7 April 2018: Night markets (夜市場；夜市) are my favorite thing about Taiwan. As the name suggests, they take place at night (although some actually open for business in the late afternoon), one or more nights a week. They vary in size, but typically take up at least a few city blocks. They happen on streets that are blocked off from traffic (already that’s one reason to like them — no motor scooters whizzing by).

There are various types of things for sale at night markets. At all of them, you’ll find at least some street food, and usually also clothes, jewelry, souvenirs, small electrical gadgets and accessories, arts and crafts, and so on. Each one has its own flavor. I thought that Raohe Street Night Market (饒河街夜市) in Taipei had the best food, while Shilin Night Market (士林夜市), also in Taipei, had better shopping. The one I went to tonight (16 April 2018), Dadong Night Market (大東夜市) in Tainan, has a bar (I got a very respectable bourbon and Coke for $4) and features a large number of carnival games that, the language barrier aside, would not be out of place at the Yarmouth Clam Festival.

• The summer after my senior year of high school (1997), I worked at now-defunct Ames department store in Falmouth, Maine. We were preparing the store for its grand opening, and local hires like me worked under the guidance of an Ames store-opening and -renovating crew comprised mostly of Southerners. When one of them misheard someone talking about the annual Clam Festival in nearby Yarmouth, my hometown, he said, “Y’all have a Klan festival here? You know, even back in Kentucky we done away with all that a while back.” But I digress.

My fond memories of night markets go back to my starving student days in Taipei 16 years ago. There was a night market near where I lived in the suburb of Zhonghe (中和) where I’d stock up on delicious food and fresh vegetables and fruit. I can still remember the steamed meat buns, with their sticky rice flour outside and ball of delicious ground mystery meat inside, and when I’d bite into them the hot grease would dribble down my chin and onto my shorts. Ah. So delicious.

Naturally, I go to night markets for the food. I’ll let the photos do the talking.

Street markets don’t happen just at night, either. While there don’t seem to be that many in Tainan, at least in the area where I’m staying, I ran into a few day markets in different Taipei neighborhoods during my time there this trip. Daytime street markets are where you buy your fruits and vegetables and fresh fish, although most of them also feature Chinese breakfast foods such as scallion pancakes (蔥油餅) and some sell knick-knacks too. They are fun too, although you’ll see mostly older folks at day markets, unlike the youthful energy at night markets.