Handling A Late Night Layover in Taiwan
I had an 8 hour layover in Taiwan. The dreadful thought of lying around in those uncomfortable seats anchored to a power source drew me to the internet. What did I find? Well, you can get a half day tour of Taipei, complete with transportation, for free (more details here). Awesome. But the problem was, I get in at 11pm and fly out at 930am.
What to do?
Let’s eat and sleep the only way a lazy old ox can. That was, a visit to the Xinming Night Market and a night at a love hotel. Yeah, a love hotel because it’s cheap and gives you everything you need, like a toothbrush, toothpaste, etc. My toiletry bag was with my luggage which stayed at the airport. I brought only my backpack. Passed through late night immigrations and on to a taxi to the night market. You should let the curbside attendants know you’re heading someone other than Taipei. Most taxi’s there are heading specifically there. Our driver powered through to our destination within 15 minutes. So I’m not sure how long it’ll normally take.
Even being close to closing, midnight, there were still people about and stands more than willing to serve you up a late night treat. We sampled several before heading off to get a foot massage. Oh I highly recommend getting pampered. Especially after a twelve hour flight and stuffing your face. By the time we were finished, it was time to hit up the motel and get a short nap before my next leg.
Verdict: The night market was pretty small compared to the others. There was only one thing I liked here. So sorry Xinming, I’d rather hit the Taipei ones next time. But if you need something to do overnight, this may be an option.
I know it doesn’t look like much, but it’s a good snack to bring along with you as you venture through the various stands. We got cucumbers and chicken intestines. Not sure how bamboo chutes got in there, but bonus! You will have get used to eating out of a plastic bag though. And those aren’t chopsticks. They’re giant picks that you may end up using as chopsticks later. $65NTD
This was a food stand that mixes together the ingredients you see with, as the name suggests, salty chicken. What they also throw in there was a generous amount of garlic. Yum! There’s one important rule to abide by. While picking out your ingredients, pick out one piece and put it into your tray. The pieces represent the amount you want. So if you pick up two pieces of green beans, you want a double helping. don’t go too crazy or you’ll end up eating this all night.
For a refresher, try the sugar cane drink. Not freshly made on the spot, but does the trick. Look for the stands that would grind the sugar canes on the spot. For us, our choices were slim. $40NTD
We got one with ham, corn, pork sung, lettuce, and mayo. Interesting huh? Well, it worked well with the crunch shell. So no, not quite a crepe and probably why it’s called a biscuit. Err… the name is really throwing me off. Give it a try though. Not to heavy so it’ll leave room for other goodies here. $55NTD
We came across this interesting stand. It’s like crepes with some pretty basic looking ingredients. Yet, the colors were pretty appealing. So why not give it a try.
I really don’t know the name of this, but the closest thing I can compare this to was that of Peking Duck. Basically, cuts of duck, cucumber, some savory sweet sauce, wrapped in a tortilla? Dunno. didn’t quite work for me. $40NTD
There was about two rows half a block long of vendors selling everything from clothing to cheap electronics to other knick-knacks you probably won’t buy. Well, I didn’t given the limited amount of room I had in my bag.
First few food stands we ran across upon arriving. No lines, good or bad or not applicable at this time. I’ll say it’s not indicative of the night market on any other night.