Shilin Night Market (士林夜市) + a Jeremy Sighting!
- Tara Chen
- Jul 19, 2015
- 3 min read
My roommates and I are definitely taking the full advantage of living in Taipei, Taiwan. Today we went to visit the biggest night market and most famous in Taiwan. We got lost at first but then we realized that the entire place we were at, it was Shilin Night Market. It was ENORMOUS. We made an agreement that we could split up if we wanted to but just meet up at the MRT when we finished shopping and eating. I love night markets because there as so many different types of stalls and vendors that you can try amazing food from. There are clothing stores, small shops, karaoke bars, it never ends. Everything opens at around 4 pm and closes around midnight to 1 am every day. There are also a lot of illegal vendors so you will often see people closing up and moving to another section, pretending that they were not selling anything.
The roomies and I went downstairs where the popular seafood stalls are. It was enormous and crazy busy. You also hear people yelling at you trying to sell their food every single second. Their voices can go so loud and they have very motivational phrases to try to grab you in. It’s a great experience. We ate stinky tofu, small deep fried crabs and Hot Star Chicken. This is all of Taiwan’s staples! Hot Star Chicken is my favourite because for 50$ TWD you get an enormous size chicken the size of your face that is deep fried. MMMMMMHMMMM SO GOOD!
As we were exploring, I bought a couple shoes and clothes. I knew that Taiwan was going to be super cheap and it would look better on me (tailored to Asians) so I actually didn’t bring much in my suitcase. Great excuse to get a new wardrobe! I’m really good at bargaining when it comes to goods. Never pay for full price- that is the biggest thing to know! I really love the shops at Shilin because there is so much selection.
The roomies and I accidentally took the wrong turn in an alleyway looking for the washroom and we ended up in the Shilin Gambling District. This is where you can play, gamble to your heart contents. There were vendors with “Capture the fish”, or “Hook the turtle” and pending on how many you catch, you also take home with you a nice prize. We saw a large crowd and people were yelling, cheering, the usual. I saw a lot of cameras and decided hey- I’m going to take my phone out – maybe its someone famous. Then the crowd moved by us and I was taking photos of the man. I didn’t realize for a few minutes that it was actually Jeremy Lin!
I had spent so much time trying to see him at the NBA Event with S (who unfortunately wasn’t there but was super jealous when I showed him the photos) and randomly saw him at Shilin! It was pretty great! I was super sad though afterwards because when I posted my photos on facebook, my friends told me that Wang Leehom was actually there too – only moments after I left! He is my absolute favourite singer from Taiwan. See below for my slideshow of the Shilin Market! I know I will be back before my trip ends!
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