Hualien Night Market

With having three days off of my work/volunteer gig, another volunteer and I decided to travel up to Hualien. Hualien is an epic town at the top of the southeast coast of Taiwan. The entire time I was walking through the city of Hualien, I was reminded of New York City. Of coarse they have their differences, but they are pretty similar. I have heard nothing but people raving about the night markets in Hualien, so I put that at the top of my list of things to do. After a long day of hitchhiking up north, we were a bit exhausted. Bram, the other volunteer who I was traveling with, decided to stay in for the night and catch up on some z’s. I, on the other hand, did the opposite.

The hostel we were staying at was about a thirty minute walk away from the night market. We stayed at FH Hostel, I highly recommend it. There were a bunch of other travelers flowing through there; it was a superb place to meet like-minded people. Plus, the staff were members were so sweet and the beds were extremely comfortable. So on I went, solo, to the night market. I stopped at a bunch of places along the way, checking out all the pastry shops and stores.

You could have seen the night market from a mile away; there were so many bright lights covering everything. There were massive statues that were decorated in lights, lights that created walls, lights that were strung above your head. It was incredibly beautiful, in a slightly blinding way. The night market was full of food vendors, game vendors, and little shops. It was very similar to a carnival or a fair back in the states. First things first, beer! I walk around searching for somewhere to get a cold beer.

Boom. Beer on draft at the seafood stand, perfect. I sit down, staring at all my draft options( this isn’t an everyday occurrence in Taiwan, especially not Dulan, where I am staying most of the time). I go for the Anderson Brewing beer, mostly because the logo is a picture of a bear with antlers. I thought that was a pretty good reason to buy it, props to their marketing department. The beer was actually quite tasty for a dark beer, which normally ain’t my style.

As I am sitting there, sipping on my beer all by my lonesome, the owners of the shop came over and cheers me. I have no idea why, but the Taiwanese people will cheers you seven or eight times before even finishing your beer. Not sure if that is because there is no other way to communicate (besides charades, of coarse) or because that is just what they do here, but it was pretty comical. They brought me out a plate full of shrimp on a kabob and say “prawn for the pretty lady.” Prawn… the full prawn. Head to tail, covered in the shell and I am almost certain that is the way you eat it. So I thank them and smile, trying to figure out what exactly to do with the free shrimp on sticks laying in front of me. The one man who has the best English says “go, eat please.” So I go for it, head to tail and every bite of the shell.

It’s actually not too bad. I try to put it into perspective a little, to make it go down better. My dad always eats the tail, he says its protein. The tail and even the shell didn’t bother me too much, it was the head that I struggled with. It has a totally different taste and texture, it is mushy. I think back to summer, when I was using shrimp heads as bait in my crab pots. The universe is punishing me, this is totally karma. I manage get every bite down, except for a few tails, in between the continuous cheersing. Every time I would look over at my glass, it would be filled back up to the top again. Ah, a never-ending glass! I am loving Taiwan more and more by the minute.

I am having the best time, just hanging out with the Taiwanese people running the seafood place. They have given me the DJ responsibility, so I think I am gonna be here for a while. They tell me to play only good music, so I put on some Led Zeppelin and we all raise our glasses. Everyone at the seafood stand is singing, from the workers to the customers. Even the people (a majority of the people) who couldn’t even understand a word of English. It is like somehow we were all wired with Led Zeppelin in our blood, we just instinctively knew.

A Canadian lady comes over to hang out and drink some beer with us. More food comes out. This time they bring us two of the biggest oysters I have ever seen. I come from a seafood family, I have seen some oysters! And let me tell you, these oysters were no joke.
I hate oysters, by the way. Out of politeness, we both dive into them. God, it was so awful. Slimy, gritty, and triple the size of the ones I have spent my whole life trying to get used to. But we ate them like a champ, there’s no denying that. Everyone is hooting and hollering, stoked that we ate the massive oysters. I would have eaten another one, only because the aftermath was so fun and everyone was all fired up.

The list of other foods I tried include the following:

Braised pork rice: Rice that was soaked in pigs’ blood. I know it sounds stomach-turning, but it was absolutely delicious. It was a purple color, and my goodness it was scrumptious. It was topped with onions and pork; probably one of my favorite things I have eaten in Taiwan.

Oyster omelet: Just like it sounds; it was an omelet with oysters inside of it, covered with a seafood red sauce. The omelet itself wasn’t too bad, but I cringed whenever I would get a bite of the oyster. Maybe I will still in trauma from the massive oysters I had eaten earlier.

Aboriginal sausage in a pancake: This dish was a pancake, folded like a wrap, stuffed with aboriginal sausage. This was not too exotic or unique like many of the other dishes. But, it was very tasty.

Dumplings: You could say I was in heaven when I was told that Hualien was known for their dumplings. There was every kind of dumpling you could imagine. I didn’t always know exactly what I was getting considering I was relying on the “point and hope for the best” method. I tried seafood dumplings, which were mediocre; they had a very fishy taste. I had shrimp dumplings, not too shabby. Some of the better ones I had included: pork and cabbage, pork and corn, curry, and vegetable. You had the option of getting them pan-fried or steamed. You can’t go wrong either way, so have some fun with it.

There were people from all over the world hanging out with us at the seafood place, it was totally the place to be! We just kept pulling up more and more chairs, and making the circle bigger. We all stayed, drinking beers, and sharing our very different lives with each other until the night market closed.

With everyone sharing the most cosmic energy,  we were determined to keep the night going. Off we went to a karaoke bar, where everyone (mostly Taiwanese people) were singing all western songs! In Taiwan, you do not order your own bottle of beer when you are out with a group of people. We ordered six to eight bottles at a time and all poured a glass. When the bottles were empty, we would get more. It was incredible because it was a much more social atmosphere, as if it wasn’t already social enough. It felt like family dinner consisting of only beer at the karaoke bar, rather than drinking a beer you bought for yourself while listening to people singe karaoke at the bar.  The more beers we finished, the more karaoke songs we sang. The crowd was composed of our large group, then a few other small groups of Taiwanese friends. But for the most part, it wasn’t too busy. You can imagine how many karaoke songs we got to sing. I knew 90% of the songs that were being sang, so did everyone else in the bar. Karaoke at this place was not just for the person on stage, it was for everyone in the bar. If you weren’t singing, you felt left out.

When it came time to leave, the Taiwanese people of our group refused to let any of the foreigners pay a penny. We all insisted, but they refused. Again, I felt so welcome. They made me feel like I was this rare species that they just were stoked to have in their country. The irony of traveling alone is that you actually feel like you are traveling with several friends, friends from all over the world that are constantly teaching you things. It is incredible how you never stop learning when you travel alone.