Tai Kang Road was the best kept secret in town, it was located in a residential area of the French Quadrant of the city, you had to literally walk through someones house to be able to get to the shops inside the Tai Kang Market. Today after it was discovered by tourists it has several entrances from the street, but you still get the feeling of walking through someone's backyard to get here, the market is a collection of hand crafted goods, souvenirs, local crafts and some goods exported from Mongolia and Tibet. There are also a lot of restaurants, bars and cafes, if you are a person who hates crowds and small spaces, you should not visit this area, the narrow aisles are crowded by locals and tourist in search of that perfect piece of art, or jewelry. The restaurants do not have over 6 tables each, and most of them just have a couple outside the kitchen and the rest of the customers are forced to get to go orders.
Amongst my favorite store in this place are:
YU, amazing jewelry, some hand made, some I think were fake replicas or look a likes of brand names, but hey it is China after all, what you expect....
Another one is this leather book retailer, I can not red their card but it has several names on it, Modove or Craftxm is the name of it, although it is the only place with handmade books/memoirs in the whole market so you won't have trouble finding it.
There is also a pet store that I seem to have lost the card for, but they have the cutest clothing for your pups, will have to warn you, it was pretty pricy!
This is a great scape from the typical tourist places that guides will take you to!
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