Tag Archives: night market

Night Market Recap

February 23, 2012 – 10:14 pm

Taiwan has the largest number of night markets. These are places where road side boutiques and street food come together, a popular place for local friends to meet and eat. So expect large crowds on the weekends.

If you haven’t guessed it by now, I’m a fan of these places. Strange though, given how much I hate crowds and long lines to eat. But there’s something about the revelry that puts you in a good mood. Enough to make you tolerate those nagging questions like “What if this isn’t good?” or “Let’s try that instead.” Nope. For some reason, I felt fine standing right there. Maybe these establishments help you appreciate the finer things in life, like the company with you. Whatever it magic it may be here’s my run down of the night markets. Wish I had time to hit them all.

So this is a run down of the ones I have visited during the trip…

Chenghuang Temple Night Market 城隍廟夜市 (City God Temple), Hsinchu


Highlights:

  • Next to the temple, inside the little food court, you can catch a Chinese theater act.
  • Within a busy district where you can explore non-night-market like shops when you’re exhausted of street food.

Caution:

  • There are alot of vendors selling Bawan and rice noodles. I’m not a fan of either, but it might be because I didn’t have the best. Hard to tell which vendor to choose from.

Hua Yuan Night Market 花園夜市 (Flower Garden), Tainan


Highlights:

  • It’s in a large open area and if it’s breezy, you won’t smell of BBQ and the scent of stinky tofu gets whisked away.
  • One half is food and the other is shopping and games.
  • Everything is within one square so you don’t have to walk too much and you can cut through.

Caution:

  • It’s only open on specific days, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. So even Thursday was crowded.
  • The coffin toast and Danzai noodles aren’t good here.
  • Expect parking to be tough by car. Get here by either taxi or scooter.

Liuhe Night Market 六合夜市, Kaohsiung


Highlights:

  • The poster child of night markets, with food vendors lining the sidewalks between opposing storefronts.
  • The street is closed off to traffic.
  • A good range of food, from your typical land meats to seafood.
  • If you’re adventurous, there’s a place to try snake.

Caution:

  • Many vendors sell the same thing no matter how unique it looks.

Ziqiang Night Market 自強路夜市, Hualien


Highlights:

  • Try the coffin toast here. Find the crowds and you’ll find the right place.
  • Very happy with the grilled seafood vendor – a bit pricey though.

Caution:

  • It’s a small night market compared to others
  • The popular grilled meats vendor was just okay. I may have expected too much.
  • No clothing stalls here (I’m personally fine with that), but does have games.

Luodong Night Market 羅東夜市, Luodong

Highlights:

  • Covers many streets and you can still find food as you go by small boutiques.
  • It’s within walking distance to the train station.
  • Try the lamb noodle soup. It was a pleasant surprise. There’s also copy cat restaurants.
  • Try the deep fried green onion wonton.

Caution:

  • Be prepare for scooters as they are allowed through the small market streets.
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Around Taiwan Day 5 – Tainan Night and Day

February 10, 2012 – 7:27 am

The first thing we did after arriving, renting a scooter, and checking in was to go check out the Hua Yuan (Flower Garden) Night Market 花園夜市. It’s only open Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Being Thursday night, it was our lucky day. Unfortunately, it was lucky for everyone else who loved this market. I can see why. It’s out in the open, like in a large parking lot and was split between food, shopping, and games. We stuck to the food area like everyone else. The place was packed and you pretty much had to eat standing or walking around. There were places to sit but they were for specific stalls if you ordered from them. There was a good variety of foods, including the local favorite Coffin Toast 棺材板 and Danzai Noodles 擔仔麵. After trying it here, I wasn’t a fan, but thankfully there were other foods we tried, like, grilled conch, pork cutlet, stinky tofu, skewered lamb, and deep fried king mushrooms (my favorite!). Sorry I don’t have the Chinese names for them. I’m too lazy to look them up. But the main good thing about this market was what I mentioned earlier. It was out in the open-open, not cramped into city streets surrounded by buildings. So by the end of your eating frenzy, you’re properly aired out and cleansed of that nasty stuff you just tried out. Now if they could do something about stinky tofu breath!

