Taiwan Family Holiday - Kidsburgh and Tonghua Night Market

Taiwan Day 4

We woke this morning to the sound of rain outside.  The forecast suggested it would remain dreary most of the day so we decided to take the kids to a play centre for some indoor entertainment.  We caught a taxi to Living Mall or Core Pacific Centre which contains numerous floors of play centres and came recommended by other friends.

Salvaged some of our less spoilt strawberries for breakfast...I would not let them go to waste!

When we arrived at Living Mall the irony of the name really struck me as the only thing that seems to be going for this mall are the play centres.  I read a review that described how this place looks like "the Death Star gone dark".  It was so accurate.  Both dark AND sad I would add.  The shops inside were void of customers and also it seemed, of quality merchandise.   

I was feeling a little skeptical about this location but we took the elevator to the 7th floor to investigate what was available.  The main attraction is a place called Baby Boss - a huge venue that allows kids to experience different professions complete with costumes and even a wage.   While the rest of the mall is a ghost town of eerie silence, the minute we stepped out of the elevator we were bombarded with the noise coming out of Baby Boss. The place was packed with children everywhere even on a week day.  I think if my kids could summon the courage to attend, they would need to go together.  Everything looked really overwhelming and of course is only in Mandarin and I could foresee tears, fear and me thinking I have wasted my money!

We decided to take the kids to the play centre opposite Baby Boss called Kidsburgh.  You really can't miss the place.  Its garishly ocean theme is a bit of an eye sore and the ear-ringing noise level feels like a pachinko parlour in Japan.  

We must have looked confused because a mum came up to us and she tried desperately to be a Good Samaritan by offering us a discounted rate with her membership coupons but we had no cash on us to pay her.  In the end she still helped us by translating with the staff so we could buy our tickets and I think we probably gave her some points on her membership card.

Tickets are not cheap.  A single entry for a child under 12 is NT$750 for 3 hours, which includes one adult admission.  A pass for an extra adult is NT$150.  Clearly if you lived in Taipei you would buy an annual pass which is advertised on their website here.  

With our tickets sorted the kids ran gleefully inside.  There is a well organised procedure to follow before entry: you place your shoes on the shelves outside and must wear socks inside, you then sanitise your hands, have your temperature checked by the staff and receive a hand stamp as you enter so that you can return should you leave the venue for the toilets.  All the kids receive a label to remind the staff what time their 3 hour session will finish.

The play space is divided into a number of different areas.  The centre has a couple of merry-go-rounds which the staff manually turn and supervise to ensure each kid gets a turn.  Then there are themed rooms along the edge.  There were two large obstacle course rooms: one with slides and a ball pit and the other with air cannons that shoot foam balls.  There were smaller rooms for make believe play and some wooden toy activities, another with Duplo, an unnecessarily large room with just a few doll houses, a small open area for ride on cars and a smaller ball pit with tiny slides for younger kids.

There were a number of school groups visiting at the same time we arrived so it was quite crowded and of course noisy.  Mr A was right at home in the ball pit room with the tunnels and huge slides. But Mr R was quite intimidated and started out nice and slow with the play food area.  His favourite by far though was lining up for the merry-go-round.

The place was well maintained.  Everything was really clean and the staff supervised the slides to ensure the kids were safe at all times.  Staff even check on the balls in the pit to make sure any damaged ones were taken out of action.  I was also really impressed how well everyone behaved inside including taking turns with activities and lining up for activities. 

We took a break after the first hour or so and went to explore the mall a little more for food options.  Upstairs there was a Toys R' Us and another play centre that actually looked really good for Mr R's age. It was basically empty too and I think it would have been cheaper than Kidsburgh.  In fact on leaving we finally found a sign advertising a go-kart place and at least two other play centres within Living Mall.  Please do your research before you jump in and commit to 3 hours of play at just one venue like we did. 

Another issue with Living Mall was the food options were really lacking unless you wanted to eat at Starbucks or McDonald's.  There are restaurants upstairs of Kidsburgh but they all looked abandoned and nobody wants to eat in a place that has no customers.  So we left the mall and across the street we found Akasaka Ramen.  I tried to order adventurously and picked one that was a spicy Hokkaido miso flavour and it was so hot I couldn't finish it.  The kids plain pork broth with spare rib was much more palatable. 

Akasaka Ramen directly across from Living Mall.  As this photo suggests, there is not much else going for this area apart from the mall.

The kids wanted to go back inside and Mr A said he wanted to help Mr R to enjoy the ball pit and play with him.  So he did just that.  It was really delightful to see him lead his younger brother and encourage him on the big slides or lead him through the tunnels.  Around this time the large school groups had also left and the place was less crowded too which helped Mr R feel less scared.  But what was the last ride they had to do before we left?  The merry-go-round again. 

I can't say that it was a marvellous day for the adults but the kids definitely enjoyed themselves and had a work out.  Mr A's head was glistening with sweat when we left and I know they would both return if given the chance.

We took the kids back home for a late nap so that we could go out again to a night market for dinner without the rush of making an early bedtime. 

The Hubs decided to pick a different market for us tonight and chose Tonghua Night Market. Possibly because of the earlier rain, this market wasn't over crowded at all and we could even let the kids walk on the street.  We tried just one street snack - fried baby octopus balls - it was like Japanese takoyaki but the baby octopus was whole.  It was just the right amount of crispy and creamy all together.  Mr A could have eaten all of them on his own.

I also discovered how cheap stationery is in Taiwan.  Very cute notebooks and pens were less than USD1 each.  I could have spent a long time lost inside the stationery store except that we needed to find dinner.

We walked to the end of the road and found this herbal chicken soup restaurant.  We really enjoyed our meal here.  The staff were so friendly.  They had an English menu and helped recommend which soups to try.  They also provided high chairs.  And they even played jazz music.

The food came out really quickly.  I had chicken with bitter gourd and pineapple soup. And The Hubs chose a very herbal chicken soup.  When his soup came out it just screamed Asian herbal medicine.  I can't describe it any other way.  It was so dark, rich and tasted like a tonic.  Both soups tasted really wholesome and nourishing.  And since the weather was much cooler with the rain, they made for the perfect meal.  To round out the meal we also order shredded chicken rice, thin wheat noodles with sesame oil and a serve of vegetables.  It was all homely and real comfort food.  I was so happy to see the vegetables because they had been really lacking in our meals over the past few days.  I would most happily eat there again and the Hubs added his review on Google to let other English speaking tourists know it's worth a try.

It was starting to rain again when we left the restaurant so we caught a taxi and headed home to call it a night.