I dunno how I guess before opening the tread that the first post was going to be this one. We are just like that.[/quote]
Shrug. Night markets are more of a local thing than a tourist thing, unless you’re new to Asia. Hate to be the jaded old expat, but, well, yawn. It’s a viewpoint, and travel journalism needs to not just cater to the cliches of Asia.
I dunno how I guess before opening the tread that the first post was going to be this one. We are just like that.[/quote]
Shrug. Night markets are more of a local thing than a tourist thing, unless you’re new to Asia. Hate to be the jaded old expat, but, well, yawn. It’s a viewpoint, and travel journalism needs to not just cater to the cliches of Asia.[/quote]
For whatever reason, majority of tourists in Taiwan visit night markets. Maybe to have a local experience. Maybe for food, or low priced goods.
What non cliche story would you share with travelers considering an adventure in Taiwan and esp. Taipei?
Also: Which night market is best for those who in general dislike night markets?
I dunno how I guess before opening the tread that the first post was going to be this one. We are just like that.[/quote]
Shrug. Night markets are more of a local thing than a tourist thing, unless you’re new to Asia. Hate to be the jaded old expat, but, well, yawn. It’s a viewpoint, and travel journalism needs to not just cater to the cliches of Asia.[/quote]
You forget that Asians make up the bulk of tourists to Taiwan, and they most certainly do come for the night markets. Hell they are starting to make up the bulk of tourists everywhere and travel journalism needs to reflect that. Lots of Asians read English and use English guidebooks when travellers. Should we just pretend that they like the same things as the average Brit?
I dunno how I guess before opening the tread that the first post was going to be this one. We are just like that.[/quote]
Shrug. Night markets are more of a local thing than a tourist thing, unless you’re new to Asia. Hate to be the jaded old expat, but, well, yawn. It’s a viewpoint, and travel journalism needs to not just cater to the cliches of Asia.[/quote]
For whatever reason, majority of tourists in Taiwan visit night markets. Maybe to have a local experience. Maybe for food, or low priced goods.
What non cliche story would you share with travelers considering an adventure in Taiwan and esp. Taipei?
Also: Which night market is best for those who in general dislike night markets?[/quote]
Dude, I hope you take Forumosa out for a drink when you get paid for whatever it is you are writing. 
[quote=“maicole”]
Also: Which night market is best for those who in general dislike night markets?[/quote]
The ones that are best for me are those where you can sit down and have a beer. Actually, beer tents would massively improve the quality of my night market experience.
I don’t care. The OP asked and I answered truthfully. Not negating or denying anyone else’s experience which are as valid and important as my own. Taipei? I’d like to see an aspect of the local culture that is less accessible, I guess. Local voices and perspectives. Things I can’t read by clicking on the first three links that come up if you Google ‘Taipei’. (Or any city). That means no betel nut girls, longshan temple, night markets, snake alley, etc.
MM, I’m not a ‘Brit’, I’m English, and you are correct, things written in English need not neccessarily be my concern because the majority is just international internet filler and chatter but I can filter it, as can any Anglo, though: it’s a part of being literate in the Information Age. I can differentiate English English, written for Britons, as distinct from Globish clickfluff from 50 paces and reject it accordingly. 
You know the numbers and I guess you need to market to whoever will pay for you, sure. I can’t see a huge amount of my countrywomen buying guidebooks for Taiwan, to be honest, so of course you must follow the money. If you aremarketing or advertising to me, you have to offer me a new perspective because I’m simply not interested in nightmarket stories, from any country I’ve lived in. I read all the ones I was ever going to read, years before I even got to Taiwan, Methuselah that I am. If you’re writing in English for English speaking Asians, then I’m sure that’s a huge market and they’d love to know which night markets are fun. I guess that’s the problem with conducting market research in English: differentiating the market?
Why do the English always preface a longwinded response with “I don’t care”?
Really, Erminutrude, that was a pretty rude post. I simply corrected you about night markets being a tourist thing. There was no need to suggest I am “following the money”. I don’t write about night markets, except a few entries in the guidebook. Never done an article on them and probably never will.
The ‘I don’t care’ was to ‘which non-cliched places’ question: if I gave a list of topics, then I wouldn’t want to read about them because I’d already know about them. Surprise me with your insight or your depth of knowledge, ye travel writers.
That wasn’t rude. That was fairly neutral. Why would you take ‘following the money’ to be insulting, when it comes to your professional life? I work for money: excuse my presumption in generalising. ‘I simply corrected you about …’, on the other hand sounds pompous and is irritating and inappropriate if you consider the people you are interacting with to be your peers.
As for the rest, hardly long-winded. 15 seconds’ reading, tops. A new poster asked about which night markets people liked including ‘none’ as an option and asking for comments. Done. The rest is flob boys headflapping and I’m really not going to be drawn into justifying my words or opinions, especially when they were freely given to help with someone’s writing project.
I really Can Not get into an Internet argument with some guy about night markets, so please assume I’m sorry and you’re right.
Haven’t been back to Taiwan in a few years, but when I lived there I enjoyed Tonghua Night Market the most.
Shilin is big, but hard to navigate. I also disliked it when they moved a lot of the food stands to the food hall.
I lived near Shida, but I didn’t really consider that a proper night market. It didn’t even have many standard night market offerings like oyster omletes or fried stinky tofu. Maybe they’ve added that since I left, but then I hear the night market there is being closed anyway.
Tonghua is very easy to navigate. It’s essential one straight street with a cross street in the middle. And it has decent coverage of Taiwanese night market classics. Also I remember there being plentiful trash cans to dispose of waste which is not always easy to find in Taiwan.
