Visiting & Eating in Kaohsiung, Taiwan: Not-to-missed local night markets, exotic local food, Taiwanese weddings & local massage.
We’re back in the U.S. after spending 8 days in Taiwan and feeling a bit exhausted. We are used to traveling abroad but it does require more energy and dealing with jet lag (kids waking up at 3 am) is a whole other story. However, we had a great trip overall and we already miss Taiwan and our family very much.
This is vol. 2 of our Taiwan Trip 2014. If you missed vol. 1, here’s the link to the post. First, let’s continue talking about food in Taiwan! Some of these pictures were shared on my Instagram.
Food in Taiwan
When we’re in Taiwan, we usually eat out most of our meals as Mr. JOC’s parents run a hospital and they are very busy all day. We like to try out new places every time we visit Taiwan but we also go back to our favorites. The Han-Hsien Heping Restaurant is our local favorite dim sum place. Parking garage is next building and it’s easy to take out Mr. JOC’s grandma for lunch there as she’s now having trouble walking. The dim sum served there is very authentic and sometimes they have special dishes they offer. This time they even had Strawberry Daifuku (Japanese dessert)on seasonal dessert menu, which was really tempting. My favorite pick of the day was the kabocha shaped mochi with taro inside. Absolutely adorable!
When you’re in Taiwan, don’t miss an opportunity to try Stinky Tofu (臭豆腐). When I first tried it for the first time 9 years ago from a street vendor at a night market, I had to say it was a challenging experience. I could eat it, but it was definitely not something that I look forward to eating. A lot of readers ask me how stinky it is and how it tastes, so let me put it this way… It feels like you’re eating deep-fried tofu in the middle of farm where there are bunch of cows and horses. You’re basically smelling very earthy, grassy, stinky odor while eating tofu. Besides the smell of tofu, it tastes great. I wish it has more pleasant odor so more people are willing to try, but this is definitely an acquired taste. After 9 years of being married to a Taiwanese person, I now can appreciate more about stinky tofu than before. Especially King of Stinky Tofu (江豪記臭臭豆腐王) makes a really good one, and it is one of my must go stops when I visit.
Compared to last year, my son is more into a variety of Taiwanese food. Zongzi (glutinous rice stuffed with pork, egg, chestnuts, peanuts, mushrooms etc, middle right picture) became his favorite during the trip. He had it several times at different stores, and his favorite so far is Liu Chia Zongzi (劉家粽子).
I’m still hesitant to try some food in Taiwan such as pig hearts (bottom right picture). I keep telling myself that I’d try one day… The Chinese Black Chicken Herbal Soup was served at both weddings. Black color chicken (black all the way to the bone) may look a bit scary to you, but this chicken called “Silkie Chicken” actually looks fuzzy and friendly. Have you tried it before? Abalone are also commonly served as one of the course at weddings.
Taiwan Night Market
If you visit Taiwan, spend one night in the local night markets. A lot of people are out hanging out and dining with friends and family. There are so many varieties of food available in night markets, including giant squid legs, snake meat, grilled Thai shrimp, Turkish ice cream, and the list goes on and on. Night markets remind me of Japanese summer festival with all the street vendors selling food and random things (toys, clothes, jewelries, etc), but Taiwanese night market happens every night, all year around! I don’t like oysters but Taiwanese Oyster Pancakes are one of my favorite food to eat from night market and we must have fresh Papaya Milk! SO good!
Japanese Food in Taiwan
As a Japanese person, Taiwan is very easy place to live because there are Japanese foods pretty much everywhere. These days there are many Japanese chain restaurants such as Mister Donut, Ootoya (大戸屋), MOS Burger, Tonkatsu Shinjuku Saboten, and many bakeries that serve Japanese style (European style) bread and pastries. We alternate our meals between Chinese and Japanese while we visit, depending what our children are craving at the moment.
Weddings in Taiwan
Mr. JOC’s brother’s weddings were very nice. I said “weddings” in plural because in Taiwanese culture it’s common to have two weddings – groom’s side family hosts one, and bride’s side family hosts one the day after. We had two weddings back to back in different cities so our last weekend became very hectic. I was going to document what Taiwanese wedding is like, but I became occupied with preparing traditional ceremony at home and leading the flower boy and flower girl (yes, there is no ring bearer), so I failed on even taking pictures on my iPhone. There were close to 500 guests for groom-side wedding and a lot of the guests remembered our wedding 9 years ago as I greeted them. After greeting the most of the guests at their tables during the wedding, we ended up missing about half of the meal (therefore no photos…sorry!).
Sheraton in Hsinchu
Hsinchu ( 新竹) was the location of the bride’s side wedding. It was my first time stopping by this city which is commonly known as Silicon Valley of Taiwan. The city feels really new – with a lot of brand new high-rise condos and apartments everywhere, I rarely saw old parts of Hsinchu during my short stay. We stayed in Sheraton where the wedding was located. It was relatively new and the kids especially loved the shallow swimming pool next to the regular size swimming pool. The best part is the pools are indoor and heated! I wanted to eat Taiwanese breakfast for one last time before going back to the States, but McDonald’s and Starbucks were the closest restaurants so we had breakfast at Starbucks instead. Our flight home was the same day as the wedding, so everything was pretty chaotic.
