People of the Night 7 (饒河夜市)

The next few posts in my People of the Night series are all going to be from Taipei's popular Raohe Tourist Night Market (饒河街觀光夜市) Raohe Night Market is my personal favourite night market in Taipei. It is a 600 meter long street that has lots of delicious foods and due to the narrow nature of the street, there are a lot more food stalls than there are of other varieties of stalls.

It has some of the best food including the famous black pepper buns, lots of seafood choices, Japanese cuisine and one of my favourite dishes - lamb stewed in Chinese herbal medicine. It also has the beautiful Ci-You Temple (慈祐宮) which is one of my favourite temples in Taipei.

With this series, I'm going to split up the posts with different themes which will focus on the various aspects of the night market and the people who set up shop there. The themes will focus on different kinds of foods, fortune tellers, games, and salespeople. I also won't put a cap of five shots per post like I did with the previous series - although I'll try to keep it close.

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If you missed the first post in the series click here: Rao-He Night Market 1

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1. Traditional Facial Threading (挽臉老闆)

One of the strangest things I saw when I first arrived in Taiwan was this woman who set up shop in an alley between a couple of buildings in downtown Zhongli. There was a long line for her services and every time I walked by I tried to figure out what she was doing. She had a couple of strings in her hand and she was moving them around the face of a young woman who had some sort of powder on her face. I eventually struck up the nerve to ask the boss what she was doing and she explained that it was a type of traditional hair removal. No shaving required! As a guy whose family history is almost 100% of Scottish origin, this interested me quite a bit. One of the things I hate dong most is shaving - and I have to shave quite often. The lady shattered my dreams however when she told me that if I were to try this type of hair removal, It would be extremely painful. In this shot we have quite a large shop set up with several facial threading stations on the outside with Taiwanese foot massage services inside. The boss stopped to look at me as I passed by. I'm not sure how much this costs, but women sure seem to like it. 

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2. What's in a Name? (算命者)

When I covered the Zhongli Night Market I had a shot of a similar fortune teller. This type of fortune teller is a master of names and they advise people whether or not their name is lucky or not, the name they've chosen for their baby is appropriate and whether or not their companies name is one that will allow them to make loads and loads of cash. As a North American, I find it strange when people change their names. In our culture, someone who changes their name is usually a criminal and doesn't want to be recognized when they rejoin society. In Taiwan however, your name might not be lucky enough to score you a high paying job, or a rich husband, so it's important to have the right name. 

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3. Mole Fortune Teller / Remover (美容點痣專家) 

Moles, moles, moles.. What can I say? North Americans are not fond of moles. We consider them somewhat unattractive and worry about their cancerous side effects. In Taiwan however, moles can be considered good luck charms and a mole in a certain position on your face may mean big things for you. This woman is a type of fortune teller who will analyze the moles on your face and tell you if they're good or bad. More importantly if your mole is unlucky or unhealthy, she will help you to remove it. Given that Taiwan's Health Care System is so exceptional, I'm not sure I'd want to have a mole removed at the night market. I'd much prefer to visit a dermatologist! I asked a few friends about this kind of fortune teller, and they informed me that they are actually quite popular.  

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4. God Bird Fortune Teller (神鳥卜卦)

The "God Bird" type of fortune teller is a pretty rare variety in Taiwan's night markets. You don't see them that often, but when you do, they are usually quite busy. This type of fortune teller uses birds which will choose certain pieces of paper and the fortune teller will analyze what is on the paper to tell you your fortune. It only costs about 10 US dollars for the bird to tell your fortune, which isn't expensive although I'd much rather pay that money to have the bird released. 

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5. Shoe Saleswoman (鞋子老闆娘)

Over the course of shooting the Rao-He night market, I took a shots of this vendor on each visit. Each time I visited, she was doing the same thing - reading the newspaper. I had close up shots of her and wide-open shots as well. In the end I went with this shot because it showed more of her environment. This vendor sells affordable shoes for children and teenagers which makes it popular with parents who are looking to save a bit of money. The shoes are mostly all cartoon characters or knock-offs of popular brands. This vendor has to set up shop and tear it down every day, so as you can imagine, having a chance to sit down and read this newspaper is probably a welcome break for her! 

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6. Night Market Day Care (夜市保姆) 

This vendor makes her living selling cute socks. Things that are "cute" sell very easily in Taiwan, especially with young girls. I'm more of a white sock kind of guy and to tell the truth I actually buy all of my socks at the night market. In this shot, I focused on the small child doing his homework rather than his mom, who was busy at work. I'm assuming that working at the night market means that she may not have much time to spend with her child, so she brings him along from time to time. I can't imagine the night market being a boring place for a child, but it's probably not the best environment to grow up in.  