I’ve heard good things about Ningxia Night Market, but haven’t been. Will be visiting Taiwan end of the year again and plan on spending a lot of time grazing through the night markets so I’ll make sure to check that one out.
Plus the food is dull, unappetising and lacks variety. I’m struggling to think of one night market snack I like. Obviously others do like them, but I don’t so I was forced to choose None of the Above.[/quote]
It you can’t identify ONE snack from a night market, then I think you just don’t dig street food. How can one say the food lacks variety in one of the better night markets? Night markets sell everything from fruit to fried stuff to drinks to waffles to deserts to wraps and kebabs. What I like has changed over time, and of course a squid ball at one vendor is not the same as at another, choose your vendors carefully 
.
Although I believe the North of Taiwan generally has the best Chinese restaurants and breadth of food, they are losing the Taiwanese ‘renao’ feeling in their night markets up there bit by bit. That’s maybe a good thing in general, but bad news for night market fans over the long term. Better hope they don’t do a HK and kill them completely someday by moving them indoors.
There is one night market where the Chinese food can only be described as amazing for street vendor food, the small one opposite Datong off zhonghsan road. It’s just food and their Chinese herbal soups rock!
Fengjia nightmarket is a big one in central Taiwan, possibly Taiwan’s biggest now. I was also recently at the main one in Kaoshiung which has a lot of Chinese tourists these days, their seafood options are very good down there. There are some pretty good ones around the island. What folks in Taipei don’t realise is that night markets have a bigger social function in smaller towns and cities, with many activities for kids in particular. In the towns they usually hold then just once a week so it’s a night out for the locals. Its like the American Fair a bit. One of the reasons I go now is to let my kids play the games there and sample the renao atmosphere.
I really enjoy the night markets but it seems I only ever go if I’m showing someone around or if someone invites me along (to show one of their friends around). I like Tonghua and Raohe the most so far. The first time I went to Raohe it was so incredibly packed, it was awful, we were pretty much just getting shuffled down with the crowd. But the time after that was great and I really enjoyed it (watermelon juice and baked pepper buns for dinner, yes please!)
I like taking people who visit to them as I think it gives them a unique experience (we don’t really have anything like it in NZ) and because it’s much cleaner than China all my visitors can actually eat the food without being worried about being sick. I normally take them to Shilin and Raohe, as I think between the two of them you get a pretty market-y experience. Am thinking of rotating Shilin out for Tonghua and Wufenpu, but in terms of impressiveness for visitors Shilin is always a good (albeit average) market.
Plus the food is dull, unappetising and lacks variety. I’m struggling to think of one night market snack I like. Obviously others do like them, but I don’t so I was forced to choose None of the Above.[/quote]
It you can’t identify ONE snack from a night market, then I think you just don’t dig street food. How can one say the food lacks variety in one of the better night markets? Night markets sell everything from fruit to fried stuff to drinks to waffles to deserts to wraps and kebabs. What I like has changed over time, and of course a squid ball at one vendor is not the same as at another, choose your vendors carefully .
[/quote]
What I meant was there is a lack of variety between night markets. All the night markets I’ve visited in Taipei offer identical food. When I went to one in Tainan and Jilong there were some different things on offer. The food in Tainan was actually very good, but the local snacks in Jilong were pretty dull - cucumber sandwiches and buttery crabs. I’ve not noticed any special local snacks in any of the Taipei night markets. Perhaps I missed them, but to me they are like supermarkets and lack any individual identity.
Obviously I like fruit and drinks, but I don’t like many if any of the night market snacks which all seem to be the same in Taipei. The squid balls are all the same. Only the after effects differ.
…
I lived in Taipei for 5 years before 2004 - 2009 and pretty much went to Tong Hua Nightmarket every night. I’ve just moved back and have continued going pretty much every night. Even if it’s just to rent a DVD or get some Ice Green Tea (with lemon or whatever), I like strolling through. Plus it only takes me 2-3 mins to walk there.
I didn’t always enjoy them though. When I first came to Taiwan and couldn’t understand Chinese, which made buying stuff a bit more difficult, and I came from a place in the UK where it makes sense to walk pretty fast and keep a good distance from others (in the impoverished region of England’s north east), so I really struggled with the walking slowly and being constantly bumped into by people who aren’t looking where they’re going. After about a year it stopped bothering me.
Op, the tourism bureau puts out a good small booklet on all the night markets of Taipei: I got my copy at the train station office. Useful overviews and includes what are the special dishes of each market.
Tomthorne should visit Liaoning, as one side is rows of stalls and shops selling trad snacks. The other is rows of quick fry and big mugs of cheap draft beer.
No one has mention the big one near Taipei Bridge. Yansan I think it is called.
There’s also the morning market around Xiahai Temple/Yongle Market on Dihua Jie. One of the oldest in the city.
again i really appreciate all the input. very helpful!
Maybe tonghua. It seems managable. And there are good shops surrounding… the general area is nice.
I went to the jilong one recently. That was pretty special, unique layout and the vendors had english translations!
Another one i went to recently was fengia, obviously not in taipei but it was impressive and cool just for how big it was, found some good eats too.
Also went to nanya recently and that was pretty bog standard to be honest.
You revived this blast from the past thread! I’d have to say Shilin, because it’s the best night market to take pictures.
Yeah, sometimes I forget never to interact with Mucha Man. That guy’s mean. :aiyo:
Luodong, Luodong!
In before:“But it’s not in Taipei…”. Doesn’t matter, Luodong, Luodong!