Taipei Night Markets: Pure Insanity

During our last stop through Taipei on our way back to the USA we spent an evening checking out Kwang Hua Market, of the most famous night markets in Taipei. Pure insanity– words can almost not describe the hustle and bustle, streets packed with vendors, shoppers, animals, and what seemed like every possible thing in the world for sale at dirt cheap prices. Vendors sold fake everything, from Calvin Klein underwear for $2, suits, polo shirts, fake watches, cell phones, sneakers– jeans and t-shirts literally lined the sidewalks. Even more interesting though was definitely the food– I’m not even quite sure what some of it was, although I could clearly make out the pigeon feet, liver, stinky tofu (a Taiwanese delicacy served with goose blood), snails, neck of some creature, and a handful of other body parts I wouldn’t even ever think of preparing on a grill, let alone eat! Every once in a while the street went into a panic as panhandlers and stands rolled their carts as fast as possible into side streets, hiding themselves behind dumpsters and other shops– which we later learned meant police were close. The experience was really something else, the stench of cooking meat, body odor, and truck loads of fresh vinyl fake Gucci handbags was strong enough to make you wheezy. If you have a chance to check out any of the night markets in Taipei, check them out– just make sure to scrub clean after. It was like a maze, a 10 ring circus, we could have walked around for hours and barely scratched the surface. Some more pictures of food and such from the street after the jump. I think the last picture is forever ingrained in my memory.