Part flea market, part arcade, and part food heaven, the night market is a mainstay of Taiwanese culture. There are night markets throughout Taiwan and they vary greatly in size and offerings. In fact, within about twenty minutes train ride of me, I know of at least five. The first night market we went to is one of the smaller ones, in Lujhu (20 minutes south of Tainan), a ten minute cab ride from our school.

We arrived at the night market fairly early (they usually get started around 6 pm, from what I understand) so we wandered around looking at what people were selling.

Just about all the staples of a typical flea market were present at the market – from jewelry to clothing, from dvds and cds to knick-knacks, it was all there. I kept having flashbacks to my childhood. (For those that don’t know, my father had a booth at a flea market for years and many weekends found me there “working” beside him selling either hair products or wallpaper.

They also had sandals… with flowers… in orange… and in my size! At 190 NT$/$6.33 US, how could I resist?

For the kids, there were diy opportunities…

arcade games (often try your luck, carnival style games)…

and other ways to pass the time. (Yet another flashback to my childhood occurred here, since my nana would often play mahjong with her friends. This booth also had pachinko machines. My parents owned one when I was a kid. Crazy how familiar something so far away can be!) I think this mahjong game is probably played more like bingo, but I could be very wrong.

The man running the mahjong/pachinko booth insisted I take his picture.

There was an amazing amount of dried and fresh fruit at the market as well…

including food combinations I’d never considered. Here prunes are nestled in small tomatoes. The food was the reason I wanted to go to the night market in the first place. After reading about (and watching tv shows featuring) stinky tofu, oyster omelettes, and the like, I was dying to give it all a try.

Food was either already cooked…

waiting to be cooked…

or still alive and waiting to be caught by market goers and cooked by the people at the booth.

Food always tastes better when it’s put on a stick and grilled. I didn’t have any this time, but it all looked delicious.

I was saving my appetite for this – stinky tofu, finally. My nose is rather bizarre. Certain scents (detergents, anything floral) drive me crazy and I’m super sensitive to them. Apparently my nose does not register stink as well. Every time we’d walk by this booth, Kristen, Dwayne, and even Lemon’s noses would wrinkle at the smell. I never even noticed it.

The stinky tofu is served with cabbage on the side. I received a little more than twice what is left here – not bad for 30 NT$/$1 US. I kind of forgot to take a picture when I got my meal, so I took one midway through. It was delicious.

I love that you can either eat on the go, or you can sit down at the tables set up by just about every food vendor. I also had an oyster omelette (good, but the oysters were stronger than I’m used to), a couple of Lemon’s fried mushrooms (yummy), and I took home a red bean bun from one of the three or four bakeries represented at the market (with a 5 NT$ discount, no less)! I had a great time and I’m really looking forward to going to another night market soon.

Next up: I finally get lost in translation and find some amazing street art in Tainan….

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