Taipei Part VI: Shilin Night Market
The Shilin Night Market is one of the biggest and best in all of Taipei (and probably all of Taiwan). Kevin took some really incredible videos of it that do a great job of capturing the vibrancy, color, noise, and excitement of night markets in Taiwan. Unfortunately, I'm having some trouble getting them to upload to YouTube so I have no way to share them with you yet. :(
Well, regardless of subsequent technical difficulties, the night itself was a huge amount of fun. Shelly took Kevin and me -- already almost asleep on our feet but unwilling to miss out on this quintessentially Taiwanese event -- to experience its wonders. It was bright, bustling, and almost overwhelming at times, an indescribable mélange of sights, smells, sounds, and sensations. Although still brimming with food from the wedding banquet, Kevin and I were treated to zhen zhu nai cha and a delicious dessert whose name I do not know. It consisted of a variety of small balls of flavored paste (the colors were white, green, lavender, and pastel yellow) with a translucent, chewy exterior, served in a plastic bag with ice chips to keep the sweets cold. The little balls were rescued from their icy bath by being speared with a tiny wooden fork. I tried one of each flavor, rejecting only the purple and greatly enjoying the white, which tasted something like vanilla ice cream.
Happily sipping and munching our sugary treats, we wandered from stall to stall, taking in the sights. I acquired a Hello Kitty contact case and almost bought an alarm clock. However, I must say that the absolute highlight of the evening was this enormous stationery store that Shelly, Kevin and I found. When I go to heaven, it will probably look exactly like this place: hundreds of pens in every color and thickness, notebooks and planners and post-its and stickers and scrapbooks and paintbrushes and pencil cases and ribbons and highlighters and oh my goodness you name it they had it and in eight different colors to boot. It was incredible. I exercised enormous self control and didn't buy the entire store on the spot, although it was tempting. It was everything I had hoped to find at a night market, all in one beautiful, rainbow-ordered store: the perfect ending to a wonderful day.
Strolling back to A-ma's with bubble tea cluched in one hand and a bag brimming with glittery pens and post-its in the other, talking in Mandarin about Taiwanese politics with Kevin and his cousin, I couldn't imagine anything better. As I arrived home to the air-conditioned, bamboo-scented interior of my own little tatami room, I gave thanks to whatever benevolent force had steered me to Taiwan, to this place and to these people. I am a very lucky girl.
posted by Kelly @ 8:58 AM
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