We reached Tao Yuan International Airport at about 5plus in the evening. Chan Brothers arranged a Mercedes driver to pick us up and we reached the hotel at about 7pm. Traffic was quite heavy and the airport is quite a distance to Taipei city centre.
We stayed at COSMOS Hotel which is about 2-3 shops away from the exit to the Taipei Metro Main Station. Location wise its' perfect if you intend to travel lots via Metro (train within Taipei) or HSR (bullet train) or TRA (links to more remote outskirts like Keelung). The driver told us that COSMOS is a hotel that has been around for very long. Despite so, the interiors are clean, new and comfortable (toilet seat warmers in the hotel rooms). Didn't manage to take pictures of the room we stayed in...
Based on the recommendations of a very friendly staff, Murphy, we headed for the night market near Long Shan Temple. From Taipei Metro Main Station, we took a train to Long Shan Temple Station. As you can see from the picture, once you exit you will find a whole basement of shops which sells things like shoes, clothes, stockings, umbrellas and little knick knacks.
Exiting the station, we saw across the road Long Shan Temple. With little idea of where the "night market" was exactly, we ventured according to instincts and walked through the "Guangzhou St Night Market". The night market had very little people and the stalls were pretty miserable. I thought "Seriously? This is what I came to Taipei for?!"
We walked along this "night market" turned right and settled for an eatery frequented by the locals. I had beef meat noodles soup while hubby had wanton noodles soup. The beef soup was really hearty and the wantons were really soft. *yummy* The locals also had an assortment of braised stuff like eggs, tofu, etc.
Beef Meat Noodles (87桂林路)
Got off the airplane with a leaking nose, so had no choice but to drink a cup of lemonade from a nearby stall... (ehmm see me wiping my nose?!)
Then we walked back to "Guangzhou St Night Market". It's mostly dominated by the older uncles and aunties and lots of motorcyles zig zagging past this place... See what I call pathetic?
Silently cursing (wrongly) Murphy for his recommendations, we visited Long Shan Temple. It was almost 9pm and we thought the temple was closing soon. We were so wrong as we realised the temple was crowded with devotees inside and the later it got, more people started streaming in.
The Mengjia Longshan Temple was built in 1738 and was previously destroyed during the Japanese war and quakes. It has since been restored several times. The facade behind us is what you will see when you first enter the temple before the main hall. At the main hall is a very big statue of Guan Yin. The halls at the back holds other deities such as "Yue Lao" (The matchmaker), 註生娘娘 . Noticed that that temple has a unique way of drawing lots. Instead of rocking the container of lots, you pick the lot from the huge pot (the lots were really long like rulers), then you ask Guanyin if that's the correct lot.
After exiting the temple, we turned right and found the Hwahsi Tourist Night Market that we were supposed to head to! The night market is split by a road. One had roof and stalls on each side (the stalls include exotic food stalls that sell turtle/snake soup, stir fry stalls, souvenir stalls). The other side had make shift stalls selling snacks and that "type" of DVDs (returned to SG and after research found out that the area used to be a red light district... oh well...). In the end, we had a pork sausage (stall was at the start of the market and tasted really good) and pancake (With butter fillings. Queue was really long but I didn't really like it...).
Hubby posing with the half eaten sausage...
Afterthought: The area is worth going because of the very old temple and the heritage it leaves behind. However, in terms of selection of food and stuff to buy at the night market, it's quite a let-down. So you can still head there if you have extra evenings to spare to visit this night market. Else you can choose to visit the temple in the day. You'll be able to see the architecture more clearly... :)
