Saturday, October 18, 2014

Night life

Taipei comes alive at night, and there is no better place to witness this than one of the city's famous Night Markets.  The carnival-like atmosphere, with food stalls and games, may feel familiar to people from Japan, but there are two main differences; while in Japan these stalls would usually be set only annually to coincide with a festival, in Taiwan, these markets operate every night(!).  Throughout the year(!).  The other main difference is that there appears to be no alcohol for sale, so the atmosphere remains family-friendly no matter how late into the night it gets.

Festival volunteer Shannon, who was assigned to show me around Taipei and to make sure I got to all of my screenings and appointments on time, offered to take me to the Night Market so that I could have a night off from the cinema.  Willie and Bonnie, two of Shannon's friends, joined us, and we ate our way through the market!  Grilled mushrooms, shaved ice, and the infamous "stinky tofu" (INFO) recently voted one of the top 10 foods hated most by foreigners, and which I happen to LOVE.

And these little pop-cycles caught my eye; they reminded me of the ones my sister and I used to make with fruit juice in our Tupperware Popsicle making kit (like THIS one)!


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