The place was packed to the brim at the Shuinan Economic & Trade Cultural & Creative Night Market — might as well wait until the hype dies down before going.

Text & Photos /Ahmon
[Shuinan Economic & Trade Cultural & Creative Night Market]
Address: No. 1130, Zhongqing Rd., Taichung City (intersection of Jingmao 5th Rd. and Zhongqing Rd.)
Business Hours: 5 PM – midnight
Visit Date: July 2014

I heard Taichung’s biggest night market has finally opened, right at the former Shuinan Airport site. It’s being billed as Central Taiwan’s largest, spanning 6,000 ping (approx. 19,800 sqm) with 700 stalls and even 5-star toilets. The ads were everywhere, and even I — who had just come back down from the mountains in Nantou — got tempted. When a friend said they wanted to check it out for some food, I hopped on my scooter and went straight away. The night market is located at the intersection of Jingmao 5th Rd. and Zhongping Rd., on a rectangular piece of open land. But before I even reached Jingmao 2nd Rd., I started hitting gridlocked traffic — cars and motorcycles barely moving. I had to weave through the mess just to get to Jingmao 5th Rd. But once there, the overwhelming crowds and chaotic roadside parking had completely clogged up traffic. The traffic police looked utterly helpless, but with so many people and vehicles, their efforts didn’t do much. The whole road was practically taken over by stalls. After circling around three times, I finally found a spot to park my scooter.

When I got to the Zhongping Rd. entrance where I was supposed to meet my friend, it was nothing but people — the entire open space was jam-packed. How on earth were we supposed to walk around in this?

At the Zhongping Rd. entrance, there were famous snack stalls from the Fu Jen Night Market and Puli Night Market — namely Angry Squid and Alishan Railway Black Tea. Thanks to the long lines at these two stalls, the Zhongzheng Rd. entrance was basically paralyzed. All I could see were people, so my friend and I pushed our way through the crowd and headed inside.

This stall specialized in pig trotters — the first time I’d ever seen something like that at a night market. It felt pretty unique.

They skewered the trotters and grilled them directly over charcoal. That was pretty cool.

The prices were a bit steep, so not many people were buying them that day. We moved on to the next stall.

Outside the venue it was packed, and inside it was packed too. One section even had a power outage — an entire row of stalls was pitch black, and I have no idea what they were selling.

In the distance, there was a big stage where they seemed to be holding opening ceremonies, with celebrities like Hu Gua and Peng Qiaqia performing. That stage alone probably took up 100 ping of space = =. It was another spot where the crowd came to a complete standstill. Were we here to explore the night market or just to squeeze through crowds? It reminded me suddenly of the Fengjia Night Market.

There was also bowl plant ice cream — apparently that’s a thing now — but I couldn’t push through to that stall, so I gave up.

After struggling through the surging crowd for a while, I was really hungry. I spotted a stall with no line, so without thinking too much (whether it was 21 or 24, who cares), I just bought something to eat. One for 60, two for 100 — of course I got two to share. But after eating, I didn’t think it was very good. Just average.

Right across from that stall was another one selling squid, but theirs seemed a bit bigger. You can compare for yourselves.

Since there was food, there had to be drinks too. So I squeezed my way over to a stall selling grass jelly (aiyu). After waiting forever, I finally got a cup of lemon aiyu for 35 NT. Took a sip... Hmm... I could barely taste the aiyu. It mostly just tasted like water, with way too much ice and water. At that point, I talked it over with my friend and decided to call it quits on this night market and head home. Too many people, every stall had a huge line, and nothing really stood out as tasty. A lot of the stalls were ones I’d seen before, and there were only about 100 or so in total. How did they come up with 700?

There were also some amusement rides nearby, but I have no idea how much they cost.

Just as we were about to leave through the exit, we spotted a roti prata stall. I remembered having it at the Wenshin Rd. Night Market before, though the owner seemed different this time, so I stopped to try one. They had both sweet and savory options — of course I went with savory.

The bread was made fresh to order. You could see the Indian owner spinning and tossing the dough — looked pretty impressive. Not sure how it tasted though.

The cooked flatbread was placed here to toast until slightly charred and hardened, then used to wrap the filling. After trying it, I felt the previous place I’d had it at was better. The bread and filling here didn’t really blend well — such a pity.

On the distant stage, Peng Qiaqia was singing and dancing energetically, surrounded by a crowd of mostly middle-aged women. The traffic was still completely jammed.

Some people even climbed onto shipping containers to watch the performance, but then the sky suddenly lit up with lightning and poured rain. With all the heavy rain, we immediately decided to head home. I really had no idea what there was to see here.

Brief Review:
1. There weren’t even close to 700 stalls — maybe 100, tops. That number’s way overblown.
2. Is it really 6,000 ping? If you ignore the crowds, it didn’t feel like it. The whole stroll probably took under 20 minutes. It seemed smaller than Fengjia, with less variety in stalls — lots of grilled squid sellers.
3. The 5-star toilets — they’re located at the Jingmao 5th Rd. entrance, just a row of toilets. They claim to have air conditioning, but does air conditioning automatically make a toilet 5-star? Probably not. And with so many people using them, the cleanliness wasn’t great... Also, those toilets are only at the Jingmao 5th Rd. entrance. If you enter from Zhongping Rd., you have to push through a massive line just to get there — if you need to use the restroom, you might have to hold it for a while.
4. The traffic flow is poorly planned, with food and entertainment areas mixed together. As soon as one eatery has a queue, that whole corridor gets blocked, making it hard to move forward or back.
5. Trash bins are nowhere to be found. I only saw an elderly man walking along Jingmao 5th Road and Zhongping Road with a large garbage bag and metal tongs, picking up trash. The place was really littered everywhere.
6. What’s the connection with cultural creativity? I didn’t see any sense of it at all.

Conclusion:
Don’t come here during the opening days—it’s really not worth it, as you won’t be able to enjoy much food. Wait until the hype dies down before visiting. The above is just my personal opinion for your reference.

阿mon台湾趴趴走~Food, travel, photography, outdoor shooting
Walking around with a camera~ capturing moments~ unexpected feelings