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Here begins the first entry of perhaps several on my trip to Taiwan. After 24 hours of airplanes and airports I have found myself cranky (to put it mildly) and exhausted after not being able to sleep on teh plane, since either my arm or leg would go dead. I also haven’t had a decent meal for the last day (everyone knows that airplane food sucks), although I did enjoy my stopovers in Chicago and Tokyo.

Now that I’m finally here I have a few ideas for blog entries, but seeing that I have photos for this current post, this little article will be about… Taiwanese markets. If you have been to Taiwan or are planning to go, a trip is not complete without browsing their various markets. Many of them can be found in little alleyways or wide open streets. Some are only worth going to at night – and are famous for being night markets - since some vendors won’t open their stalls until the evening. What can you find at these markets you ask? Well…

You can find a lot of things, but let’s start with the basics, like fruit! There are tons of fruit in Taiwan that are rare or cannot be found in Canada. And example of this is the rose apple, the little pink pear-like things at the bottom right of the picture. It is very light and crunchy with a lightly sweet taste. I’ve seen this fruit occasionally in Chinatown but they are rather expensive and obviously not as fresh as they would be if you got them at the market in Taiwan. Another fruit I’d like to highlight would be the watermelon. You can get watermelon in Canada imported from countries like the United States and Mexico, but Taiwanese watermelon can’t be beat. First of all, Taiwanese watermelon are HUGE. As in, take the length of your arm from the tip of your middle finger to your elbow. If you have short arms, the watermelon will be slightly longer than that. If you have long arms, then that’s how long the watermelon are in this picture, which explains why they’re cut into slices before they’re sold. They’re also amazingly sweet and juicy and if you take a look at the sign behind it, it says that it’s 12 dollars per kilogram. (The current exchange rate is $1 Canadian = approximately $30 in Taiwan.)

Seafood is also another wonderful thing to get at Taiwanese markets. Taiwan is an island uh… pseudo-nation, so its seafood is very fresh. You often see fish and shrimp flopping around on the bed of ice at the market. A sight that’s morbidly interesting in many ways… However, all this fresh fish is wonderful for sushi and sashimi lovers!

One of the best things about Taiwan is its food. If you go to any major street (or any street in general), you will stumble accross several roadside food stalls. Those stalls as well as tables with food vendors can be found at the market. It’s a great place to look for a delicious and cheap ready-to-eat meal. Some vendors will have a variety of dishes that is sold by weight (a little like the pasta that’s sold at Loblaws), others will have pre-packaged meals seen in the picture above, showing a vendor selling packages of pork as well as freshly made sticky rice. However, if you have no money at all, the market can also be the place for you – many vendors, as a sales pitch, will offer free samples of their food.

You can also find clothes at a traditional market. Not all of the clothes will be to your taste but there is always the possibility of find a few pieces that are lovely at a really good price (especially with the exchange rate). If you speak Mandarin or Taiwanese, don’t be afraid to barter, especially if you’re buying a lot, and that rule applies to buying anything at these places. (For those who want to go clothes shopping, there is an extremely wonderful night market that has tons of clothes shops near Nanshijiao station. I got two pairs of jeans there for about $25 Canadian just yesterday. Yay!)

As for other things to get at the market, there are of course, little curios like little handmade beaded cellphone charms, random jewellery and candy you can only find in Taiwan (or Pacific Mall), colouring books, well… basically you can find anything and everything there, you just have to look. However, as a general warning, if you are claustrophobic, go during the early mornings (unless it’s a night market). Be prepared to get shoved around since there is a lot of people, and if you’re travelling with a friend, hold onto them, it’s a hectic place to be. Nevertheless, the market is one of my favourite things in Taiwan and it’s always a treat to go.

Pictures by Jess.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 at 12:09 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.