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I'll be back this weekend with a post about some of the artisans and traditional games at the Raohe night market. 

If you have any questions, criticisms or corrections - send me a comment below! 

People of the Night 6 (饒河夜市)

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The next five posts in my People of the Night series are all going to be from Taipei's popular Raohe Tourist Night Market (饒河夜市.) Raohe Night Market is my personal favourite night market in Taipei. It is a 600 meter long street that has lots of delicious foods and due to the narrow nature of the street, there are a lot more food stalls than there are of other varieties of stalls. It has some of the best food including the famous black pepper buns, lots of seafood choices, Japanese cuisine and one of my favourite dishes - lamb stewed in Chinese herbal medicine. It also has the beautiful Ci-You Temple (慈祐宮) which is one of my favourite temples in Taipei.

With this series, I'm going to split up the posts with different themes which will focus on the various aspects of the night market and the people who set up shop there. The themes will focus on different kinds of foods, fortune tellers, games, and salespeople. I also won't put a cap of five shots per post like I did with the previous series - although I'll try to keep it close.

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1. Traditional Desserts (燒仙草/豆花) 

When I talked about desserts last time they were hot congee style desserts - This time we have Grass Jelly (燒仙草) and Tofu Pudding (豆花) in hot ginger soup. One thing I learned while living here is that Mandarin is an extremely descriptive language. When you order something you know exactly what it is. I've found myself in western restaurants requesting Chinese menus because they just make more sense to me. Often when you translate things into English, they can sound strange and unappetizing - let me assure you though, a hot bowl of "grass jelly" or "tofu pudding" are great desserts and even the fussiest of western kids would enjoy them! They both come steaming hot in bowls and you have a choice of additional ingredients to add such as tapioca balls, sweet potato cubes, taro balls, sweet barley, etc. These are healthy, cheap desserts and you can find them steaming hot in winter and with ice in summer!

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2.  Ice Jelly (QQ涼圓)

Ice Jelly Is a popular summer treat. These little balls of goodness come in several different flavours which include red bean, sweet potato and taro and are prepared with a kind of jelly that surrounds them. When you buy a serving, the boss will put some fresh shaved ice in a bag and all the jellies inside (and sometimes adding a flavour for the ice) and you are given a wooden stick to pick the, out. Children love these snacks in the summer and you can always find someone selling them at almost all the night markets throughout Taiwan. 

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3. Roasted Chestnuts (糖炒栗子)

Roasted chestnuts are a favourite for a lot of Taiwanese people. I'm not particularly a big fan, but they are a healthy snack. In this shot we have a high tech roasting machine pumping out the hot roasted chestnuts while the vendor looks on. Traditionally these chestnuts are roasted in a large wok, mixed with sugar over hot fire and constantly stirred by hand with a meter long spatula. My guess is that due to the popularity of these roasted chestnuts in winter that demand was too much to continue roasting them by hand. 

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4. Deep Fried Stinky Tofu (炸臭豆腐)

When I arrived in Taiwan and went to the night market for the first time, I was quickly introduced to Stinky Tofu. The smell was almost unbearable at first. Luckily I quickly became immune to the smell and had friends who forced me to try it. Now whenever I smell it, I will have the urge to sit down and eat it. I can empathize with people who just arrived and can't stand it however I highly recommend stinky tofu and I believe that once you try it, you will love it. This particular vendor is selling deep fried stinky tofu with Taiwanese-style Kimchi. I find that the deep fried version is probably the easiest variation to ease foreigners into eating stinky tofu as deep frying kills most of the pungent aroma and makes it seem like a normal deep-fried tofu dish. If you haven't tried stinky tofu yet, stop wasting your time and sit down for a serving! 

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5. Duck Soup (生炒鴨肉羹) 

I'm not really sure how to explain this delicious soup in English, so I'm just going to translate it into pinyin and refer to it that way. "Geng" (羹) is a popular style of soup in Taiwan. The soup is thick, hearty and filled with a lot of ingredients. It somewhat resembles a stew that we would have in the west and is probably one of the easiest kinds of foods for a foreigner to try here. The soup is actually one of the only kinds of soup I like in Taiwan as I'm not really a big fan of the more common chicken or fish soups here. 

Geng soup usually comes with stewed lamb, squid, oysters and mushroom flavours for vegetarians however this vendor is selling a duck based version of the soup and it is actually the first time I've seen someone selling this soup with duck in it.  

