Markets of Taipei

Chinese sausages in Taipei

This little stall cooks the food in front of you, maybe not the Ivy but delicious
I am starting to wonder how people in Taipei are not a lot fatter than they seem to be.
For what I gather people don't really go to restaurants or bars in the evenings, but walk around the tens of night markets they have here. And the food there is all fried, lots of great, 'heart attacks on the making' snacks.
These markets are not for tourists, as they hardly have any tourist, compare to other towns in Asia.
They normally mix food with other things. Mostly the other things are a tat galore, it is like QVC in the street...I actually saw several things that could have been QVC bestsellers, and as an old employee I know what I am talking about.
My first night market was the main one, Shiling. The food area is a near the MRT station, and it is all I was expecting. Lots of things I didn't know, all far too fattening and unhealthy, and all really tasty.
I had something that look like a big dumpling, that had been deep fat fried at a low temperature, it was kind of jelly with meat inside and left in the oil...it was fatty, oily, nonetheless tasty and delicious.
I also had some breaded 'thing' only because everyone was queueing to get one, so I decided I had to try it...long queue, worth the wait.
However, the non food market was a dissapointment. It was tat heaven, from Kalvin Clein underwear to 'I did it with Kylie' T Shirts, fake sunglasses, mixed with real Puma store.
It is true that is a market for locals, although I may have seen more tourist there than anywhere else, it was still less than 5 or 10%, there are so few tourist in this country.
My second market, Huaxi Night Market, was a strange discovery. A lot more local, smaller, and with a sleazy side to it...somehow I managed to discover the prostitues that work in a dark ally on one of the sides of the market. I know I have always have an ability to find the gutter, either the drunks in India or the brothel in Chang Mai where I went to upload my blog.

A dark ally in Taipei
As soon as they discover that I was not going to be a customer, and I just wanted to take a pic, they all run from me. Prositution is very frown upon in this country. There is shame on it as oppose to what you see in Thailand. I think this is probably good, sad for the people that work on it, but probably a deterrent for people to fall on it if they just see it as an easy exit.