Continuing on from Part 1 of my Day 2 blog post, we headed to Huashan Creative Park after our nap time (the 1-2 hour nap time I mentioned in Part 1. lol!). This time, we were fully prepared attire-wise (no more thick shirts!!). The art center wasn’t that far from our place, so we ended up just walking there.
We usually pass by this McDonalds on the way to the bus stop. I just had to take a picture of it cause GUDETAMA! ♥
Some of the places we usually see when we walk around the area near our AirBnB
Passed this field filled with dandelions. We spotted some people taking photos too! A couple of meters away was an open events area where people were setting up for an arts and music event.
I ended up taking some snapshots of the field as well! haha
My sister wanted to try out renting a bike, so we basically just followed her as she biked ahead. hahaha!
Bike rental is very easy in Taiwan. You just have to pay with the beep card. After you’re done using it, you just lock the bike again onto the stand. Bike stands are conveniently placed near frequently-visited places, such as tourist spots, malls, etc. Luckily, there was one just across the Huashan Creative Park! 😀
Map of the Huashan Creative Park
The public park adjacent to the market area of the Huashan Creative Park
The first thing you see when heading towards Huashan Creative Park’s plaza/market area is this upside down house! 😀 I think this was more of an interim installation, so we felt pretty lucky to catch it during our trip! It will probably be something else by the next time we visit (hopefully, we’ll be able to come back!). 😀
Huashan’s indie film viewing area. Posters are laid along this hall; the cinema rooms are to the left of this photo. I wish we had similar facilities in the Philippines where appreciation of indie films could be more easily accessible to the public in a more regular basis. 😀
Took a pic of this cause of the double facade detail! (hehe my inner architect calling)
The cinema viewing area. We didn’t get to watch anything since we didn’t really have time–we had a scheduled ticket for the upside down house in the evening, so we couldn’t miss our schedule!
You can find lots of interesting arts and crafts shops by emerging local artists here. There’s a pretty good variety of products too! From artworks, apparel, trinkets, and much more! These are the kinds of places I love to visit since you won’t be able to find such creative stuff like this anywhere else. The whole vibe of the Creative Park–from the architecture, the reused old structures, the hip and fashionable people, the street artists and performers, etc.–also greatly enhances the experience of being able to appreciate all the creativity the place has to offer. ♥
Spotted this passionate performer with his piano accordion. He was really good! I managed to take a video clip! I’ll try sharing it some time soon! I also liked how the deck area was specifically designated for performers (scheduled informal performances, maybe?)
Off at another plaza was another performer doing some circus tricks like juggling and stuff! He was a foreigner but spoke Taiwanese very fluently! The crowd really seemed to enjoy his performance. 😀
Ugh the architecture here is just LOVE. ♥ I love how unique structures are scattered all over this compound–each one housing even more creativity in the form of local arts and crafts, fashion, etc. The best part is the adaptive reuse of the old build structures. Gives such a unique touch to the whole place. ♥
The character reminded me of my sister, so I ended up taking a photo of this! :))
The wood detail is love. ♥ We don’t exactly know what’s upstairs, except for the restrooms we were looking for. lol!
There’s an entire lane where you can find stalls that sell even more local arts and crafts. ♥
There are a few more of these stores lined along the sides near the upside down house.
We spotted this street artist while we were looking for a place to eat in.
I managed to have a short conversation with the artist. Judging by his accent, I think he was Australian. My mother mentioned to him that I was an artist as well, and we started talking to each other about different kinds of mediums. 😀 It’s great to hear from someone else who understands the challenges of each kind of medium, such as, with watercolor, there is less room for mistakes, since you can’t really layer white over the colors. And then, for acrylic and/or oil, it’s much easier to cover up the mistakes since you can easily layer the white–stuff like that!
Anyway, I found it fascinating to hear that he travels around the world to sell art, and has been living in Taiwan for only about three months. Very passionate fellow. It’s great to hear these kinds of stories from fellow artists! 🙂
Spotted this adorable shiba inu sleeping in this tight corner in the cafe we ate in! ;u; (I secretly wanted to steal it, but also felt bad cause it had to sleep there in such a crowded and noisy place.)
We dined at the outdoor area of this cafe ..I forgot the name, but it was something like “Trio Cafe,” or something else about a cafe for three people. haha!
Had some coffee and nachos for our afternoon snack
We were actually trying to kill some time since we purchased tickets to access the upside down house for the evening schedule. So, we ended up spending more time than expected here at the Creative Park. By sundown, we headed back to the upside down house to line up for our turn. 😀
Lining up for the upside down house~
Finally made it inside! T’was super fun doing all kinds of silly poses. haha! But most of the photos are saved in my mom’s phone! haha! I’ve posted whatever photos I was able to dig from my digicam. 😀
After fooling around at the upside down house (lol), we walked to the nearest subway station to head to the Shilin Night Market.
Passed by this Yayoi Kusama trademark pumpkin/squash (??) ♥
Walking around Shilin Market to pig out on whatever interesting street food it has to offer! 😀
Unfortunately, around this point, my digi cam ran out of battery, so I could only share my first few snippets of Shilin (I think I saved some battery to take some video footage too, so hopefully I’ll be able to share parts of that in a vlog soon!). We also spent so much time walking around in crowded spaces, so taking photos of everything was rather difficult. I was also too focused on the food anyway, so.. (hehehe :P)
At any rate, Shilin Market is definitely a must to go to! It was very overwhelming to see all the food it had to offer! Some that I recall were the deep fried chicken fillet, stinky tofu, bubble tea, sweet and sticky rice rolls (like dango?), and much more!! Although, a bit unhealthy for a dinner meal, it was definitely worth the food experience! I think I gained five pounds after eating there. hahahaha! Anyway, you guys should definitely visit this place! I think your trip will end up feeling a bit incomplete if you don’t check out at least one of Taiwan’s famous night markets! 😀
Spotted some people shrimping near Shilin Market’s entry arch! 😀 We saw this kid who was trying it out as well! It was all really fun to watch. haha! We wanted to try it out, but we had to leave soon.
Headed back after stuffing ourselves with more snacks than we could count!! ;u;
Photo of the subway map I took for future reference! 😀
And, that was pretty much it for Day 2! Next up for Day 3 is a whole day in beautiful Jiufen, so please stay tuned for that! ♥
If you missed out on my other Taipei (April, 2016) posts, you can check them out at: