Taiwan - Jiu Fen, Huaxi Night Market

We took a train(NT80 each) from Taipei Main Station to Ruifang this morning. We are going to Jiufen, a popular tourist attraction on a hill. I bought biandang (packed food boxes, NT60 each) to eat on the train. Each packet of rice has a braised egg, pork chop & vegetables.

We took a public bus (NT20 each) in front of Ruifang train station. The view in Jiufen, from the hill was amazing. The day was quite warm. We walked along a long & narrow winding lane of shops & eateries, & occasionally there would be a car, small truck or motorcycle passing through it, causing everyone to be pressed to the sides.

I bought a box of Steam Black Sugar cake(NT200), Ginger & Red Date Rock Sugar(NT300), some preserved plums & olives. The kids found a shop selling magic tricks. They tried some of the products & bought a jewellery box which is tricky to open & a trick that would make your fingers produce smoke when you snap them together.

We stopped at a restaurant to have tea. The kids ordered milk shakes & I ordered chocolate & peanut butter toasts.

We took the train (NT52 each) back to Taipei Main station. I saw a bookstore that is offering 21% discount. The kids went back to the hotel on their own while I browse through the books at the bookstore. I bought quite a number of books, again.

I was back at the hotel at 6.30pm. The kids were happily playing internet games. I rested for half an hour & then brought the kids out for dinner.

We decided to walk to Huaxi street where there is a night market. It was a mistake. We got lost & we walked for more than an hour before we could find Huaxi street. The kids were hungry by then. We stopped to watch a snake performance. We touched a huge python.

The waiter managed to convince me to try their Snake Soup set for NT250 each. I cannot eat snakes because my Chinese Zodiac is a snake. It would be like eating my brothers & sisters. I bought them for the kids. Each one got a bowl of clear Snake Soup, a small glass each of snake blood mixed with honey, snake gall, snake oil, snake belly, snake wine, two capsules of snake oil & a cup of herbal tea. Some tastes bitter. They are said to detoxify your body, improve your immune system & cleanse your blood. The boys' faces turned very red & they felt very hot after they had finished everything. I was like, Oh God, have they taken too much nutrients?

We walked back to the hotel. This time it took us only 15 minutes. On the way, I bought some soy bean milk & youtiao (deep-fried dough sticks, NT10 each) from the famous Yong He Dou Jiang.