Taipei’s striking first impression as a plane descends over the city is that there are no people. Despite having one of the highest population densities anywhere in the world, there are only buildings, buses, scooters, and umbrellas. The streets are a brilliant mosaic of red, yellow, pink with lace trim, polka-dots, and Snoopy. This air view is not just because Taipei has one of the highest rainfalls anywhere in the world (it was built on a swamp), but because if the sun dares to show its face, the umbrellas go up in terrified protest. During these rare moments of sunshine, the whitening cream companies start offering their staff generous bonuses. Taiwanese culture is obsessed with the preservation of whiteness – the shelves of Watsons are lined with whitening creams, skin bleaching products, and the more frightening acid peels. Of course any western person knows real white people are constantly trying not to be white, with their range of tanning creams, spray-on tans, and ‘space-age’ tanning toasters. The Taiwanese fear of red marks, blotches, and imperfections however, is only for the skin. The city’s second arresting impression is that Taiwan must be full of murderous gangs, who leave the blood stains of their victims all over the roads - a warning for those planning to challenge their posses. A little re-education reveals that the stains are actually giant globs of betel-nut juice and saliva. Betel-nut (know locally as bin lang) is a stimulant used mostly by Taiwanese labourers and truckies – chewing the seeds produces a copious red liquid which is then spat onto every street corner. Betel-nut can be deceptive though, even to the trained eye. One seasoned foreigner fell asleep on his scooter one day, only to have his reverie broken by the force of a head-on collision. When he opened his sleepy eyes, he saw a man contorted on the ground - legs twisted into grotesque positions, and soaked in blood. His first impression was that he had finally killed another person. A second take made him realise he had hit a disabled rider, who from the impact, had spat betel-nut all down the front of his shirt!
Reminiscing about my first days in Taipei, I recall dreamily wandering the streets of my new Asian neighbourhood, where I made two important discoveries. The first was that I lived on a highway corner joining Fridge Repair Road to Restaurant Outfitters Road; and the second was that I couldn’t find anything to eat, despite this city being one of Asia’s great cosmopolitan food centres. For my first month I lived on eggs – chicken eggs, duck eggs, bird eggs, green eggs, preserved eggs, hot-spring eggs, egg pancakes, fried egg rice, and egg noodles. I ate so many eggs I began to have nightmares about living alone inside a giant egg, where I birthed eggs that multiplied into more and more baby eggs. Then I stopped! I began to look for other options, and discovered the scrumptious delights of Taipei’s night markets. Delicious dumplings and steamed buns, wild pork and lotus flowers, salty pepper beans, bamboo rice with wild mushrooms - and an array of delectable fruits … rambutans, star-fruits, wax-apples, pink guavas, juicy mangoes, and green papayas with passion-fruit. To the very end, Taipei will be its FIRST AND SECOND IMPRESSIONS - its wonderful night markets, packed full of colourful umbrellas, eggs, and betel-nut blood stains!
.heping dumpling spot
