Taiwan Night life
"不好意思，請問我可不可以拍你的照片啊 [excuse me, can I take your picture?]" I asked the old lady running the Bing Lang shop.
“哎呀， 我今天沒有化妝。 讓我把口罩戴了。[Ai ya (a generic expression of surprise in Chinese). I didn't put on make up. Let me get my mask on]"
The lady quickly puts on her mask, then fixes her hair, then proceeds to give me the "OK" sign to take her photo....
Whenever I come back to Taiwan, I always take an evening to walk around the alleys to watch the nightlife. In some respects, Taiwan is a volatile mix of Japan and China. People have Japan politeness, but they aren't afraid to drop that to get "in your face" at a moment's notice if they feel there's a problem.
A lot of the older generation also have the really cool American custom of just randomly talking about anything to a complete stranger.
“你是哪裡的人啊 [where are you from]?" asked the old lady.
“我是台灣人啊! [I'm from Taiwan!]" I replied angrily.
"你不可能是台灣人。 台灣人的中文不會這麼爛!! [You can't be Taiwanese, a Taiwanese's Chinese wouldn't be THIS AWFUL]" she shouted back at me. She then started laughing at me.
Oh I forgot to mention, they also have the American sarcasm, which does not exist in Japan....
Taiwan nightlight is pretty much a microcosm... it's its own world. Here you can pretty much find anything ... both good and bad....
Just as I'm about to take her photo, she tells me to stop.
"你晚一點回來拍照！我先準備一下。 [Come back later and take my photo! I need to get ready for it!]" she shouted at me.So with that I started to do some exploring ...
Ling sheng Bei Road (林生北路). Colloquially known as Liu Tiao Tong. (六條通). A collection of Japanese style Cabaret (キャバクラ) bars where girls are paid to drink and sing Kareoke with salarymen. Notice a couple of the signs are in Japanese on the right.
A Taiwanese BBQ Kart. You pick the stuff you want to eat, give it to the guy/girl and then he/she grills it for you. Unfortunately, I have NEVER seen one of these people speak English, but you should be able to figure this one out using hand gestures.
A very local Taiwanese restaurant. Here most of the food is prepared outside, you pick order what you want with an ordering menu. As you might expect there's absolutely no English here, make sure to being a translate utility. The price is cheap, the portions are large, and the food is usually delicious!
Taiwan ordering menus. You write what you want (and the quantity) in the left boxes. The one here is for breakfast.
Lunch/Dinner menu. Here you write the amounts of what you want on the right.
A group of salarymen enjoy a late night meal on a Friday night. And my guess is that they will hit the Cabaret bars afterwards...
Once you order your food, you sit in a pretty unassuming grunge-y table, usually on a plastic stool, and enjoy a kickass meal.
As Anthony Bourdain once said in Vietnam... "fellow travelers ... this is what you need.."
Taiwan convenience shop (Family Mart 全家便利店). Pretty much EVERYTHING bad for you can be found here.
As I was walking back to take the photo of the old lady, I passed some singers raising money for an orphanage. This is pretty unusual, even by Taiwan standards. But cool nonetheless!
I walk back to the old lady. By now, she's put on make-up and fixed up her hair. My guess is that no one has asked to take her picture for a LONG time...
“我好看嗎？ [Do I look good?]", she asked me.
"你是美女！ [You're beautiful!]" I replied.
She smiles at me. I see a figure peer over from the other side of the counter. The other lady looks at me shyly.
"你可以拍我和我姐姐嗎？ [Can you take a photo of me and my sister?]" asked the first lady.
"當然啊 [Of course!]" I replied.
I take both their pictures, and then send to them over LINE, the chat app that's used throughout Taiwan and Japan. Both ladies look at it for a LONG time....
“你喜歡嗎? [Do you like it?]” I asked.
“好看！ 謝謝！ [It looks good! Thanks!]” the lady replies back.
“沒問題。。。[no problem!]” I said back...
“但是你中文還是好爛！！！ [But your Chinese still sucks!!]” she said with a smile....
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