The next day we went into the Anping District (Old Tainan) 安平區. Highly recommended. Plenty of vendor stalls for your tourist trap needs. I usually avoid them, but I saw a mini Coffin Toast stall which I say is how you should eat the stuff. So let me clarify. I’m not a fan of Coffin Toast, but mini Coffin Toast I do like. The right balance of breading and that potpie filler stuff. Anyways, I hate digressing back into food. That’s what the food section below is for. Back to Anping. You can see the famous fort and stuff but the real fun was getting lost in the neighborhood. Okay, you really can’t get lost, but you want to feel like you are so when you stumble upon a small historical building it’s amazing. You can read all about it’s history on a plaque outside and wonder if the people living around there were just designating themselves as historic. Because I know I would. Still it’s cool to walk through the area. We found old Japanese style houses and small temples.

Our favorite find was Haishan Guan 海山館, a recently renovated building combining old time architecture with cartoon pop flare. I’m not sure what the purpose of the building was for. I think it used to be a hostel, but now it’s a place for people to come play and, I guess, to buy things like I did, some nice little lion-like figurines. The people were great and offered to ship them for me since we were traveling like. My way of “back packing” through Taiwan.

We spent most of the day walking through old town. It’s a shame we didn’t see the other side of town. This will do though. Tainan will be this old town with great little places you can find by scooter. Yeah, it felt pretty safe riding in this town. Not so much by traffic laws, but by safety in numbers. There appears to be a larger number of two wheelers in this town that others. And I have to say, they were nicer. And we were your average, but apparently not annoying, tourist by asking our fellow motorists for directions. Not even an eye roll.

Tainan, I will be back to know you more. You supply the alcohol and I’ll bring my drinking habit.

Food:
Don’t really like the lighter/sweeter taste of the Tainan food. There was nothing I tried that a year from now I’ll be craving to have again. The Coffin Toast would be memorable though. It’s a chicken pot pie, with other stuff, and in a better deep fried crust, but still, it’s pot pie. Sorry, I never was a fan of it. The good food was your neighborhood local food. Try out the seafood. They may deep fry most of it but it’s worth the taste.

Getting Around:
Safely around by scooter.

Overall Feel:
Great city. Big, dirty, but warm with character and history. Definitely worth revisiting.

Travel Cost(s):
$105NTD by Tze-Chiang train from Taiching to Tainan to (limited express)
$350NTD scooter rental (50cc for a day)
$1650NTD night at a three star hotel

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Around Taiwan Day 2 – And Here Comes the Rain

February 7, 2012 – 9:33 am

Today it poured. I take that back, early morning it poured. The rest of the day wasn’t as wet but with the wind, it made for one uncomfortable day to get around town. The only thing we could do was to stay inside something. And if that something, like a bus, taxi, metro, or even gondola would take us somewhere interesting, then all the better. Of course, we did just that. Final destination, Maokong Station.

What was up there was a slew of tea houses nestled in the farmlands of the local growers. Very pleasant place. I’d tell you the name if I could. It’s in Chinese but I’m sure any tea house here would give you the same experience. Many of them being a five minute walk from the station.

But I have to say, the most memorable thing about today was the eating. Even this tea thing fits into this category. So let me rephrase it, this day was all about eating and drinking. We had local food shops where you can buy a Taiwanese hamburger or a fried chicken box lunch for $90NTD ($3 US Dollars) or splurge and on black chicken soup for $180NTD. Everything we had was good, tasty, and full of new flavors I’m going to remember this city for. Those puffy buns wrapped around braised pork, balanced with pickled veggies that were not overpowering, explained why they were called sandwiches. It’s all about the balance of each ingredient. Then the thinly crispy chicken on top of locally grown covered in an assortment of mixed greens. I’d want to call this a Chinese Bento Box, but this was a class of its own. And finally, we stopped by Shida Night Market for some chicken soup, a hearty mix of herbs that were invisible to eye, but clearly apparent on the palette. My only gripe was that they try to market each meal as being beneficial to an aspect of your health. Bullshit. Nothing this tasty was ever good for you! But I sure hope I’m wrong. Anyways, enjoy some of the food photos, though I could have done a better job taking them. Eating them was a higher priority than picture taking.

The other highlight was that the weather was clearing up. The long five days of rain we were suppose to get was being cut down to two days, with the Western cities seeing sunshine as early as tomorrow. Makes my head spin trying to believe what these weather people said. No matter, our journey was going to start tomorrow.

Hsinchu, here come come!

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