Street

People of the Night 17 (基隆廟口夜市)

It has been a while since I posted photos in my "People of the Night" series of street photos from Taiwan's night markets - Last year I had introduced several of Taiwan's night markets and the people who make them what they are but after fifteen posts I was feeling like I had to move on and put the project on hiatus. I still have plans for other night markets but they will come out periodically over the next year or so.

With this new series from the Keelung Miaokou Night Market (基隆廟口夜市) I'm going to combine photos that were taken last year with some new shots that I took over recent weeks and split it into three different posts with a gallery of all the photos used in the posts as well as those that didn't make the cut in the final post. I will also do what I have normally done by explaining some of the interesting and unique aspects of this particular night market and the people who I've come to recognize after visiting so many times.

The Keelung Miaokou Tourist Night Market is often introduced by Travel guides as a MUST visit on any travellers as the night market is well-known for its diversity of Taiwanese delicacies and being so close to the sea - it's fresh selection of seafood dishes. The night market is jam-packed with Taiwanese and foreigners walking shoulder-to-shoulder every night of the week and it truly is a purely Taiwanese experience that shouldn't be missed while visiting the country.

1. Crab Soup (螃蟹羹)

This first post in the Miaokou Night market series is going to deal with seafood. This night market is particularly well known for seafood so I’m going to start out with a thick soup known as “geng” (羹 or 焿) that has several stalls throughout the market. This type of soup is thick, hearty, full of flavour and also has quite a bit of crab meat inside. Almost all of the crab soup stalls seem to be owned by the Wu family (吳記) and there are several stalls throughout the night market and they likely all serve the same uniform version of soup. Keelung is a coastal city and the area supplies northern Taiwan with most of its seafood. Tourists travel to the city and to the night market for cheap and fresh seafood and this soup is a popular example of that. 

2. Takoyaki (たこ焼き) / Octopus Balls (章魚燒) 

Takoyaki is a popular Japanese delicacy that originated in Osaka and made its way to Taiwan. You can find Takoyaki stalls all over the country and in any night market. Takoyaki is essentially a ball-shaped snack made of a wheat-flour based batter and a chunk of octopus tentacle in the middle. The balls are prepared on a special molded pan and when they're ready they are placed in a paper tray and the chef applies a special Takoyaki ponzu sauce and another sauce of your choice (I always choose wasabi) and then topped with bonito flakes. These are one of my favourite snacks here in Taiwan and they are always really cheap. In this night market you can be sure that the seafood is fresh meaning that you are likely to have one of the better Takoyaki experiences of your life in Keelung!

3. Giant Shrimp (大蝦) 

Shrimp is a popular dish at this night market and this stall sells a variety of large fresh shrimp to customers all prepared in different flavours. It is common in other markets around the country to find vendors selling Thai shrimp in a variety of flavours but not in the Keelung night market - these are all fresh shrimp taken from the ocean near Taiwan. Stalls like this can be expensive depending on the size of the shrimp and the price depends on the market value of the day. I'm a big fan of Pepper shrimp (胡椒蝦) and Spicy Sichuan (麻辣蝦) flavours while friends of mine like the garlic and lemon flavours. If you're visiting the Miaokou night market you may want to splurge a little to get some of the seafood that the market is famous for and this is probably a pretty good choice!

4. Fried Shrimp and Bite Sized Crabs (蝦猴 / 一口蟹)

Taiwanese people love deep-fried foods, they're also big fans of fresh seafood and anything bite-sized (一口吃). What better combination could there be than bite-sized crabs deep fried with Japanese tempura? This is a popular stall within the night market as the prices are set and the boss just fries up a bag of deep-fried shellfish goodness for customers. The shells of the crabs and shrimp at this stall are edible and you don't have to worry about making a mess with your hands! There are different size portions available and the boss will also sprinkle some chilli sauce or or the absolutely delicious Taiwanese style mixed salt/pepper concoction (胡椒鹽) to make it even more delicious!

