Sunday, October 13, 2013

Taiwan Day 42: Shilin Night Market (士林夜市) - Oct. 12, 2013

I went to Shilin Night Market to have some gastronomic experience but it took me more than 1 hour to reach that place. Haha! I was supposed to travel in just less than hour but due to ignorance I chose to ride Bus 306 and didn't alight at the MRT Nangang Exhibition Center Station. The MRT signs were no where to find at the place where I alighted and I realized that I was lost again in Taipei.

Bus 306 took me to Raohe Night Market and I walked along the streets around this street full of food thinking that I woudb be able to find the closest MRT station in that area. I found a bus stop for Bus 299 that goes along the MRT Blue line. I waited for that bus and I was able to transfer to the MRT Blue line where I boarded the MRT train towards Taipei Main Station. From Taipei Main Station, I transferred to the Tamsui line and then alighted at Jiantan Station to find the Shilin Night Market.

Shilin Night Market was full of people! There were lots of stores selling clothes, shoes and many more but I didn't went inside their shop. I was at first disappointed that I couldn't find many street food vendors along the street but after walking for so long I was able to reach the "true" Shilin Night Market.

I first tried some fried squid.

I was tempted to try some fried squid and many people were falling in line to buy some of it. However, it was expensive and one cup was priced NTD 100. But I wanted to give it a try. The lady selling the food knew that I couldn't speak Chinese because when she was talking to me I was not saying anything. She then talked to me in English, "Do you want it spicy?". I just shaked my head to say no. I was satisfied with that fried squid that I wanted to try more street food in Shilin Market.

Aside from street food there were also games that you could try to win a prize.

But the games were not easy to win. In this photo, a lady would drop a ball filled with water in this pipes and the player needs to squash them with a hammer once the water ball comes out on the other end. Timing was very important in this kind of game.

The "true" Shilin Night Market was located underground in this covered court.

Another night market game. Given a set of rings, try to throw them and have it inside the blue pillars to win a prize.

Wanna try shrimping?

Or catch fish the Japanese style? You would be given some sort of paper fan where you used the fan to scoop the fish out of the aquarium. Of course! The paper would tear. Haha!

Throw darts at this balloons to win a prize

A marble game. You need to balance the maze and not let the ball rolled out of the track to win.

As I walked along the crowded streets, I found this covered market that has a sign "Shilin Market". I went inside and I found more shops.

Choose from the variety of fruit of juices

A must-eat in Shilin Night Market - oyster omelette

At the basement of Shilin Market was the foodcourt where I tried a milk tea. It was priced NTD 30. I also knew from Wikipedia that one of the must try in Shilin Night Market was the oyster omelette and I ordered one. It was NTD 50. It doesn't look appetizing in the picture but eating that food was just like eating an ordinary scrambled egg. The only difference was that it had some leafy vegetables and oyster meat. My stomach was almost full when I finished that meal and I decided to went back home. The total cost of my foodtrip was NTD 180.