Now that I’m back and settled (it took a few days), here are a few parting shots from my trip to Taiwan. Although I did a thematic sweep of the place in my other blog entries, here are some things I wasn’t able to include or just something fun.

Neiwan Bridge (more…)

One of the first things I usually end up eating here are oyster noodles; in Taiwanese, they are called “Oh ah me suah”. They are basically noodles made of some sort of wheat in a very thick bonito and pork stock soup topped with oysters, pork, some bamboo shoots, red vinegar and coriander (which I don’t like so the vendor didn’t put any in my bowl).

The little bun-like things in the picture are called “pepper pastries” when translated into English. Pork, seasoned with salt, tons of pepper and green onions wrapped in a pastry that’s stuck on the side of a special oven, making the outside slighlty flaky and crunchy and the inside super hot, soft and delicious. If the pastry is made especially well, a lot of juices made from the water content in the onions and meat are trapped inside, making it even more delicious and succulent. (more…)

Here begins the first entry of perhaps several on my trip to Taiwan. After 24 hours of airplanes and airports I have found myself cranky (to put it mildly) and exhausted after not being able to sleep on teh plane, since either my arm or leg would go dead. I also haven’t had a decent meal for the last day (everyone knows that airplane food sucks), although I did enjoy my stopovers in Chicago and Tokyo.

Now that I’m finally here I have a few ideas for blog entries, but seeing that I have photos for this current post, this little article will be about… Taiwanese markets. If you have been to Taiwan or are planning to go, a trip is not complete without browsing their various markets. Many of them can be found in little alleyways or wide open streets. Some are only worth going to at night – and are famous for being night markets - since some vendors won’t open their stalls until the evening. What can you find at these markets you ask? Well… (more…)