Taiwan; A Memory Of A Trip by Wale Okediran

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By Wale Okediran
The National Palace Museum
Taipei. Midnight. I am in the middle of the Shihlin Night Market, one of the most famous and largest night markets in Taiwan. The street long market is packed full of tourists like me as well as some locals who have come with family and friends to eat, browse and look for great bargains. All around me are people with cameras, snapping photographs amidst the crowd while intermittently haggling with vendors laden with all sorts of merchandise from wrist watches, clothes to electronic material for a good price. Once in a while, some vendors with wares on wheelbarrows would make a dash for it at the sight of policemen whom I was told, were out to arrest illegal traders. In addition to food, night markets in Taiwan feature various forms of entertainment and a lot of shopping. Numerous products for sale include clothes, bags, shoes, trinkets, kitchen items, among other commodities.
I had arrived Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport the previous week to a freezing 10 Celsius degree temperature after a 15 hour flight from Abuja via Dubai, via Hong Kong. So exhausting was the trip that I slept right through my first night and day at the Monarch Plaza Hotel in Taoyuan thus missing both breakfast and Lunch. The following day, thoroughly refreshed and rearing to go, I was moved by my hosts to Taipei where I joined other members of my group at the Cosmos Hotel. Set on a bustling city street next to Taipei Railway Station, the upscale hotel with an industrial-style facade is 1 km from the Ximending pedestrian shopping district. Although my hotel room was cramped due to its small size, the room was clean and well kept. Furthermore, the hotel’s nearness to the railway station made it easy for me to …Read More

Source:: PM Newspaper