5. BBQ Seafood (海鮮烤肉)

This particular vendor is a fun one to visit as its not your typical night market stall. It's more of a restaurant that has tables and seating along the side of the road. You just order the seafood you want and the chef will grill it up for you and serve it to your table. Vendors like this typically also have draft beer on tap and you can leisurely sit down with friends and have a big feed of fresh seafood while thousands of people walk past you. Stalls like this remind me of the Temple Street Night Market in Hong Kong where you take a seat along the road and order some really amazing HK-style crab dishes. Here in Taiwan though vendors like this specialize in Japanese-style grilling and the flavours of the seafood are more important than what was used to season it. Stalls like this can be a bit pricey but they are fun and the food is always really good!

Photowalking in Hsinchu

A photowalk is a networking event for photographers and people who enjoy photography to get out with their camera, meet some new people, learn some new techniques and take some cool photos at the same time. Photowalks are usually held by camera clubs and the people who show up tend to be a mixture of both professional and amateur alike which means that you get a nice mix of experience and skill sets during these events.

Photowalks also act a educational tool for photographers to learn about different areas of photography and are also a great way for people who spend way too much of their time in front of their computer messing around in photoshop to get out shooting and meeting new people. 

For myself, going on a photowalk tends to be more of a relaxing day with my camera where I worry less about the results and focus more on having fun and meeting new friends.

I've been part of a community of local photographers on Facebook for a while now and I've met some pretty good friends from the Photowalkers group. The group leader, Billy plans events every month or so in different locations and a group of us (Taiwanese and expats) will go out, take photos, chat and have dinner together when we're done. We also join up with the InstaMeet Taiwan group on certain occasions and have some fun critique sessions from time to time. 

Photowalkers

Most of the photowalks are held in Taipei or around New Taipei City, but this time our photowalk was planned by a fellow Canadian expat living in Hsinchu and it got all of the regulars outside of Taipei and into some new territory for some new experiences. Tyson, the organizer of the event planned the event well in advance and it generated quite a bit of interest (even showing up in the Taipei Times a few days before) and looked like it was going to be one of our biggest photowalks yet!

Hsinchu is one of my favourite cities in Taiwan and is actually closer to home than Taipei is - The city is a great one to visit and it has a lot of history visible on its streets in the downtown core. Tyson planned the event with a very detailed schedule of where we would visit and the route we would take. The route that was scheduled is pretty much the same route that I take almost every time I visit the city so I was more than happy to join up and show some of my photowalker friends around. I think he did a great job showcasing the city to the people who were probably experiencing it for the first time!

The photowalk ended up being one of the largest ones we've had and it was quite successful despite it being the hottest day so far this year. I had a great time, took some nice photos, had some good food and spent the day with friends. That's a pretty good day if you ask me! 

I'm going to split up some of the shots I took in a couple of different sections - but before I do, if you are in Taiwan and are at all interested in this kind of event, or just hanging out and meeting new friends - make sure to join the Photowalkers group on Facebook. The people in the group are all incredible, funny and easy to get along with

Street Photos

I've probably mentioned a hundred times on this blog how much I aspire to be a somewhat competent street photographer - Street photography isn't easy and you have to be in the moment a lot of the time with an eye that is skilled at catching things as well as having a pretty good imagination. Hsinchu is one of the best cities in Taiwan for street work and my plan for the day was actually just to get street shots. I came out with some pretty interesting shots and I was quite pleased with them. I particularly love the photo below of the seamstress sitting in her shop, wearing one of the dresses she made while one of her other dresses is on display in the window. To be a successful street photographer you have to be good at combining candid shots of people in their environment as well as something else to make the shot interesting and I think I got some good results that day!

