Day 4: Visiting Jiufen, Taiwan

21 April 2018 (Saturday)

I would be going to Jiufen today. It was a popular place for its food. Before flying out to Taiwan, I planned a visit to Keelung Miaokou Night Market from Jiufen. However, I just thought that there was no point in hopping from one night market to the next. They would probably be selling similar food. Hence, I changed my mind and decided to go to Raohe Night Market tonight instead since there were many snacks which I had not tried yet.

One way of getting to Jiufen was to take the Jinguashi bus no. 1062 at MRT Zhongxiao Fuxing Station. Some bloggers advised readers to take Exit 1 and some recommended Exit 2 to get to the bus-stop there. At MRT Zhongxiao Fuxing Station, I saw Exit 2 and I just took it for the reason it was there. I walked out of the building and the bus-stop for taking bus route no. 1962 was right there. I was in luck.

It was 8:12 a.m. There were already people milling around. I assumed that they were going to Jiufen too. I waited there too. The bus came at about 8:25 a.m. It stopped at MRT Songshan Station Exit 4 to pick up more passengers before continuing its journey to Jiufen. With the Easycard, I just tapped on the reader to pay my fare. It was that easy and convenient.

Days 3 and 4: Raohe Night Market, Taipei

20 and 21 April 2018  (Friday & Saturday)

I have my eyes set on Raohe Night Market Fuzhou pepper buns. I believe it evolved from the Fuzhou guangbing, more popularly known locally in Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia as kompian. The technique in baking it is the same, except that the pepper buns have filling of meat and green onion or chives. Being of Fuzhou blood, I feel proud of its popularity, though it might not be found in our ancestral land in Fuzhou City, China.

The pepper buns there have been mentioned time and again as one of the most popular hawker food in Raohe, with a perpetual queue which never seemed to get shorter. It was that popular. Was it that good?

The nearest station to Raohe Market was MRT Songshan Station (G19). Visitor can reach there by taking the Songshan-Xindian Green Line. There are five exits. Exit 5 would be the nearest exit and is diagonally across from Raohe Night Market entrance near the temple. I used Exit 1. 

On my second visit to Raohe Market the following night, I had the pepper bun again. I actually wanted to order a scallion pancake but when the hawker asked me a question which I did not actually comprehend, I nodded my head. That was how I ended with the pepper bun again. It was in fact better than the pepper bun from the Fuzhou Pepper Bun stall. The crust was so much crispier. This pepper bun stall was at the entrance too but at the side of the street.

I of course tried a few more street food on my second night here. I preferred Raohe Night Market to Shilin Night Market!