A visit to Shilin Night Market

A view of Shilin Night Market from Jiantan Metro Station

After coming down to Jiantan from Yangming, the roads were abuzz with activity. I always wanted to see what a night market in Taiwan is all about. Being strictly averse to even look at fish and meat, exploring a night market was unthinkable for Param. After much pursuasion, convinced him to walk the street and return.

The street was full of people and was buzzing with activity. That is one of the main things i like about this place. No matter what time of the day it is, you always find people walking on the streets...maamas pushing the parambulator or new dads trying to control the wriggling little sonny in the arms...to pets jumping from a pretty damsel's arms!


This place so full of life and lively that it invites you to explore. And what better way to explore taipei than to visit one of its famed Tourist Night Market.

So finally decided to enter Shilin Night market....
Here you will find array of people and items and snacks(Well...being a veggie i would rather say...specimen of animals and fishes!)
You say and you get it all is this market all about....
Entered the market from the Jiantan station gate entrance. There were about 10 people resting their head on one side with a burning candle inserted into their ears....
Have heard of wax removal from ears but is this wax filling...Strange it seemed.Then the supervisor in the stall explained that it was a special type of candle which on burning would suck the wax out of your ears..He then showed a demostration video in the stall...
Welcome to Taiwan - Welcome to strange land and peculiarities!!

Pic: A visitor enjoying her ear wax removal session

There are pet shops with cute little kittens n puppies.... All so soft and toy looking little ones .... even a person like me(who runs miles on seeing a dog on the way!) entered the pet shop and enjoying watching them...But then a pet is a pet , an animal is an animal and i cant allow one inside my house ;-)

"Dont disturb - I have a busy day tommorow morning. There are visitors coming in to see me"

"Hey...i am ready for party. Anybody to give me company"

"Hold on dear...they liked me first. So i will go first"

"We are happy family here...take us all or leave us all. "
"No no no...dont leave me alone. I am scared"

"Hey dude..chalen kya walk pe"
"I have a good pair of jogging shoes...Lets go"

There are so many strange stuff on display to buy and so many stranger things that people do eat.
Walked the street through, saw and had a little fun asking the lady at the fruit juice stall the thing she had in the display...a jellyish kind of substance with lemon rinds floating in it. After making a few attempts at understanding what she was trying to say, i bid her a xiexie and walked on.

Asked the name of some exotic fruits on display at one of the fruit stalls. Asked how much is a cup of strawberry custard and so we bid our time. Dragged Param into a street, entering which he began to revolt...Sensing his uncomforatable situation, returned back.

Bought ourselves a cup of fruit juices each and started walking towards the station....I thought now it will finish now it will finish, but to no avail...As i kept drinking, it just kept on coming. Then finally decided ok dear, one long gulp and thats it. Walked back to the MRT and returned home at 11:00 t night safely after a good day out.

So i had my first experience with a Taiwan Night market. And in my opinion it wasnt that bad either.