I would love to try it, but I have philosophical issues with eating soup when it is 30 degrees at night. I'll be back when the temperatures cool down a bit. 

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6. Taking an Order

I can't remember what this vendor was selling, but whatever it was, it was steaming hot. Through the steam you can see the boss taking an order from a customer while cooking at the same time. Working with this much heat, especially in the hot Taiwan summer must be a difficult job. Even though you can't see the vendors face, I quite like this shot, so I've added it as an extra. 

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I'll be back next week with a post about some of the various kinds of fortune tellers and beauticians at the Rao-He night market in what I think may be the most interesting post of the Rao-He series! 

If you have any questions or corrections - send me a comment below! 

People of the Night 5 (中壢夜市人像)

This is the fifth post in my People of the Night Photo Project that I'll be working on over the next few months. The point is to take street-style portraits at a night market and explain a little bit about what they do. This is going to be my last entry introducing the vendors from the Zhongli Night Market. I'm going to take a break for a few days after this post in order to post a couple of other blogs, then I will be moving on to post about the Rao-He Night Market (饒河夜市) in Taipei.

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If you haven't seen any of the other posts in the series the links are below:   

People of the Night 1 / People of the Night 2 / People of the Night 3 / People of the Night 4

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1. The Night Market Beautician (夜市美容師)

The Night Market seems like a weird place to get a manicure, but that doesn't stop people from doing it. In this shot we have a Taiwanese woman getting a manicure while the beautician's husband looks on. I can't really attest to the quality or the price of a night market beautician, but I'm guessing it is likely quite a bit cheaper than you would see elsewhere. What I am sure of though is that there is no other place where you can get a manicure and eat some stinky tofu at the same time! Multi-tasking! Yeah! 

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2. The Indigenous Chef (原住民廚師)

Taiwan has 14 recognized Indigenous tribes (and 11 more that are yet to be recognized by the government) who are of Austronesian origin and have inhabited this land for thousands of years more than the ethnic-Chinese. Their cuisines differ quite a bit from traditional Taiwanese fare and I'm not shy to say that while I love Taiwanese/Chinese food - Taiwanese Indigenous food is often the best culinary experience you can have here. The Indigenous peoples of Taiwan are masters when it comes to the grill, especially when it comes to wild boar. In this shot we have an Indigenous man cooking wild boar on a stone pan. You can buy a version that is fried up with garlic, onions and leeks and served hot in a box or have that mixture served in a fresh hot-dog like bun. No matter what you order, it will be awesome. 

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3. Pinball Boss (彈鋼珠遊戲老闆)

 There are all sorts of games that you can play at the night market. All the games are a form of gambling, but most are innocent in nature and fun for kids to play. In this shot some people are playing pinball while the boss watches. The point of the game is to get your pinballs to land in certain areas and however well you do, you will get a prize to reflect that. The prizes aren't usually anything special, they're mostly just candy for children or a can of coke, etc. The point is that it is a fun activity for kids.

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4. Fried Rice Noodles Boss (炒米粉老闆）

The Zhongli night market is most well known for its fried rice-noodles. There are several stalls selling inexpensive bowls of these thin and tasty noodles and as far as I can tell, this stall is the most popular. If you order a bowl of noodles or even a box for take out, they're always steaming hot and a somewhat healthier alternative to all the deep fried snacks you can find at the night market. 

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5. Stinky Tofu (簡師傅麻辣臭豆腐)

Stinky Tofu is a mainstay of the night markets in Taiwan. It comes in many different varieties and despite many foreigners apprehension in trying it, I love it. This particular company (簡師傅麻辣臭豆腐) has had such great business that they had to open their own restaurant (which is still at the night market, but not on the street like most vendors.) A year or two ago before they opened up the store, there was just this stall, and the lines were long to say the least. Now the stall isn't as busy as you can only order take out and that helps out a lot with traffic congestion. If you like spicy food, this is the place to go. Although I'd caution against ordering anything above mild spiciness.. 

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As I mentioned earlier, I'm going to make a couple of other non-night market posts and then I'll start posting shots from Taipei's popular Rao-He Night Market (饒河夜市) starting next week. I've already finished shooting all the night market and I'm currently working on getting shots from Taipei's Ning-Xia Night Market (寧夏夜市) and Taoyuan's new Hsing-Ren Night Market (興仁花園夜市.)  

The following is a slideshow of the collection of the shots I used in this series from the Zhongli Night Market with some additional shots that I didn't post.

The photos are also available on my flickr account by clicking here. 

I hope you've enjoyed this series thus far! There's more to come! If you have any questions or comments feel free to get in touch with me in the comment section below!