Covered in Stardust: Taipei Day 5: Wu Fen Pu (五分埔) & Raohe Night Market (饒河街觀光夜市)

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Taipei Day 5: Wu Fen Pu (五分埔) & Raohe Night Market (饒河街觀光夜市)

The Wu Fen Pu Commercial Zone is a 10-minute walk from Houshanpi Station on the subway line. Raohe Night Market is just beyond the wholesale clothing market, so it makes sense to visit both places on the same day.

After the crossing outside the station's exit 1, turn right until you come across shops selling clothes and you would have arrived at Wu Fen Pu.

The entire area is rather huge, and we spent nearly 2 hours just skimming the shops for good deals. If you are looking for bargains, try the one or two racks outside each shop, where tops and bottoms go for as low as NT100, and dresses go for about NT250 each.

When you get to the end of Wu Fen Pu, a 15-minute walk will bring you past Songshan station on the railway line, and to Raohe Night Market. Walk into the station where there'll be signs pointing you towards the market. You might find yourself lost in the maze of shops at Wu Fen Pu though, and it would be a good idea to ask a stall holder to point you in the direction of Songshan station.

This is the entrance to Raohe Night Market, which is one of the two best night markets - the other being Shilin Night Market - among those we visited in Taipei.

There are two rows of shops selling everything under the sun, from shoes to household items to pets. The road between the two rows of shops is sealed off from traffic, and makeshift stalls and carts line the entire stretch.

You will be able to satisfy your food cravings at one of the numerous food stalls here.

We saw a lot of people eating this and we were curious. The stall holder told us that it is a mix of mutton and pork, though a couple of days later I teased the boy with the fact that it could have been dog meat for all we know. Well, the soup had a pretty strong herbal taste, not unlike our bak kut teh, but there was hardly any meat on those bones. It was a good experience though.