Holiday in Taiwan - Taipei night markets

A holiday in Taiwan couldn't be complete without experiencing the world famous Taiwanese night market. And where best to try it then in the Taiwanese capital Taipei city. Taipei city itself is home to 2.7 million people and greater Taipei - or now called New Taipei - is home to 6.7 million Taiwanese. Serving such a crowded city, the Taiwanese have come up with an ingenius way to entertain themselves - night markets.

Night market in Taiwan started way back to the days when the villagers would sit by the old evergreen trees after a day’s hard work on the farm and catch up with each other on village affairs. This usually takes place by the village temple where it is well-lit. As time passes, some people came up with the idea of setting up a drinks trolley to quench the thirst of the growing crowd. From there, other trolleys came with hot foods, refreshing ice lollies and even selling household items. 

In time, Taiwanese night market grew into the size it is nowadays which, the largest ones in Taipei city, takes over dozens of streets in the surrrounding neighbourhood. You can find almost anything you need at one of these night markets; from cheap shoes to branded clothing. You can also pick up a set of quality bed sheets or even a pet dog or cat!

And of course lets not forget the mouth-watering dizzying array of Taiwanese world-famous street food. Be warned, there is no escape from the mixture of aromas - but you don’t tend to notice it once you’ve tried a few delicacies. Ask for stinky tofu, oyster omelette or go with your fancy once you get there!

Umbrellas of all sizes, colors and patterns

Souvenirs and lucky chains

Made-in-Taiwan bags

One of many cheap shoe shops 

... of course, no night market is complete without street food!

Lots of it

Clothing, watches, scarfs...

More clothing

The girls at the bubble tea shop insisted we took a photo of them

The temple which the night market surrounds

Holiday in Taiwan - Taipei International Flora Exhibition

The last time I had a holiday in Taiwan was in Spring 2011. It was a beautiful April with whole 3 weeks of sunshine and temperatures well above 30 degrees Celsius. The weather was simply gorgeous and we took the opportunity to get around Taipei City and the various main sights.

Queue into the Flora Exhibition grounds

Our visit to Taiwan coincided with the Taipei International Flora Exhibition which opened November the year before. It was the final few days of the Expo and hundreds of thousands of people were still visiting it every day! We were lucky to get our hands on some "special" tickets which allowed express entry to the grounds and highlight pavilions. When I said special, I meant we queued for just half an hour instead of 2-3 hours. There were seas of people, and they came wave after wave throughout the day.

We were complete amazed by the exhibits, designed and exhibited by countries around the world especially for this exhibition. All were unique and the landscape architects attempted to recreate the famous and memorable landmarks of their countries. So we saw Rome of Italy, the Petronas twin towers of Malaysia, wind mills of Holland and many more.


Performances both in doors and outdoors were set up around the exhibition grounds. There were people dancing in traditional Taiwanese costumes and singing to Taiwanese folk songs. Official were posted every 100 meters to help directing visitors and answer important questions about where to find lavatories and buy food. There were also souvenir shops selling Flora Expo memorabilia, pot plants and other garden items.

We enjoyed the day tremendously and must say that it was a well organized event. Taiwan has come a long way toward democracy and its ability to host such an international event is another evidence of its growing stability in the region. For us, we were just pleased to have the opportunity to witness its growth and to visit the exhibition.