Taipei Night Market

I went to Taiwan for some meetings, my first time there in nearly thirty years. It has developed since those days, but some things remain the same.

I went to several night markets because I remember them fondly from when I was a student there. I didn't go to the one I used to frequent in the university district. I went to two others - the once infamous Snake Alley, which is now a shadow of its former glory, and Shulin market, the largest night market in Taiwan.

There was all sorts of amazing food in the night markets, including the stall pictured above in Snake Alley, which sold stewed ham hocks and trotters. Snake Alley is so named because of the many snake restaurants there. It used to have a very active red light district, though that disappeared when the city cleaned up in the 1990s.

I spent more time at Shulin night market. I bought some barbecued chicken with a soy-based glaze and one of these egg-potato-cabbage pancakes, sort of like Japanese okonomiyaki.

There was a very gaudy, but pleasingly picturesque temple at the back of the market.

After I had bought the food, I sat on the steps of the temple and watched a kungfu movie that was being shown on an outdoor screen and ate along with other people enjoying their dinners. It was a wonderfully festive scene. Later I bought a delicious lemon-orange drink and a green-onion-stuffed pretzel-like bread. Everything was delicious.