What We’ve Been Doing in Kaohsiung
Well, not much, to tell you the truth. To avoid the kids waking up way too early due to jet lag, we put them sleep around 9 to 10 pm every night. We definitely took advantage of our free baby sitter (my parents-in-law) and enjoyed watching The Wolf of Wall Street at the theater and visited our local massage place (左腳右腳經典泡腳會館) for 1 hour body massage twice within a week! I’ve been going to the same person (#7) for the past 9 years and I definitely recommend him if you happen to be at this location! He has magical hands that rejuvenates your body and mind (but oh so painful!! Just focus on after the massage…).
Thank you so much for reading my Taiwan Trip 2014 posts! I hope you enjoy photos from Taiwan. If you’re interested in more photos, check out my Taiwan Trip 2012 post as well. We look forward to visiting Taiwan later this year again!
There’s nothing like Street food and the night scene! Being from Hong Kong, I have had stinky tofu but not in years and years. : ) Everything looks beyond delicious…the weddings must have been wonderful! I’m sure it was such a great trip but you guys must be exhausted! : )
You now convinced me, I will be having a side trip there when I visit Philippines soon 🙂
What a great trip! I’m bookmarking this for our next trip back to Asia. Such wonderful photos of food and family. I’m intrigued by the stinky tofu and will look for it next trip. Thanks for sharing. Rest and shake off the jet lag for now, Nami!
next time please allow me to hide in your suitcase ..great family picture there 🙂
So much fun! The hotel is really splendid.
Cheers,
Rosa
Hi Nami,
You have such a beautiful family! I love weddings and loved and enjoyed all the photos you shared. I think a trip to Taiwan is definitely on the list of places to visit!
Welcome back home!
I am so glad that you had a great time with your in-laws in Taiwan, Nami! Taiwanese food reminds me Chinese in many ways. I saw the assorted Japanese donuts and simply want to take a bite of each from here… LOL I bet they are less sweet than the American ones, aren’t they?
Nami-san, You have such a beautiful family and I love the picture of all 4 of you together. I am sure that your trip felt like a whirl wind. However, I must admit that you guys did a great job of sampling all of the local favourites. I think I would pass on the sticky tofu too. Many of the food dishes are similar here in Hong Kong. I hope your jet lag resolves soon. Take care, BAM
I’m glad the holiday went well. I can’t believe there has to be two weddings and so many people! It must be exhausting for both the bride and groom and their guests. I love the family images – gorgeous xx
You make me SO incredibly jealous. I have never visited Taiwan and I`m still hoping I can visit the country soon! I love Taiwanese food! And, your family is just adorable!!
Thank you for sharing so beautiful pictures!
I really love the family photos !so lovely …here in Tunisia too, we have 2 diferent weddings the husband with men guests,and the bride with women guests during at least one week, every day is a particular day…hihi to long to explain.Anyway,the last day,the bride takes her place in th husbands house .I also love the city s photos and the delicious lates, it remember me a little when i was alittle girl and walked in the Singaores streets in the night.
is it your husbad and your children?T*You re fantastic together !
Have a nice day!
P.S I m not so present in your nlog, my computer i broken!
Hi Helena! Thank you so much for sharing the weddings in Tunisia! It’s fun to learn different weddings in the world. Yeah they are my husband and kids. 🙂
You’re all so cute! Wouldn’t it be funny if my daughter-in-law’s brother worked in your in-laws hospital as a doctor. 🙂 Small world?
I love your holiday snaps and memories. Such a lovely insight into a part of the world I’m dying to visit.
Thank you so much for sharing your trip! Loved reading it and the family photos are so cute. I can’t imagine two weddings back to back; the stress, the expenses…but twice the fun maybe?
Hi Julie! Both weddings were hosted by each parents, so bride and groom didn’t do much. And parents have to prepare for just one wedding in a way. For my own wedding, we kind of like just showed up. Everything was planned by my mother in law. 🙂 We coordinated some stuff a several days before and that’s about it. 🙂 Wedding is kind of like a mother’s show! 🙂
Namiko-san ~ a lot of wonderful photos but I believe most in those truly important: those of your family! Just great for both of the ceremonies!! Both your son and daughter look 100% or more happy and decades later you will be looking and smiling at those pictures. So happy this was such a wonderful family occasion for all of you!!
Thank you Eha! I take too many pictures of my kids that they started to smile really awkward and now I can’t fix. LOL. They had so much fun in Taiwan and we all miss being in Asia… till Japan in a few months. Thank you for reading my posts! xo 🙂
The stinky tofu sounds kinda interesting. I’m not sure I’m up for it, but it’s be an experience! Great pictures, and such a wonderful writeup of your visit. I definitely need to visit Taiwan sometime. Thanks for sharing your trip with us!