The Raohe Night Market

 Today was supposed to be "Spa" day.  Some of us wanted facials - so we wandered up and down streets trying to find one that did facials.  The one or two who did do facials, the kids announced were too expensive.  By the time we figured out that getting a facial in Taiwan was "not a thing", we were exhausted and hungry.  So the decision was made to go back to our apartment eat a little and then rest before heading out to the night market where we would find many fine things to try.

The unfortunate thing was that about an hour before we planned to leave - it started to rain - or I should say - it poured.  When it seemed to be lightening some, we grabbed our umbrellas and headed towards the metro.  We needed some smaller bills - the atm's seem to only spit out large bills.  We stopped at a shop in the underground mall (same location as the metro station) and bought a soda just to get smaller bills.  

When we emerged at our stop and popped above ground, we were dismayed to see that it was raining hard again.  We were right in front of the Longshan Temple with the Raohe Night Market next door.  This is a normal Taipei street with shops along either side.  Most all of them were open.  There is a covered area coming out from the stores where there were other shops and restaurants - then the street in the middle - with more small food vending kiosks.  We discovered you could walk under the covered area between the shops and the restaurants and stay dry.  The poor vendors in the middle of the street looked abandoned.

I took photos from the safety of the covered area.  It is pouring rain!

Jojo staying dry under her umbrella!

One of the mid-level shops.  The permanent shops are behind this shop.  Need to get your face waxed anyone?

A women seller of Tanghulu arranging her wears.  These are fruit covered in a sugar coating and served on a skewer. 

It is hard to see - but these are claw booths.  I always think of them being for children and teens.  Most of them have stuffed toys and similar items.  But here in Taiwan they can hold anything - from kitchen items to high end cosmetics!

Another game you can play to win something.  Not sure how you play as we were trying to find something to eat at this point - and no one else wanted to stick around.

When the rain let up - people emerged to buy from the street vendors.

Cooking with propane torches.

A seller of wine sausages.

Not sure what was sold here - but it must be sour!

Corn on the cob and chestnuts.

Lots of delicacies - even chicken feet.

We finally found enough food to satiate us all and are back at the entrance.

You would think they were Chinese!

One last shot of the Longshan Temple entrance.

I read a blog of a photographer's lament about taking photo in Taipei - all of his photos had motorcycles in them!  It is hard to avoid them.  I think the two cycles in the photo above add to the composition of the picture.  But a whole row or two of them in front of the temple would not have worked.