Temple Festival Shots

Coincidentally the day of our photowalk was the same as a small temple event happening at the Hsinchu City God temple (城隍廟). The temple is the headquarters of all the City God temples in Taiwan and on the day we were having our photowalk, followers from another temple had come to to pay homage and seek a blessing from the City God. This type of event is common with Taoist temples in Taiwan and on that day there was a large procession that featured lion dances, firecrackers, music and the always cool-looking Eight Immortals (八家將). This is my kind of thing so I spent quite a bit of time taking shots of the event and got some pretty good shots of what was going on. I noted on Facebook a few days ago that we sometimes have these pre-conditioned attitudes towards people over here in Taiwan - when we see guys with dark skin filled with tattoos, chewing betel nut and smoking cigarettes we often assume that they might be dangerous, but in most cases, especially with these temple festivals the people are always kind and are more than willing to share their culture with you. The Eight Immortals are supposed to be somewhat scary-looking and imposing figures from the underworld carrying weapons used for torture, however the guys cracked a smile and waved at me as I was standing next to them taking their photo. 

That's it for today - I hope you like the shots. If you have any questions about photowalks, the group or the photos, comment below and I'll get back to you.


Xingang (新港) - Beigang (北港) Temples

Xingang (新港) - Beigang (北港) Lunar New Year Markets

The Lunar New Year is one of the most important times of the year for people in Taiwan - For students, it is the time when they have their month-long winter vacation (寒假) and for adults, the government mandates at least a week or more off of work to celebrate the holidays giving people a much needed break. 

This means that, like in other parts of Asia, there is a mass migration of sorts with people travelling from the place they work to their ancestral homes. It also means that highways, roads and tourist sites all over the country are jam-packed with travellers who use their time off from work and school to the best of their ability. 

I've been in Taiwan for over a decade now and it has become somewhat of a tradition of mine to use my free time to travel during the holidays. I travel to different places every year but the one constant through all the years is that I always make my way down to Xingang (新港) in Chiayi County (嘉義縣) and its neighbour Beigang (北港) in Yunlin County (雲林)

Historically, both Xingang, which translates as "New Port" and Beigang, "North Port" were important and existed as coastal staging areas during the Dutch occupation of the island. Later, Beigang became one of the most important ports in the 17th Century and brought a lot of prosperity to the area. 

Today, the two villages are most well-known for their famous temples which date back to the 1600s. The Beigang Chaotian Temple (北港朝天宮) is visited by more than a million people each year and the Xingang Fengtian Temple (新港奉天宮), which claims to be the first Mazu temple in Taiwan. Coincidentally these temples being as old as they are, as well off as they are and as close as they are had somewhat of an unhealthy rivalry that went on for decades. This rivalry only ended recently when the Mazu statue from Fengtian Temple visited the Chaotian Temple as a show of reconciliation. Oh, religion. 

Chaotian Temple (北港朝天宮) 

Chaotian Temple

The Chaotian Temple is around 300 years old and is pretty much THE most important Mazu Temple in Taiwan. The temple is important not because it is the biggest but due to the fact that it takes a leading role when it comes to Mazu worship in this country. The temple is therefore very popular and also very well off. During Lunar New Year the temple becomes extremely busy with people from all over Taiwan visiting to get the blessing of the "Heavenly Mother" (天上聖母) and a visit to this temple during the Lunar New Year holiday is a pretty awesome cultural experience! 

Fengtian Temple (新港奉天宮) 

Fengtian Temple awning with the market in front. 

Fengtian Temple (奉天宮) claims to the the first temple dedicated to the goddess Mazu in Taiwan and despite being built almost 400 years ago, it has met with destruction a few times due to earthquakes and other natural disasters. The current temple is almost a century old and is an extremely large and beautiful temple. Fengtian Temple serves as the last stop on the Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage (大甲媽祖遶境進香活動) and is typically a very busy temple during the rest of the year. A market is set up in front of the temple with several local restaurants and vendors selling local produce and foods from Chiayi. During the Lunar New Year both the market in front of the temple and the inside of the temple are quite busy with people who have travelled from all over Taiwan and looking to receive a blessing from the goddess Mazu, also known as the "Heavenly Mother" (天上聖母) who serves as somewhat of a patron saint for the people of Taiwan. 

My next post will be coming very quickly and will be about the massive Taiwan lantern festival (台灣燈會) that is being held here in Taoyuan this year. I've finally gotten back on track with work and have finished working on all the photos that I took over the long holiday! So expect me to be back on my normal schedule of posting a few blogs a week over the next few months.