Keelung - Night Market

I got here. A sensation of people and especially food - in this bustling part of Taiwan.

An army marches on its stomach. - Napoleon “the Corsican” Bonaparte

I finally got here. Keelung Night Market or also known as Miaochu. I’m here traveling and marchin on my own stomach, through hook, crook or rain. I’m a fighter, can’t keep a good traveler down.

Night markets in Taiwan are food extravaganzas, stalls of street food that typically grew outside the Buddhist temples in cities. The one in the grimy, bustling port city of Keelung, at the northern tip of “the beautiful island” Formosa is famous and I had to get here.

Anthony Bourdain came and ate his way through this night market - “vine, cinavi, vici” - I came, I ate, I conquered. So too did I. However, I didn’t stay at the W Hotel like Anthony, having fancy $20 drinks before hitting the market. No. my road was traveled a little differently.

I landed here late last night, in the pouring rain. Keelung is known as the rainy city, it rains here constantly, 200 days a year. My hotel, the aptly named “The Drizzle” didn’t somehow have head nor tail of my reservation. AND they were full AND it was 1 am in the morning and like I said, I was as wet as all the rats I saw running, swimming along the streets. I showed my confirmation number but to no avail.

They say traveling is an adventure and that’s true. So I just rolled with the punches. I found a hotel - the worst hotel in the world. It’s true! I’ve stayed in some hovels but the Gwodoo Hotel wins hands down. I really wouldn’t know where to start, you don’t get wifi, you don’t get towels, the bed is basically a slab of wood, everything is from 60 years ago and moulding, torn.

I got there and a sign said to knock on room 201. I did and was invited in to a room full of junk and in one corner, the head lady sat with tubes coming out of her on a hospital bed, a series of TVs in front of her. Her “nurse” I guess … translated my request and took my passport photocopy and then my money. Gave it to the old lady who then passed me a ziplock bag with a remote, an air con controller and a room key. I paid $50 bucks, they should have paid me!

I didn’t get much sleep, 2 guys voices were right next to me, I heard them clear as day. Plus, kind of creeped out. When I turned off the dim light, the eyes of cockroaches appeared everywhere.

Oh well, travel is an adventure. I urge everyone to go to this hotel, just for one night, and live to tell the story of the worst hotel in the world. Here is what one guy wrote in one of the reviews.

This place was so good that even cockroaches, mosquitoes, and fleas came here! One star is too much for a place like this. When I came to rest, I was taken directly to the restricted area on the 6th floor, which is not allowed to tourists. As soon as I walked into the room, spider webs hit my face. All the furniture that could be moldy was moldy. It probably hasn't been tidied up in hundreds of years. The ruins, the bed was covered with dust, and I didn’t dare to sit on the bed, let alone the toilet... It’s really worse to be charged 500 yuan for a 2-hour break than to throw the money directly into the trash can...This piece of junk is really not suitable to continue to exist in Keelung. It will bring shame to the people of Keelung... pitiful

Just think of the money they would make if they marketed this as the worst hotel in the world. I think that would work. In any event, I highly recommend the suffering so you’ll have a story to tell. Go visit, find out for yourself!

I got up next morning and was out of there. I the local “Louisa’s” - the local version of Starbucks, I searched online, and then also visited some other hotels including again “the Drizzle”. Everything, everyone, full. Saturday night is big here.

I didn’t know what to do. It was still raining cats and dogs and I’d caught a cold. One of the pitfalls of travel, encountering new micro-organisms. So, I said, to hell with Keelung and my dream of following in Anthony Bourdain’s footsteps. I started walking to the train station to get the hell out of this rainy Asian Dodge. However, travel is what happens when you’ve made other plans.

I saw a sign down an alley, HOTEL. I thought, what the hell, one last try. It looked good! And low and behold, they had a room, just footsteps from the Keelung Night Market. Yes, it cost a pretty penny, it was 5 star. But I was dead rat wet with a terrible cold.

The Ambassador Hotel Keelung

So here I am in my beautiful room, complimentary bathrobe on, just back from the sauna after a lunch visit to the Night Market. Pondering how just yesterday I felt ruined. And now this … even got a foot warming machine and complimentary English newspaper - the Taipei Times. That’s life for you.

So back to the original idea for this piece - the Miaochu Night Market. It’s crazy good and I’m going back for a night session and to see all the lanterns lit up. This guy has a wonderful tour write up but I’ll give you a few highlights.

1. As you enter, get the crab soup! Heaven! Best soup I’ve had since I don’t remember. 2 bucks of tasty everything in it. A great starter. Tonight I will try the crab rice, looks like a Taiwanese version of risotto.

   

2. Next, I had to do as Anthony, go for the Gao Bao. A piece of bread stuffed with delicious stewed pork and peanut. OMG.

   

3. I stopped off and took in the temple along the way. Paid my respects to the food gods. Smiling Buddha always gave me the impression he loved his food.

   

4. Lastly, I joined a long line with a ticket for a local specialty - “Nutrious sandwich”. Deep fried bread stuffed with stuff including tons of cucumber slices. Brought it back to the hotel for round 2.

   

5. I visited the fish market, on the other side of the hotel. 2 floors of everything, even has an escalator!

   

Keelung is dated but beautiful. A grimy port city filled with crowds of people and buildings, alleys all dumped on each other. It was a nice change to the polished, professional, clean Taipei. I’ll take in the harbor and do one more round of food letting and then report back.

Tomorrow it is on the train for a 3 hour ride to the Pacific Coast. I’ll spend 4 days there in Hualien, exploring that part of Taiwan. And yes, I’ve booked and confirmed a VERY NICE hotel.

Day 10 of my romping adventure through Taiwan. 5 more days to go and I can pick up my visa and then it’s back home.