Up and Down the Night Market

The NingXia night market in Taipei.  10:48PM and the place is full. I’ve got a spicy fried chicken dish and a shrimp and leek omelet.  I was in Taizhong last night and already shared with you all that the Hakka place I visited was middling.  I wanted that strikingly fresh Taiwan taste and tonight, I’ve got it. 

My daughter’s friend’s father wrote me out of the blue and I mentioned that I was in his homeland.  He recommended I come to this market and I’m glad he mentioned it.  I was perfectly happy back at my hotel.  I wasn’t especially hungry as I’d been given a hefan late in the afternoon.   But I was in Taipei for the first time in years and this would be the last time in a while to sample that taste.

I walked up and down the night market, which only really extends for a block or two, about four times before I began buying anything.  There was grilled bacon wrapped around a leek. I had two.  Then I got a fried cake with those Japanese shavings on top, and settled down to eat it at a place that served steamed jiaozi that were quite good.   

Then I walked back and forth for a while before settling on the place I’m sitting in now.  The reason?  I wanted a bottle of beer to have with the meal and no where else seemed to dabble in beverages.  This place has references to chicken everywhere:  “Dude what’s your chicken specialty?”  I don’t know what he’s told me.  “Sure.  Give me that.”  It’s real good. That’s the first thing I’ve had here that has that unique Taiwan taste.

The table across from me had three guys from Japan.  They were speaking in loud Japanese.  They called for the waiter and asked for the bill in loud Japanese.  The waiter obliged.  It occurred to me that this gentleman from across the sea, felt free to do that.  And he was correct.  The waiter understood.  This must be part of Taiwan’s charm for Japanese people who can feel at home the way loud Americans do barking out requests in English in much of the rest of the world.  But it is rather difficult to imagine any Japanese person, behaving that way in Beijing.  The Japanese legacy in Taiwan is a remarkable, complicated weave.  I hope the Japanese continue to refine their understanding for he mainland before it becomes impossible to avoid.

Saturday 11/25/17