Tody's aim is Yong Le market, pretty much a fabric district.
I went to the post office to buy some stamps for the postcards first, and then onto the bus to the MRT station. Got onto the green line, and nto Beimen. From here it's just a 10 min walk. I started at two craft shops with lots of beading, embellishments and other small haberdashery. Wow~~ there's so many variety~ I found a chalk pen and small beak plier at one and bought both for $60 and $105 respectively.
Next, I passed a "House of Cotton" and they had lots of different prints. I was getting pretty hungry so I started looking for somewhere to eat. I went around the block and found a cafe selling vietnamese food, called Anike, and I got the tom yum combo beef $160, and sat outside. Thankfully I found somewhere with outdoor seating. Oh wow the tom yum is really good. They also had he fresh chilli paste and lemon juice on self serve condiments, of course I had to get some. The flavour of the pho is really good, the onions aren't too overpowering and there's good depth with the seafood stock/umami. The rice noodle is also qq and chewy. Great stuff. I was so hungry though I ate my kumara pastry (literally baked kumara wrapped in dough) that I bought with the soup, since there was enough left. Very good. Yummy. The lady on the next table started to smoke so I quickly packed up and left. Bought the dishes into the store for the staff. Thanked them for the food.
Onwards, finish my last side around the block. I found a shop selling mainly uniform and suiting. I managed to find one roll of checked 35% cotton 65% poly suitable for pants. It was iirc $240 for a yard, or "ma", and one ma is 90cm. The store staff suggested 1.4 ma/y and did a quick conversion in my head, about 1.2m, as the fabric is 150cm wide that's a plenty. Yes please. Total was $350. They asked where I was from, etc, the usual, there was an older gentleman, a younger one and a lady at the counter. I thanked them and left happily.
On towards Yong Le. They're on an old street as well, and there are heaps of eats too. I stopped just outside the building, as they had benches made of some type of ceramic brick orange concrete? built around the trees, I sat down, and spotted a juice drinks shop just next door, and got a dragonfruit juice for $60.
I sat back down on the brick coloured octagon benches, and drank. Make sure to rehydrate after yesterday (overtired and dehydrated). Once done I handed back my drink to the shop (after asking if there's a bin nearby). Inwards! I had a look around the outer foyer on 2F, there's like 2 fabric shops in the circle around the stairs.
Then I went in and oh wow. Oh. WOW. It's so deep and chocka full. It's like a whole forest of fabrics in here. And you can get lost and confused!!! There's SO MUCH. And so much variety, each shop will sell something a little different even if they have overlapping goods of the same type. The more you dive, the more you can get lost. I lost track of time. And like, by the time I was done it was about 5:30pm and a lot of shops have started to close.
I bought a pink cat print cotton for $200 (2 ma/y) from a remnant bin, a remnant white sandwash satin $20, chalk pen water erasable and heat erasable $50 & $70, cotton muslin print for $100 (45cm x 75cm), and a cotton print of flamin' scissors (0.5 ma/y for $195). The boss that I bought the flamin' scissors print from (he tried so hard to sell me fabrics and said these are good for x, these are good for x) said someone from NZ is a regular customer and always buys his Belgian linen, 5y of each colour, and takes it back. Since the linen is dyed in Taiwan, it's way cheaper here. He showed me the linen, it has a really good sheen, fine and even, soft, and doesn't have a lot of knots in the fabric. IIRC he said it was $390/ma(y). Yeah for Belgian linen that would be a steal. I just checked the price and one store has it for $60/m. Yup. Boss told me since it's 5:30pm a lot of the shops starts to tidy up shop and close, as the market closes at 6pm. I thanked him and went on my way. He was right a lot of the shops have started closing action. I think I've been through most of the market anyway, so I did the last row, had a look, and then went out.
On the main street I spotted a shop that said they had indigenious handcrafts, so I stopped in to have a look. Wow they have a doorway that leads into another room, and keeps on going into a another room. It doesn't make full circle though. They have so many types of crafts and embellishments, and I spotted some ribbon trims with more tribal type patterns on it. I saw that they had chalk pens too, and one with a fine white tip that's heat erasable. $50. I got it.
Then headed towards the station. One guy, with an itabag (it was kinda dark so I couldn't see well) was trying to take a selfie with an anime girl standee from a series/IP I don't know if. I offered to take a photo for him, and he was like yes. Happy to oblige. Asked him to check the photo, and if he wasn't happy with it I'm happy to take another one. He was happy, and I told him I'm glad cause I can see that you're a big fan. Hehe, have fun~~
I passed by a truck sellin sugar cane and juice. I wanted one bottle but only had $1000 notes left... so said to the boss does he have any change? If not I'll buy 2 bottles. $150. He thanked me and I sai no problem, thank you for having the change, and went towards the station.
I made sure to N95 back up and headed onto the MRT home.
Once him, Yima had gotten beef noodles, the noodles were average nice, bit heavy on the garlic, bit too salty for the broth, noodles were above average but nothing to sing about, and the beef was satisfactory. Smells great though. Pretty good meal. I finished my bottle of Gungun Gurt and then had some of the sugarcane juice.
Biaoger (cuz) asked me about NZ and Auckland and what it's like there, more of a if I were to tourist question. Happily obliged. They left shortly after. Only the older kid was here today.
Then half an mandaringe for dessert. The mandaringe is peculiar, it's the same size as an orange, but green, and peels like a mandarin. It has really good flavour.
I went to take a shower. Wow I'm so tired. I managed to figure out how to buy the ticket for ACE con tomorrow, $400, so I guess I'm going. I'm too tired to check the line up.
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