I started the day exploring the little alleys near my hotel, around Zhongxiao East Road. There were so many of these alley shops! It’s amazing how little space they need to run a business!

Just noticed that this shop says V & M. Vi and Mike! LOL!

When I saw this Hello Kitty stylus, I told myself I wasn’t going to buy it just because it was Hello Kitty. But when the nice shop girl took it out of the packaging for me to try it out (I didn’t even have to ask), it actually worked amazingly well! I have to say, it works better than my swanky AluPen. I bought it right away.

One of my missions of the day was to find a nail salon to fix my broken toe nail. I finally managed to find one, but it was by appointment only. So I made an appointment for the next day, and set off for Raohe Night Market on my own.

The smell of stinky tofu hit me full on as I walked to this spot from the cab. Wow. I didn’t know the smell was that powerful. I could have passed out if I weren’t Chinese. LOL.

The first thing I ate was a skewer of fishballs. For some reason, I thought it was a skewer of quail eggs. Blonde moment. In my defense, there were quail eggs on display at the stall! What the hell?

The next thing I ate was a skewer of candied strawberries. This was sooooo awesome!

The honey/maple syrup coating was hardened and crunchy. As you bite into each fruit, the juices burst all over in your mouth… I could have eaten more of these but I thought I should have some proper savoury food first.

Met this adorable and very helpful young lady when I bought a Shappo from her for Vi! She ran a stall selling all sorts of cute cartoon characters. She was so nice and warm to me, when she realised I was there alone. I chatted with her for quite a while and she babbled lots of tips to me on what to eat (which bB promptly forgot, thanks to her ADD). :)

Stopped in a shop to look at boots.

Was waiting for a long time for the sales folk to look for boots in my size. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any.

Ducked into a little side alley to have a bowl of vermicelli and intestines. This was the only possible place bB could get a bite. It was too crazy out there for a (small) solo girl.This was my very first bowl of vermicelli and intestines! bB had been looking forward to it. It was yummo, even though it wasn’t from the famous shop, 阿宗面线. Had a short text convo with Mr Bb at this little eatery before going out to brave the crowds again.

And then! OMG! Sentimental Circus heaven. Words cannot describe how wide my eyes were when I stepped into this shop.

Shappo! <3

So many Shappos!

The cutest cup ever. <3

All sorts of everything Shappo!

bB left the shop with a very heavy bag of Shappo things. <3

Moving along, I found a denim shop. They had these pieces which were quite interesting, and I’d never seen them in Singapore. They look like obscenely short mini-skirts, but they are actually shorts!

So bB bought two, which they altered on the spot to fit me. I really like this one.

Though I don’t know how much staring I will incur if I wear them in Singapore. :P They look kinda slutty, don’t they?

I’m not sure how I feel about this next one, even though I did buy it. The handiwork on this is very, very bad. They basically screwed it up when they altered it. But the seamstress seemed kinda nasty so I didn’t kick a fuss. Maybe I shouldn’t be such a push-over. But then I was alone in a strange land.

The heart-shaped pockets are cute though. Oh well.

After more fighting through crowds, bB finally made it out of Raohe Night Market. I bought a cup of starfruit juice from the very last stall, and asked for directions to Wufenpu. On rather vague directions, off I went. As I walked along, I wasn’t even sure I was going the right way. LOL! Got slightly lost before suddenly stumbling into Wufenpu!

It was a wholesale market for clothes, shoes, accessories. This means they sell in bulk, and stuff were extremely cheap!

But before we get too happy, bB realised that the quality of clothes was quite terrible. I bought a few soft tees for Vi and myself to slum around in. They were like S$2 each. LOL!

The shops were all in various states of chaos. Clothes in piles on the floor, piled high to the ceilings etc. Some young Taiwanese boys at a shop tried to chat bB up. LOL! They must have been half my age.

While leaving Wufenpu, bB almost got run over by a scooter. It was probably the closest I’ve come to being in an accident. None of us saw each other, until the last split second, because he basically zoomed in from the main road without stopping or slowing down. He slammed the brakes and I stopped cold in half-step. And we were like 2 inches away from impact. It was a little unnerving. And could have turned out very ugly.

Finally, back at the hotel…

Most pleased with the Shappo loot! Half of those were for Vi! <3

Went to bed happy, despite almost being run over. Shappo makes me forget unhappy things. :)

x o x o
bB