Miramar

The Miramar (美麗華 Měi Lì Huā) is a shopping center near Taipei's affluent business district, Neihu, and the well-to-do suburb of Dazhi. Best identified by the neon-lit green Ferris Wheel that forms part of its outdoor rooftop amusement park, The Miramar. Retailing a range of higher end lifestyle goods, is a breath of fresh air in the Jiannan MRT area - comprised mostly of office buildings on this high-eyed block of Neihu district.
The Miramar has simplified the space into 6 levels. In the basement, a food court houses a Wellcome grocer, and a range of restaurants and diners - from Burger King to bakeries, teahouses and patisseries.

On the first floor, where shuttle buses and taxis pull in, Miramar showcases boutique items and big-name cosmetics, a perfect walk-through for women heading the maze of women's apparel on the second floor. The third floor features home interiors and men's fashion, while the fourth floor is  for kidswear. Fifth floor houses Miramar's fine restaurants as well as the breathtaking rooftop amusement park. For a shopping mall stroll, snacks and entertainment, Miramar's inhouse merry-go-round and Imax 3D can't be beat. Not to mention Miramar's famed ninety-five-meter-high, seventy-meter-wide ferris wheel that has been blossoming over Taipei city's skyline since 2004.

Each of the fourty-eight carriages, dangling from the ferris wheel frame, are equipped with cooling systems and stereo. To glide the cirumference of this brightly-lit ride, each carriage takes more or less seventeen minutes.

The Miramar is open from 11AM until 10PM daily, but evening visits are advised - to appreciate the true magnificnence of the neon-lit ferris wheel perched against the dark Taipei sky.  (Also a popular date destination for Taipei's young lovers). Every evening, at dusk, over six hundred flourescent tubes flood with colour to create a dancing, shimmering display of colours in the foreground. In the background, Dazhi's red cable bridge stretched over Keelung river.

The Miramar (美麗華) is best reached by Jiannan MRT station, on Taipei's brown metro line. Although a number of buses do also stop by The Miramar (see their website) and a host of The Miramar's dedicated shuttle buses, transport shoppers to and from this fancy shopping complex.