Night Market

Night markets (夜市) are like festivals in Taiwan. Except they happen every night. Amid the fun-filled activities and excellent food provided by the Taiwanese American Student Association, TASA’s annual night market had lots of entertaining performances.

From Jester, I could already hear the rhythmic beating of the lion dance drum. Lion dances are always fun to watch because of the acrobatics of the performers and the excitement in the atmosphere.

There were various game booths; the one I was most interested in was the one with the ping pong balls. There were ten red cups with water arranged in a triangle at the end of the table, and the point was to sink three ping pong balls into the cups… Very curious game. I want to say it was like Skee-ball but with throwing. It captivated me for a couple rounds. Other tables had various carnival fair-like games, jumbo tic tac toe with bouncy balls, catching fish, the classic pick up marbles with chopsticks, and many many others. There was also a balloon stomping “range,” where five or six people would tie balloons to their ankles and try to blow up the other players’ balloons. Lots of fun! Then the food came and everyone lined up for food. Everyone. The cool night air made it comfortable outside so the behemoth of a line wasn’t too unbearable. But the best part were the tea-brewed eggs. My dad always made them by the potful back home. They’re hard-boiled eggs, but before they are fully cooked, you crack the entire shell. Then, with the shell still on, you brew them in hot water with tea leaves. So you get a hard-boiled egg packed with lots of flavor.

The food was great, so were the performances. My favorite of the entire night was Khoi Dang singing “Fall For You” with guitar. The cool air, great food, lots of friends, and the music made it an enjoyable night. I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.