There is nothing like an offer of something for nothing to attract a crowd. Today it was the opening of yet another water dispensing station. That brings the number to 5 in our immediate area. For something as simple as water you would think it quite difficult to differentiate your product over competitors. But as anyone in marketing knows, it can be done.
The local elementary school is a 3 minute walk from our place. It is a large school that caters for kids from year 1 to year 6 (6-12 year olds). Just twelve years ago the site was fields and fish ponds, but today it is a bustling place 16 hours a day.
The weather is cooling down now and with the season change comes a change in the menu. The duck pond farms that have been plumping up the ducks over summer and now being emptied to fill households and restaurants with the delicious flavour of ginger duck hot pot.
Since my first stay in Taiwan in 1989 I have returned every two to three years.
Upon return there is always a flood of sensations, a mix between the familiar and the foreign as you accustom yourself with your past experiences here and the long absence.
After a week or so the foreign becomes familiar again and you start to notice those things that have changed since your last visit. On one occasion it was the discovery of bubble tea, another was the arrival of scantly clad betel nut sellers. Sadly, another was the absence of those sellers as they were pushed out from Koahsiung county.
On this most recent return it took a while to notice any immediate change in the landscape. But there is one and it is quite insidious, it is the proliferation of the CCD security camera.
I could never understand why people would pay to go fishing in a man-made pond. A small pool of water with a mechanical aerator at one end will have half a dozen people holding a fishing rod waiting for a big catch. Though I have not waited around and watched for long, I have never seen anyone catch anything.
Well the other day curiosity got the better of me and I stopped by a shrimp pond to see what it is all about.
We wandered down to the Dong Gang fish markets on a Sunday recently. This is a wonderful place to see the huge variety of fish and sea animals eaten in Taiwan. I have often said that the 10 best dinners I’ve ever had were here in Taiwan. And these would all have been seafood. For some reason, the Taiwanese just know how to prepare seafood.
There is a seafood restaurant we frequent in Dong Gang that does seafood particularly well. Here is a picture of the remnants of one such meal. Miso fish soup, sashimi, fried squid, chili vegetable seashells. All followed by fruit and toffee taro to make it an authentic Taiwan meal.
