In search of some last minute gifts, Hugo and I went to the Taichung Jade Market (台中文心玉市 Táizhōng wénxīn yùshì) to see what we could find.
The Jade Market is only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and is just around the corner from the City Hall BRT station
Situated in a warehouse-like building, the Jade Market has row after row of every sort of jade jewelry and trinket you can imagine. In addition to jade, there were glass ornaments, some artwork, and more teapots in more shapes than you ever imagined.
A real turtle shell!
The vendors were less than thrilled to have a small child pawing their wares, so we ended up leaving pretty quickly without buying anything.
Since it was still pretty early in the morning, we wandered over to the Taichung New City Hall building which is surrounded by a vast open square and a newly built park.
The shiny and imposing Taichung New City Hall building. You can see it was an overcast and hazy morning.
I have walked by here dozens of times but I’ve never actually gone into the park before. I had thought it was just a small greenbelt between buildings, but was surprised to find some very nicely landscaped gardens and pathways, a small temple, and lots of benches to sit and escape from the hectic traffic of the city.
I imagine there are a lot more people here on days when Google isn’t sending out poor air quality notices
Then, we stumbled upon the best part of the park:
A huge sandbox! A much more fun place to play than the Jade Market.
I think this made up for taking him to a place where he wasn’t allowed to touch anything.
Taichung Jade Market Visitor’s Notes:
- Name in Chinese: 台中文心玉市 Táizhōng wénxīn yùshì
- Hours: Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 9am-6pm
- Map
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