 00:00 (Sun-Thu)

Eslite Xinyi Store is called as the biggest bookstore in town. Most Taiwanese will mention this bookstore when foreigners ask about bookstore. It is just like Gramedia Bookstore, which is probably the most popular bookstore in Indonesia. Eslite Xinyi Bookstore, occupying 3 floors (2nd floor to 4th floor) of its total 8 stories of Eslite Building, is really a must to visit. With very pleasant sight, a huge number of book collections, and friendly spaces for short reading, book-lovers can spend a whole day here.

New arrivals located at the second floor. Eslite Xinyi usually displays its newest collections, along with several discount offers (occasionally). There are a lot of English books here, such as the latest Dan Brown’s novel, Mitch Albom collections, and many series of chicklit (chick-literature). The discount offerings also informed at Eslite webpage, so anyone can check it first before planning to buy (common discount: pay for 90% and 79% of the original price). The second floor also acts as home for a bunch of magazines, not only local magazines, but Cosmopolitan, Vogue, and Marie Claire as well.

More diversified books are available at the third floor. This floor is pretty neat and marvelous. There are great collections of graphic novels (comics), uncounted novels, racks of popular science books, and several comfortable spots to read. The books here are mainly in Chinese. Don’t worry, there are still English books, and Eslite Xinyi store has many comfortable spots to read.
A little Japanese bookstore fills a corner at fourth floor, which sells goods from Japan. The fourth floor mainly occupied by Eslite Stationary Store, which has a very cute collection of stationeries (but relatively expensive). There is also a spot of art bookstore.

It is really worth it to visit this bookstore.

Page One, Taipei 101 — 44 Shi-Fu Rd 110, Taipei

Opening hours: 10.00 AM – 10.00 PM

Placed in front of ‘city-walk’ at the fourth floor of Taipei 101, its bright Page One label in the entrance is easily caught by eyes. For foreigners, this bookstore is often being more preferred, because it has lots of English novel collections. Probably because Page One spread worldwide (it is a Singaporean-original chain bookstore). Anyway, the arrangement of the books is very neat and easy to find. Buyers can find a special shelf for Paulo Coelho, another for Agatha Christie, and many more. It is very convenient when searching some books by authors.

Not as big as Eslite, Page One comprises of not-so-wide aisles and hideous corners, because buyers sometimes will not really see it. The front side, as usual, is a spot for new arrivals and bestsellers. Page One has one individual shelf in the front side to display the most popular books (so it is very convenient). Walking through the aisles, there are many English books and some Chinese books. They are classified neatly in shelves, mostly based on authors, some based on topics. Go around the back, and there is a small way to enter the hideous corners, mainly children books and stationary.

Another thing, Page One always offers discount. It varies from 10% to 40% off, though it must be calculated carefully, not every book will end up cheaper than other bookstore. But yes, some are definitely cheaper than others. Some popular English novels, though vary in prices, normally offered at NT$282 (around US$8.5), here in Page One, its price will be 10% or 20% off. That’s much, particularly when it is desired to buy lots of books.

Next: Hunt for Books in Taipei: Gongguan Area (公館).

Citraningrum reported from Taipei.