Cultural Activity ＼ Weekend Market

Weekend Market
Get off at Shuanglian Station on the Tamshui Xinyi Line and take a walk along the MRT in December, you will see this area is light up for Christmas. Thousands of lights are hung up to make people walking underneath feel like they are under stars. It is a great location for taking photos. It is highly recommended to visit there during the weekdays. There are fewer people around and better chances for photo taking. If you move forward the Zhongshan MRT Station, you will reach the Jazz Plaza near Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation and the Zhongshan Linear Park.

The Jazz Plaza is the indoor square beneath the staircases across from Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation. It used to be a jazz restaurant 20 years ago. Later, It was closed and became a practicing venue mainly for street dance. Through the cooperation of Taipei Metro and Swing Taiwan, the venue has been renovated and transformed into a meeting place for young people who love jazz and dance. In 2019, 3D street artists were invited to paint the waterfall panorama with the theme of “endless flow,” extending the 3D street art landscape of the bridge platform. Sometimes artists are invited to sing there for people to enjoy the show. I was there one time and I liked one of the performers. I searched for them and followed their IG and became their fan after the show. Sometimes, the venues are rented for events. One time Swing Taiwan hosted a small dancing party for people to join. It would be an amazing experience to dance with people we didn’t know. We are going to try that next time it holds another dancing party.

The performance signboard at Jazz Plaza	The Jazz Plaza
There were a lot of audience in the night concert	The night concert at Jazz Plaza

There are holiday markets at the Zhongshan Linear Park near Zhongshan Station. You can find special accessories such as earrings, necklaces, bracelets and so on. You can also find some unique hand-made crafts like plates, watches, needle felting and the like. Lots of delicious food like cakes, pastries and coffee are sold and visitors can enjoy shopping and good food at the same time.

There is pace in the front of the market and some street performers are there to perform. They sing, juggle, or perform a puppet show to attract attention. In order to arouse the audience interest, some performers like to invite people to sing along or play the tricks together. It is so much fun to be part of it. Holiday markets are not always there every weekend and the stands may be different according to their schedule. You can check the information on the MRT website before going so that you won’t miss it.
Taipei Metro are hosting a variety of activities, creating more values than just being a means of transportation. The surrounding areas of the MRT stations can be places for people to while away the weekend. Why not choose one weekend and start a jaunt with the MRT? You will surely enjoy the ride.