Night Markets, Birthday, and more
Trip Start
May 15, 2008
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Trip End
Aug 13, 2008
Tainan,
Taiwan
Saturday, May 31, 2008
I have went to a couple of department stores here and they are very nice. The Far Eastern department store has about 8 or 9 floors and an international grocery store on the bottom floor. In the department stores that seem to take alot of pride in their appearance and the appearance of the stores. On the floor with cosmetics and perfumes the people who work there stand faithfully by the counter and greet you as you walk by,.... in some instances they bow. They all had on black suits and maybe a colorful scarf or pendant.
One thing I really love about Taiwan is the fruit...it has some of the freshest fruit I have ever tasted
fried bacon kinda
. I really love watermelon, and I have to say I have not been disappointed with the selection of red or yellow watermelon that they have here. The most popular fruits here are watermelon, mango, dragon fruit, papaya, and apples. We went to the night markets here on Thursday and Friday night. The night markets here are definitely something you have to experience if visiting Taiwan. At the markets they have all different kinds of foods in addition to vendors selling everything from purses, jewelry, shoes, and clothes. Typically you can find things much cheaper than at the department stores. Its like a festival, similar to a state fair or 2nd Street Festival ( for those of you from Richmond) but very very crowded. For those of you who like your personal space, like me, it takes some getting used to. Lets see what did I try, I sampled some very tasty spicy mushrooms, snail, spicy "fish" eggs, pigs intestines or "chitin's"( they taste very much like "American" chitin's), oyster omelet, papaya corn, ice cream that is wrapped in a dough like covering with shaved peanuts and a sauce,and all other kinds of different foods and plenty of fresh fruit. We sampled a lot of stuff so its hard to remember, but I did try to take lots of pictures of the foods they were selling.
At the night market on Thursday I had a little old Asian man, who had to be in his late 80's following me around the market
night market chef
. He spoke and said "Ni Hao" which is hello in Chinese, and smiled really big. So of course I spoke back and from that point on the simply followed me around to every shop I went to smiling and staring at me. Finally I was able to get away from him in the crowd of people, even though when I looked back I saw that he was looking for me. He seemed completely harmless but I didn't have clue to say to him and it got weird to have someone staring at you nonstop! Overall I really enjoyed the night markets, they have them every night of the week at different locations.I almost forgot how I got to the night market, well I had my first encounter with riding on a scooter since I have been here. Let me say that I am not a person who enjoys going fast on bikes, so most of the time I had my eyes closed. It really wasn't that bad but the weaving in and out of traffic and near hits and misses really tore my nerves up, lol. After the night market on Thursday a group of us went to this bar/lounge which was really nice and had some food and drinks. Before we went to the lounge we passed by an artist gallery and we met on the artist and as a group tried to figure out what some of the paintings were. We all said what we thought it is was and had some brief discussion on it. What was interesting is that when the artist cut the lights off the pictures took on another mood. In the back of the gallery which was located in an alleyway close to a very old temple had very big snails in it, hence the picture warning of us them,lol
traditional cookin
. The bar we went to which was called Eros bar and lounge was further down this alley and I would have never thought that anything nice was in this shady looking part of an alley, lol. Joyce, who is one of our graduate student host and some of her friends joined us. We ended having a really nice time. Troy who is a ballroom dancer showed us some of his moves and believe it or not I ended up teaching them how to "step". Thats right Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc doing big thangs in Taiwan, dont be surprised if I charter a chapter over here, LOL. I was surprised that they picked it up so easy, Troy said that he had seen the movie " Stomp the Yard" and was fascinated with that style of dancing. All in all we had a great time and when I got home I was exhausted. While we were out there was a temple celebration that we caught the end of, there were fireworks and lots of people celebrating on the the temple gods.
So on Wednesday I celebrated my birthday with a massage, lunch at one of my favorite places and dinner at this elegant restaurant called The Corner. Of the course the massage as usual was wonderful, this time took a picture with my masseuse, Pe-Lou, who is originally from a city about 2 hours from Tainan. I also did a little shopping and bought some wonderful perfume, that smells heavenly
traditional cooking
. I really enjoyed my birthday and the only thing that could have made it better would have been to have my family and friends around, but how many people can say that celebrated their birthday in Asia! I really have to thank God daily for this opportunity. I finally got up the nerve to ride my bide around the city the other day. I wasn't as nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Mind you I haven't rode a bike in like 15 years or more, but its true you never forgot. I managed not to get hit by any cars or scooter which was good. I found that if you just go when all the other scooter go then you will be fine. I am trying to bike in the morning or later in the afternoon when its not as hot. Biking during the day is simply too exhausting, I just opt for walking or a cab if I have to be somewhere in the middle of the day. Cab are not expensive here at all, like $3 for most place that I want to go. Tipping or not tipping is another thing I had to get used to here. It is not custom here to tip at restaurants, etc, people don't do it nor do they expect it. Unlike in the U. S the waiters here make more money in their salary which is why I guess tipping isn't custom here, that goes for taxis too. The only time you may be expected to tip is at the hotels if a bellhop carries your bags to your room. In fact I ordered a pizza from Pizza hut the other day and I tried to tip the delivery guy and he wouldn't take it!!
pastried
! But you cant say the same in America,lol, I didn't know how to react:)On the campus of National Cheng Kung University which is where I am conducting my research this summer that have an amazingly beautiful campus. On on of their campuses they have a tree that is huge and lots of students hang out under it and hold celebrations near it. Across the street from it is Cheng Kung Lake which a beautifully calming place. In the lake are hundreds of turtles that populate it and apparently a popular place for dogs to hang out. Next weekend I am going to Kenting beach, which from the pictures I have seen is amazing. So be on the lookout for lots of pics from that. I hope everyone is doing well, and see you next time.
