Longshan Temple (龍山寺) in Taipei's Wanhua District (萬華區) is an important center of Taiwan's religious culture. It also represents an unsanitized version of Taiwanese social life that is a million miles from the high-tech success stories and political wrangling that dominate international media coverage of Taiwan. The temple’s immediate environs are home to several night markets that are popular with both domestic and international tourists because, despite the best efforts of the government, they remain obdurate in the face of political correctness and the higher aspirations of urban conformity.
If you arrive via the MRT system, this recalcitrance is on show at the transcendentally uninspired Longshan Temple Underground Mall (龍山寺地下街), an utterly failed attempt to corral the district’s disorderly life into some sort of ordered and easily administered shopping arcade. It is revealing of the gulf in understanding between the city’s government and its people that several large commercial spaces have been converted into warrens of alleys holding as many as 10 businesses dealing in divination, traditional beauty treatment and massage. Much of the more than 4,000m2 of floor space remains unoccupied, lending the mall a rather derelict atmosphere.
Visitors should probably get out of this underground mausoleum of unrealized city government dreams and hit street level as quickly as possible. Once you’re in the sluggish flow of people jamming the Guangzhou Street Night Market (廣州街夜市), which is only a short step from many of the MRT exits, you’re likely to simply get carried along and, before you realize it, have explored the Huaxi Street Tourist Night Market (華西街觀光夜市) and nearby Wuzhou Street Night Market (梧州街夜市).
The Guangzhou Street Night Market sets the tone. It pulls big crowds throughout the week, many of whom are there to gorge on street food. Others are lured by the neighborhood’s darker associations; Guangzhou and Huaxi streets used to be the center of a flourishing red-light district. This has been cleaned up courtesy of the city government, but it is oddly cheering to see pirated Japanese pornography and oversized latex dildos being sold openly, albeit in the darker corners of the market.
The diseased orangutans that used to be chained here for the cameras of the curious are gone, and the public execution of snakes — which were once slit open and skinned alive before gawking audiences as salesmen hawked snake gall and turtle blood cocktails — is now much more low-profile. But the Huaxi Street night market still has many snake produce shops, even if “No Camera” signs hang conspicuously over the storefronts.
The Huaxi Street night market is also known for its luxury seafood restaurants, most notably Tainan Tan-Tsu-Mien (台南擔仔麵), which has operated since the late 1950s. This and similar establishments provide an excellent dining experience, but don’t expect night market prices. Excellent Japanese food is also available.
There is plenty of good traditional snack food on Huaxi Street, but for a real taste from the streets, walk a few hundred meters along Guangzhou Street to the Wuzhou Street Night Market, where foodies can push the envelope of what they can swallow. Bits of pig you don’t normally see outside an abattoir are there, stewed to perfection, served in highly flavored sauces and ready to be washed down by a Taiwan beer from a nearby convenience store.
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