Today I finally made my grand arrival into Taipei City. Lucky for me I had some good guides to get me to the places to see (thanks to Aaron, Rika and all the others). We started our grand tour of the city by walking to a pretty good vegetarian restraunt. It's amazing how good veggies can taste when they are prepared by someone who knows how to cook them. We also had some kind of tea that is made from leaves of some kind of tree that is found only in southern China. I forget the name of it, but its very similar in taste to tea made out of mushrooms (or so I was told).
After that, we all made our way to the Banqiao Night Market Area. We stopped for a tour of Longshan Temple, where Michael was kind enough to give me an immersion experience on how worshippers go through a ceremony. It was a bit foreign to me, but definitly was a learning experience.
After leaving Longshan, we headed for the Night Market - a.k.a. The Snake Market. Seriously, if you EVER have a desire to eat foods that might be taboo or found only in certain parts of the world, THIS is the place to come. Everything you can imagine is here. From duck heads to chicken feet to fresh snake (but I'll get into that in a minute).
The night market also is pretty much like a Wal-Mart for those of you still in the states. Most anything can be found here. I bought myself a nice hat, some curtains for my apartment - so I can walk around naked and not have to worry about peeping toms ;) - a speghetti pot and a lot of different types of foods... ...one of those being - SNAKE. Yes, I actually ate snake tonight. Not only that, FRESH snake. This thing was literally killed right in front of us. They chopped him up, put him into water, cooked him, and served it as soup. They also gave us complimentary snake venom and blood to drink. Just so you know, we didn't drink the blood, but me and Aaron took care of the venom...well, he kind of sniffed it...
Also, the snake blood and venom is HEAVILY dilluted. It's like 98% of something - smelled like vodka, but who knows - and maybe 2% blood or venom. So any kind of poison has been neutralized by the time it gets to my pallete. Tonight I also had pure cane sugar juice, potato balls, sushi, rice wrapped in tofu, coffee jello thingy...honestly I had a lot of different things that I can't quite remember them all. Anyhow, I think tonight was very exciting...although I don't think I will be trying snake again anytime soon. And yes, it tasted like chicken (turkey actually) and it is so bony that it's actually very difficult to eat. If it wasn't that hard to eat, I probably would try eating it again. But as a short side not, last night I tried to order duck at the local night market...being I don't speak Chineese, I figured the best way to order was to look the guy in his eyes and say: "Quack". I think he got a kick out of it, because he proceeded to make me an amazing dish of duck........and squid...and octopus...and liver of some sort...and 2 other mystery meats. I thought it would be a good idea. Maybe it was...but only if I was a big fan of seafood :/ Anyhow, I think that's it. Until next time...
After that, we all made our way to the Banqiao Night Market Area. We stopped for a tour of Longshan Temple, where Michael was kind enough to give me an immersion experience on how worshippers go through a ceremony. It was a bit foreign to me, but definitly was a learning experience. 
After leaving Longshan, we headed for the Night Market - a.k.a. The Snake Market. Seriously, if you EVER have a desire to eat foods that might be taboo or found only in certain parts of the world, THIS is the place to come. Everything you can imagine is here. From duck heads to chicken feet to fresh snake (but I'll get into that in a minute). 
The night market also is pretty much like a Wal-Mart for those of you still in the states. Most anything can be found here. I bought myself a nice hat, some curtains for my apartment - so I can walk around naked and not have to worry about peeping toms ;) - a speghetti pot and a lot of different types of foods... ...one of those being - SNAKE. Yes, I actually ate snake tonight. Not only that, FRESH snake. This thing was literally killed right in front of us. They chopped him up, put him into water, cooked him, and served it as soup. They also gave us complimentary snake venom and blood to drink. Just so you know, we didn't drink the blood, but me and Aaron took care of the venom...well, he kind of sniffed it... 
Also, the snake blood and venom is HEAVILY dilluted. It's like 98% of something - smelled like vodka, but who knows - and maybe 2% blood or venom. So any kind of poison has been neutralized by the time it gets to my pallete. Tonight I also had pure cane sugar juice, potato balls, sushi, rice wrapped in tofu, coffee jello thingy...honestly I had a lot of different things that I can't quite remember them all. Anyhow, I think tonight was very exciting...although I don't think I will be trying snake again anytime soon. And yes, it tasted like chicken (turkey actually) and it is so bony that it's actually very difficult to eat. If it wasn't that hard to eat, I probably would try eating it again. But as a short side not, last night I tried to order duck at the local night market...being I don't speak Chineese, I figured the best way to order was to look the guy in his eyes and say: "Quack". I think he got a kick out of it, because he proceeded to make me an amazing dish of duck........and squid...and octopus...and liver of some sort...and 2 other mystery meats. I thought it would be a good idea. Maybe it was...but only if I was a big fan of seafood :/ Anyhow, I think that's it. Until next time...
3 comments:
That was a hell of a smack to kill the snake!!! Nice job trying out everything...quack. How long did it take to get into Teipei?
It's about a 25 minute bus ride into the center of Taipei from where my apartment is, so not too bad. I think next on my list to try is turtle, chicken feet and duck head!
Not bad at all! Have some legit turtle soup and some gamecock feet! haha Hopefully it's good...
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