November 28, 2005 - The way to one's heart...

Food, food everywhere! My sister and I started the day with a quick walk to the street below where the food vendors with their carts awaited hungry passer-bys. Little did I know that this would be the start of another eating extravaganza. Grandma always managed to get just a little more than we were capable of eating. After a short rest, we were off again.

Our aunt joined us for a train ride out to Tamshui. On the way out, we stopped a the Tamshui River Mangrove Nature Reserve. It was a strange juxtaposition of nature and civilization with beautiful Mangrove swampland sitting beneath tall buildings. There were fiddler crabs and funny land-walking fish abound. It was a lovely place to stroll.

Tamshui is a town right on the coast. It was quite beautiful there with many people, old and young, enjoying the warm day. The town had a Jersey Shore boardwalk feel at places. There were arcades with games of skill (and chance) as well as endless food stands. We managed to stay away from eating more, but not for long.

On the way back, we all stopped at a market. We ducked into a back-alley area where there was quite lively. Amongst fish stands and tiny shops, we found a bah-wan stand. A man stood in front of a huge vat of boiling oil where he was preparing these treats. There was no way that this man’s establishment would have passed inspection in the States, which would be a shame since it was damn yummy! The food didn’t end there. We had more stops along the way for us to prove that there is always a little bit more room for good food.

After returning home, Grandma stayed to take care of some chores and to rest while my sister and I took off to explore more of the City. It was surprising to hear my sister’s name called on the streets of Taipei. It was one of our aunts who then volunteered to take us to another market, which, of course, resulted in more eating.

Jetlag has set in big time and the best my sister and I have been able to do is to stay awake ‘til 8 pm. That’s about when my uncle called to see if we wanted to take a night tour of Taipei. So, we were off and running again. A few landmarks and closed temples later, we arrived at the famous “Snake Alley”. My sister visited this place a while back and she referred to it as the ‘seedy underbelly of Taipei”. But, in the last few years, it has gotten too famous. And, again, my sister dubbed it now “Giullianni’d”. It has lost most of its darkness and is now called the Huahsi Street Tourist Night Market. Prostitution has been replaced by a few sex toy shops and foot massage parlors and the snake blood-drinking establishments have become ice cream shops. They did try to maintain some of the allure with a woman stationed in front of the ice cream shop armed with a large snake. But, it didn’t look like there was snake on the menu. Perhaps the more seedy scene has moved to another alley, yet to be discovered by the hordes of tourists.


We did make it to 11 pm, a much more appropriate time for sleep.