One of the most popular tourist attractions in Taipei is the Shilin night market. This market has hundreds of stands, selling goods ranging from clothes to electronics to greasy street food. The streets are narrow, crowded, and smell absolutely amazing.

The first food stand we visited served Dachang Bao Xiaochang which is a small pork sausage coated in sauce stuffed into a larger rice sausage. The skins of the sausages were perfectly crispy, and the sauce was neither overpowering nor weak. Next, we ate at the famous Hot Star Fried Chicken stand, which sells chicken cutlets larger than a dinner plate. They are spicy and perfectly fried. Our Taiwanese guides bought us some Chou Dofu (stinky tofu) to try and, although it smelled fairly offensive, it didn't taste very bad. My favorite snack of the night was Zhuxie Gao (pigs blood cake), a bar of congealed pigs blood and rice dipped in peanut flour. It was savory, slightly sweet, nutty and the textures were incredible. Taipei's night markets are the place to go if you want good, cheap street food.

The night markets have an important cultural and historic significance to Taiwan. The two primary factors leading to the birth of night markets were heat and the need to work a second job. Because Taiwan is extremely hot and humid in the summer, people do not want to stand outside cooking in front of hot oil during the day. The cooler night-time temperatures, therefore, are perfect for the night markets. Also, because many people working at the night markets have a second job during the day, they are unable to start preparing food to sell until night time. The Shilin market was started near a former wharf on the Keelung River. People would sell produce near the wharf and later began to set up food stands in the area. Thus, the Shilin market was born.

Tomorrow is New Year's eve, which means we will be heading to Taipei 101 to watch the fireworks and New Year's celebrations. Taipei is considered to be one of the best countries in the world to celebrate New Year's, and I am excited to see how it compares to New Year's in America. We are planning to meet up with our Taiwanese guides before the big show to eat Huoguo (hot pot). Tomorrow is also our first day of classes at Tamkang University and I am really looking forward to learning and practicing my Chinese.