Night markets

What is the most popular place to go on any given evening in Taiwan? To a night market! There is probably at least one in any larger town, and at least 10 in Taipei alone.

A night market is an area of usually few streets, packed with shops selling just about anything (but mostly clothes, accessories, bags, sports goods), street vendors selling the same stuff - usually a guy with a rack with wheels, or a big suitcase, easy to fold and unfold. In addition, there is a number of restaurants and tiny stands, selling all the famous Taiwanese delicacies (more about that later). As the name indicates, it only comes alive in the evening, and most places close no earlier than 11 pm, many even at 1 am. Not surprisingly, people go there for shopping, and eating. Sometimes, I get the feeling that these are the only 2 things the Taiwanese enjoy doing.

The biggest and most famous one of them all is the Shilin night market in the northern part of Taipei. It's pretty far from Zhengda, but definitely worth the visit to see what Taiwan is really like.

Upon my first visit, several things struck me. The first is the huge amount of people. There is no other choice but joining the crowd, accepting its pace and very slowly progress through the maze. Kinda like in the picture below.

The second thing (in fact, usually first) thing one invariably notices, is a really strong, penetrating and bad smell. Kind of like rotten garbage. This is the most famous Taiwanese delicacy, Stinky tofu. I don't know what it is that they put inside, but it really smells horrible. Although the night market atmosphere simply wouldn't be the same without it. Stinky tofu is a topic of many conversations and a nightmare for the tourists.. The local are usually keen to enquire whether a visitor has tried it, and liked it. I am proud to announce that after several visits to night markets and nearly a month in Taiwan, I finally got the courage to try this specialty, and... it wasn't too bad, actually quite tasty! In fact, I wasn't sure if what I was eating is actually stinky tofu, as once it gets on the plate, the smell magically dissappears and the taste does not resemble it either. 

Speaking of food, eating is undoubtedly the main reason to go to a night market. There are hundreds of places to eat, as well as hundreds of different foods to eat. Most are of the snack variety. They range from the normal noodles and beef and oyster omelette, all the way to the more obscure ones, like chicken feet, duck tongue, sea snails (don't know what they're really called), Pig blood cake, snakes (mostly in the touristy places) etc.

Couple pictures to illustrate:

Snacks on the stick

BBQ Squid on the stick (delicious!)

One of my favorite parts of the night market life is this: Most of the vendors selling things off of their trolleys and racks in the middle of the street do it illegally, they don't have the required licence. The police are aware of this, and make frequent checks of the situation. Therefore, at all the entrances to the night market, there is a guy standing, looking out for police. When he spots them coming, he informs his buddies at the shops via a walkie-talkie. The guy informed screams to warn all the other vendors. They all pack up within seconds, and run off with their trolleys and portable shops to all the dark corners and alleys to hide (not easy, considering they have to maneuver through the huge crowds. The police walk through, don't find any illegal vendors, and go away. The hiding vendors are again informed about that, and come out of their hidaways to unpack their stuff again. This might take place as often as every 15 minutes, so the guys spend more time packing/unpacking/running/hiding, than actually selling stuff.

Pic below -vendors trying to dissappear.

There are many other curious things to be spotted: 

A begging grandpa monk with an iPOD..

What does this guy do for living? Stand on the stool and yell all night: Come to our shop, unbelievable prices, T-shirts, jeans, skirts, all for 80 dollars only. Best selection, great quality, unbeatable prices!!! Come buy!

Some children in uniforms, probably on a field trip (why?), the teacher / supervisor is nearby, rushing them and trying hard not to lose any of them.

On my last trip to a night market, I met some bored shop-assistants, trying to solve the Rubic's cube. I helped them do it, and had to promise to come again soon to actually teach them.