Rueifeng Night Market (瑞豐夜市) with Stanley & Vicky

On Monday Amanda & I met with another Taiwanese couple for tea and a light lunch. Stanley & Vicky are another couple that contacted us for a language exchange after we posted an advertisement on tealit.com.

We arranged to meet Stanley & Vicky at an MRT Station where they would collect us. Stanley & Vicky arrived in a car and drove us a to cute little shop called “A Coffee Shop with Brokenhearted” or “Sad Cafe” (傷心咖啡店). Over tea, soup and dumplings, we discovered that Stanley had learned English mostly by watching HBO and movies, initially with Chinese subtitles but eventually without. This was truly amazing because Stanley’s spoken English is very good. Stanley owns and operates a restaurant that serves “Malaysian Hot Pot” and Vicky is a dance and Kung Fu instructor. We had a some really good food at the cafe and a great time with our new friends.

The following day, Tuesday, Amanda & I were asked by Stanley & Vicky if we would like to go to the Rueifeng Night Market (瑞豐夜市) a little ways north of our apartment. We very happily accepted and agreed to meet Stanley & Vicky by our building as they had offered to give us a ride to the night market. We were quite surprised when they arrived on two scooters! We had already contemplated that at some point it would be necessary to be a passenger on the back of a scooter in Taiwan but the first time is always the most nerve-wracking. We both had helmets and probably held on to Stanley and Vicky far too tightly as this was our first time on a scooter, but they were both excellent drivers and there really was no need for us to be so worried!

Rueifeng Night Market is fairly large and popular with young people. It also has a reputation as being less touristy than some other famous night markets in Kaohsiung such as Liuhe Night Market. The owner of Hostel Hamasen once told us that a night market must have three things in order for it to be good: food, clothes and games. Rueifeng certainly had plenty of all three!

Stanley & Vicky were very kind hosts and bought a variety of different foods for us to sample.

• We ate a type of fried pancake that was mixed with egg, green vegetables and a homemade ketchup (tomato sauce).
• Cubed roast beef with onions and cucumber in. The meat was succulent and in a very nice gravy.
• “QQ Balls” were yam that had been mixed with sugar and deep fried, a delicious and sweet snack.
• We also had chicken wings that were de-boned, stuffed with rice and seasoning, sealed, skewered on a stick like a corn dog, then deep fried. Very tasty indeed.
• Papaya Milk. Stanley aptly explained this to us as being... papaya plus milk!!  :)  

After wandering around the night market for a while, Vicky suggested we find a cafe where we could get a piece of cake and tea and sit down for a while. Amanda and I shared a piece of chocolate cake and an interesting sweet and salty iced green tea. On a side note, wherever you can buy tea in Taiwan you have the option of getting it iced or hot. If you do not specify then the standard is iced. While we sat for a while, Stanley told us about how Mandarin can be a very tricky language to learn because words can have so many different meaning depending on their tone or the context. He gave us the example that if you try to say to someone “I want fried rice” you may be surprised because you are actually saying to them “I want sex”. Fried rice and sex sound the same and so it is necessary to qualify you statement by saying “I want to eat fried rice” or better yet “I want to eat beef/pork/chicken fried rice”.

We had a lot of fun with Stanley & Vicky and both Amanda & I are very happy that we are now beginning to have a normal social life where we are seeing people on a regular basis. Everyone we have met in Taiwan has been so friendly and helpful. Stanley & Vicky are another excellent example of this. 


Rueifeng Night Market 

“While for the most part Liouhe Night Market belongs to tourists, Rueifeng Night Market belongs to Kaohsiung locals. In recent years, Rueifeng’s popularity has caught up with the well-known Liouhe Night Market. Many foods and drinks here have been reported in newspapers, magazines and even on TV programs. Don’t know what to eat? Just have a look at the media recommendations stuck on the sides of the stalls.

At Yucheng Road and Nanping Road, Zuoying District
18:30-01:00 Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday”

- Kaohsiung Travel Guide

Stanley's Malaysian Hot Pot Restaurant

Stanley & Amanda!

Fried batter pancake with egg, green vegetables and a homemade tomato sauce.

Amanda about to sample a "QQ Ball", yam and sugar deep fried.

Vicky & Stanley buying papaya milk.

Rueifeng Night Market is popular with the locals in Kaohsiung and has an large assortment of food, clothing and games.

Vicky!

Brett, Amanda and Vicky