Well, it rained, and kept on raining. Not hard, mind you, but enough to keep us firmly indoors. Which meant a nice breakfast at the hotel, and taking the metro and 304 bus for a third visit to the National Museum. No regrets there, as it takes several hours to cover each floor, and we had one floor left. We started off with a free guided tour, with a knowledgeable guide who spoke fluent English, and electronic headsets that let us hear every word she had to say.
The tour started off in a quiet room displaying 18th century emperor-style furniture. Two mythological animals, were depicted in the room. They looked like squat little foo dogs, and their role was to invisibly gather information from all over the world, rapidly and in hundreds of different languages, then appear and divulge all of this information to the emperor, were he deserving of it. Sounds a lot like the Internet, doesn't it? And they thought of this hundreds of years ago. Very interesting tour, and highly recommended.
As the rain tapered off, we headed for dinner at the Night Market, which turned out to be the most memorable thing that day.
A block from our hotel, just before we dive into the metro. Although we are far from the ritzy section of town, the street still has a Times Square feel to it. There's a live video screen, showing previews of western movies, and large illuminated signs featuring western personalities and products.
One transfer and 15 minutes later, here's what the night market looks like from the subway platform across the street. The cylindrical images are live TV, displayed on a rotating LED array. Although it is drizzling outside, the night market is packed.
Misdirected by an evil sign in the underground tunnel connecting the metro and market, we spend about 20 minutes the non-food section of the night market, wondering what happened. Oh well, we were getting hungry, but it was interesting anyway. Here there is everything from elegantly displayed tacky jewelry, pets, and clothing, to carney games. This place is huge.
Making our way back to the food area, we find a cavernous space, all filled with small booths offering various prepared dishes. It's a little intimidating because everything is swirling so fast, and there are any number of choices we can make. Very little English here, so we just wander around and just give the place a once over.
Making our way back to the food area, we find a cavernous space, all filled with small booths offering various prepared dishes. It's a little intimidating because everything is swirling so fast, and there are any number of choices we can make. Very little English here, so we just wander around and just give the place a once over.
This one looks interesting, but woof! Dogs are not only allowed here, but they get to have their own seat! LOL.
So, that's the night market. Highly recommended.
Oh, and the stinky tofu was just fine.
The food here looks good, with a giant grill that everyone sits around, but look at all the empty seats ... so it can't be that great.
We turn to our tried and true method of picking a place to eat - find one that's crowded. This place was so packed we thought it would be impossible to get a seat. In 20 seconds, the waitress had us seated, and provided an English menu. We were set. We ordered shrimp rolls, "stinky tofu" (which we'd been making jokes about for the whole trip (Okay, I'd been making jokes to Ann, an audience of one.), and a couple of other items. The food was ready in a flash, almost before we'd ordered. Strangely, though, they do not serve tea or any other beverage, so ...
We go to another stand to order a freshly prepared mango smoothie, and I leaned that these fruit stands provide something we Americans don't normally get: heat sealed lids for drinks. These beat the pants off the white plastic lids we are all used to. The lid is a perfect seal, and you either punch a hole in with a sharp straw, to drink it right away, or take it home all nice and sealed for later.
So, that's the night market. Highly recommended.
Oh, and the stinky tofu was just fine.
1 comment:
Dear Mike and Ann,
Sue and I have been enjoying following your adventures.
"Kathleen" on the CompuServe Travel Forum will be going to Taiwan in about a month. I gave her your blog address and she replied that she very much enjoyed it. She asked if the Taiwan bullet trains could accomodate wheelchairs.
Love,
Sue and Bob
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