In addition to playing with Soup, we spend a large portion of each day planning what we are going to eat.
We go to Wellcome for our basics, like toilet paper, cleaning supplies, beer and ice cream. However, we have discovered that traditional markets are much more fun. In addition to buying interesting fruits and vegetables we have the opportunity to use the Taiwanese dollar, and to try to communicate with our smattering of Mandarin.
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| The Taiwan New Dollar (TWD) system is very straight forward.: The coins from bottom to top are one dollar, 5 dollars, 10 dollars and 50 dollars. Next, move on to the paper money - 100, 500 and 1000. We don't have to worry about cents. One TWD equals $0.03 |
The traditional markets are scattered throughout the city. Vendors sell their goods starting early in the morning, and close up shop when they sell out. Some vendors have stalls that are part of a building, some have a spot with tables that they set up, some sell off the back of their scooters, and others put down a tarp with their selection of produce displayed on the ground. It appears very informal, but I'm pretty sure there is a system.
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| This vendor is always in the same spot, but everything is set up on milk cartons. |
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| The front carton has bamboo shoots, and right behind it is daikon radish. |
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| Right behind the vegetables is a shop selling clothing. |
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| The fish always looks very fresh, and it never smells. It makes me wonder about American grocery stores which often have a fishy smell in the fish department - and it's never good. |
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| Squid in the middle. Crab right behind it. |
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| I bought oranges, kiwi and dragon fruit. I tried to tell the vendor that I wanted dragon fruit with red meat, not the fruit with white meat. I wonder if I bought what I wanted? |
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| Oh yes! I got the red. It's juicy, and slippery. In texture it's similar to kiwi. |
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| Voila, fruit salad from the traditional market. |
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