A visit to the 五份莆 (Wufenpu) is an absolute necessity when you visit Taipei. This is a big wholesale market of shoes, clothes, accessories for men, women and kids alike. I like it that it’s not too stuffy and hot inside the market, and yet you can get stuffs at bargain prices. Especially if you go with many friends and buy many pieces at one go, you can get very good wholesale prices.
Before we head into Wufenpu, we bought the usual thirst-quencher in Taipei – Bubble tea! Love bubble tea in Taipei. Cheap at less than $2 for a mega BIG 1000cc cup!
Shops line both sides of the walkway in Wufenpu. So many things to see, and you need patience to sift through everything that’s on display. As these shops focus mainly on wholesale business, don’t expect to find very good customer service if they know you are just a normal consumer who’s buying only a few pieces. Don’t expect to find fitting rooms as well.
Baby Jayne fell asleep while we were strolling inside the market, so I didn’t really do any shopping here. I was also hoping not to buy anything because I wanted to keep my shopping for my Bangkok trip next month. =)
It was a good thing Baby Jayne slept through our Wufenpu shopping. It’d have been too tiring to chase after her in a crowded place. My dad had the biggest haul in this place. He bought 10 pieces of tops to wear for work!
He initially bought 4 pieces from one shop for 300NT each ($12/piece), then saw a few shops down that sold the same designs for 250NT each, so he bought a few more, only to find YET another shop that sold for 200NT each. Haha! In the end, he bought 10. LOL!
Along the streets, there are some vendors selling food. I especially love their 鸡蛋糕 (egg bread) – Very crispy, fragrant & sweet! =D At less than $1 per packet. Comfort food it is.
My happy dad taking a smoke after his shopping spree! LOL. My dad is so cute.
After a quick rest back in the hotel, we set off for 士林夜市 (Shilin Night Market)! It was Saturday night and disastrously crowded. =( Thankfully my baby is not a fussy baby – She didn’t make noise or cry during the entire time there. Still, it was not easy to navigate through such a crowded market with a baby in arms. My parents and I took turns to carry her, but my arms felt like they were going to break at the end of the day!
The very famous 豪大鸡排 with a crazy long queue as usual.
爱玉 is cooling and a must-try in Taipei. It can be found everywhere within Shilin Night Market.
While many people would rave about the great selection of food items available within Shilin, I have to say I am pretty turned off by the strong stench of smelly beancurd that’s practically lingering in the air everywhere we went. They serve smelly beancurds in many different combinations – fried, steamboat style, grilled, with spices, in mala soup etc. Very impressive, but no thank you. I remember when I first went to Taipei 3 years ago and I was pregnant, it was a horrible experience. The smell made me feel like puking all the time. =X This time round, it didn’t feel as bad of course, but still bad.
We decided to have dinner at a Teppanyakki stall within Shilin Night Market at the recommendation of my brother. It was cheap and good. And the section where we sat in was air-conditioned. So amazing to see how the hawkers managed to fix up air-conditioners within an area that resembled a wet market.
If Baby Jayne was not with us, I’d have asked to sit around the teppanyakki table for the full experience! Haha..
Granted, don’t expect to find very clean surroundings. Just a few metres from our table, we could see cockroaches crawling on the walls. I tried not to stare. Thankfully, Baby Jayne was completely clueless.
You can see that a normal set with chicken, prawns, soup, rice, side dish of tau gay and veggies cost about $10. Very affordable actually, and they all taste very good!
Check out our food!!! =)
The prawns were awesome TTM!!!
Among the meats, I liked the chicken the best. I wonder what sauce they used, it was yummy!
Actually my brother and I do resemble each other huh?? =D
Dessert was mango and chocolate snow ice! Yummmy!! But not cheap tho.. one bowl costs about $7.
Passed by more food stalls as we exited the food area and moved on to the shopping area of Shilin Night Market…
Taipei’s fruit supply is abundant & very fresh! =) Makes me happy just looking at them.
Look how crowded the shopping area was! I was hesitant to step into the market. Haha! But hey, this is Taipei for you on a weekend! =D
Some of the exotic foods they sold on the streets…
Fried bugs. Yucks
And the most bewildering & disgusting of all – Pig’s blood ice-cream.Yucks yucks. Can’t imagine why it’s so popular esp among the locals. =X
We settled for the very safe sugar cane juice & 爱玉冰. They were our lifesavers on a very hot night. Temperature was at 31 degree celsius! *sweat*
My dad bought this green bag for Baby Jayne from one of the shops. She chose it herself and I thought it was very cute indeed. =)
Ended our 2nd night in Taipei City. =)