Taipei Travel

Stop at jiantan station then follow the crowd . Price wise i think not that cheap . Alot of food vendors ...

While in Taipei for business I decided to check out a couple of the local night markets. First was Shilin which was the largest of the many local markets. The Shilin market is easy to get to from all points in Taipei being only a couple of blocks away from the Shilin MRT station. The market is very spread out and expansive and covers a number of blocks and alleys including a big indoor hall with midway type games for prizes. There are tons of street food options for all tastes including the famous stinky tofu and stuffed meat buns. I really enjoyed just wandering the market taking in all of the crazy sights and smells and would highly recommend this to any tourists looking to grab a quick cheap bite or do a little trinket shopping.

Very crowded on the weekend, has wide variety of street food. Good shopping place for teens but not for adults. There're some good deals for sports shoes here if you are looking for one.

This is probably my least favourite night market in Taiwan. The best one in Taipei in my opinion is Raohe and I would recommend that far above Shilin. It is simply too busy and touristy, with inflated prices, pushy vendors, too many people, too many stalls/shops selling knockoff crap rather than food and games which is what is at a traditional Taiwanese night market, and to top of it off a massive rat ran out from a stall, over my shoes and into a drain when I was there last weekend :-/ I did manage to find some good traditional dumplings and buns, but only after a lot of searching, hence two stars rather than one.

The Shilin Night Market is a place you have to experience and one you'll probably never forget. We went early around 5:00 p.m. on a Thursday evening in February and the subway train was already full of people ready to take on the market. We were a mass of people encroaching on an already crowded main street in the market. People were everywhere and you just get caught up in the flow of humanity searching for stinky tofu, oyster omelets, beef noodle soup, and braised pork on rice, And that's just the regular stuff. There are countless small shops selling all kinds of strange looking stuff to eat or drink. It would be nice to stop and look but the crowd keeps pushing you along down the street to the next strange thing to see. It was so stiffening that we squeezed our way onto a side street that was half as full to take our bearings and figure our way out. Since we didn't want to get more lost, we headed back up stream in the opposite direction hoping to find a place to sit and relax (there is no such thing). You have to buy your food and eat on the go as the crowd takes you to the next place. We found a nice tent selling leather products that we could hide out in for awhile since evidently nobody wants to shop for leather goods when you can eat stinky tofu instead. When we ventured back out onto the street it was even more crowded than before so we made our way back to the entrance and onto another street to eat some not so good grilled oyster mushrooms. Then we saw even more people coming from the subway station so we decided we had to get out of there to keep our sanity. For those of you who love crowds and enjoy eating while being pushed along to the next strange food tent, this place is for you. For old folks like us, a nice quiet restaurant with tables and chairs would be divine.