Following an extensive relocation, Taipei’s Shilin Night Market reopened yesterday at a renovated location, with visitors crammed into the underground area to taste traditional street foods in a food-court environment.
The 94 food vendors, who moved from a temporary market across from the MRT’s Jiantan Station to the original site following renovation, busied themselves getting ready for the opening since early morning, while visitors poured into the iconic night market in the evening, crowding the narrow hallways in the basement.
To show their appreciation for visitors braving the cold weather, vendors offered free rice dumplings. They said the market would prepare 500 bowls of free rice dumplings to welcome visitors throughout this week.
Photo: Liu Jung, Taipei Times
Well-known stalls selling oyster omelets, squid soup and deep-fried chicken steaks attracted long lines of visitors.
“The new night market is clean and comfortable. It’s a little bit too small, but most of the famous food vendors are still here. I will certainly come again,” a local resident surnamed Hung (洪) said.
However, the air-conditioned indoor location did not appeal to some visitors. Chang Yun-ting (張雲婷), a Taiwanese-American who returned to Taipei for the New Year holidays, said she came to Shilin to experience the hustle and bustle, and was disappointed to find the renovated market in a basement.
“People visit night markets to have the unique experience of walking around the streets and eating outdoors. Putting vendors in a basement is absurd, and it’s like eating in a food court. There’s nothing unique about this,” she said.
The renovation of Shilin market, a historical building built in 1913, began in 2002 to improve the environment, and all the vendors were moved to a temporary site across from the MRT station.
The renovated building on Jihe Road has a ground floor and three underground floors. The first basement level houses the 94 food vendors, and basement levels two and three serve as parking lots, while the ground floor houses vendors that sell vegetables and fruit.
The 500 vendors selling food on Dadong Road and nearby streets have not been affected by the relocation. The location housing the temporary market will be dismantled next year to make way for construction of the Taipei Arts Center.
In addition to overcrowding, the basement also suffered from poor ventilation because of a lack of smoke extractors.
Taipei City Market Administration Office Director Ting Ruo-ting (丁若庭) said the office would continue to monitor and improve the market.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday visited the night market to thank vendors for their cooperation, expressing confidence the market would maintain its status as a top tourist attraction.
“Shilin Night Market is an iconic tourist attraction in Taipei, and the crowd today confirmed our confidence that the renovated market will retain its popularity,” he said.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
A British man was arrested for attempting to smuggle 14.37kg of marijuana into Taiwan through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei Customs said late yesterday. The man, who arrived from Bangkok at 9pm on Friday, was asked by customs officers to open his luggage during a random inspection, Taipei Customs said in a news release. The passenger, whose identity was not disclosed, refused to open his suitcase and tried to flee the restricted area. He was eventually subdued by three customs officials and an Aviation Police Bureau officer. A later search of his checked luggage uncovered 14.37kg of marijuana buds. The case was handed over
RSS