Tuesday 7 November 2017

Taichung ICASA hotel and Fengjia Night Market

On Day 4, we took the HSR (High Speed Rail) to Taichung. It was an hour ride from Taipei main station. Moving from hotel to hotel has always been challenging for us. Apart from 3 kids, we had 2 luggages along. Traveled light at its best.

Taichung HSR Station

Upon arriving, we took a cab to our hotel, ICASA. I would highly recommend this hotel. Great for families with kids and excellent location. It was also walking distance to the night market, Feng Jia (逢甲夜市). About a 10 minutes walk.

With attempts to introduce nostalgic feel, we spotted these displays at different levels of the hotel.

Spotted Gameboy!

Cassette tapes!

For coming in as a big family, we booked the Grand Deluxe Quad Family Room.

Double Queen bed

Kids loved playing with this nostalgic marble pin ball game on the wall. 

Marble pin ball game

We love that the WC and hand wash basin are separated from the Shower. 


And the standing shower made it easy for me to shower the toddler.



On a different level, there is a little playroom for kids. Within is a mini rock climbing wall which is not at all high, some books, magnetic board with letters and toy blocks for them to play. Good enough for me to park them in, while I checked out the lounge



On the top level (Rooftop), there is a lounge for their hotel guests to enjoy free food and games. The drinks, snacks and fruits are of self help. However, the fruits often get wiped out before it gets replenished.

Seating area

Food bar

Games area

And yes, our booking came with free breakfast too! It was a decent spread of both Asian and Western mix.


And the friendly eggs that greeted us in the morning.



Obviously, after so much fun playing and exploring within the hotel, our only call to get out was when it's time for dinner!

Feng Jia (逢甲夜市)
We strolled over to Feng Jia night market, Taichung largest and most popular night market. It was still raining. Day 4, and we've not been greeted by a sunny day.

It's a good place to do whatever shopping you need in here. There are clothing, phone accessories and toy shops. Needless to say, food! If you've been shopping in Taipei, you may have realised shopping is much cheaper in Taichung. Naturally, this was where I did most shopping.

 

If you love spring onions, this is one stall that you will love. It was also because of this stall, that my kids started enjoying some spring onions in their dishes. 

We had the savoury one, with soy sauce. Not too bad. As this is a popular store, they are more systematic with the order. Simply place your order, get a number and wait for it to be called.


 They work pretty fast, so the wait isn't too long.


And we kept moving in for more food options. I really had no idea what we ate for dinner, but getting small bites here and there kept us all filled.

And this is interesting, 懒人虾. Named simply because we don't have to remove its shell to eat. Truly for lazy eaters where every part of it is edible!


And it actually is quite good tasting! 


Only needed to convince the kids that the shell is edible for this 懒人虾.


See what I meant by persistent rain. Raincoats are the best for kids when raining in night markets. 

And it's sweet potato balls for us again. Those from this stall are the best! They are really really good! We went back thrice because we finished them just too quickly and needed more. Even the toddler loves it. 

Pardon my pictures, there was queue and rain and kids. It was challenging to get them right and nice. You get the stall sign at least. Look out for it!


Smelly beancurd is good too, if you dare a try. It's our man's favourite.



And this bear paw bun (熊掌) was good too! Sorry, missed out taking the shop's name. But there's only 1 in there. It's not a mobile stall, but one of the small restaurant within. With dine in options.

I ordered the milk bun paw and did a take out. This picture was supper, taken in the hotel room.


Feng Jia night market is huge, with a portion of sheltered and non-sheltered walk areas. It didn't really dampen us much with sheltered areas to walk, shop and eat. And yes, there's public toilet in here too. 

And I did feed the kids proper dinner. Not the small bites from stalls. We settled dinner at a ramen stall within the sheltered shop area. Don't ask me about the taste, we weren't in Japan after all. Dined there simply to fill the kids who have easily contented taste buds.

It took us about 3 hours to cover a big part of the market. We didn't manage to complete it. 


Next post up, we share on a full day tour to 中杜花市,纸皮王, 921 Earthquake venue and 官原眼科。

ICASA Hotel
Address: No.188, Zhishan Rd., Xitun Dist., Taichung City 407, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Email: service@icasa.com.tw
Contact: +886 4 2706-9118
Website

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