Tag Archives: danshui

One of the first stops in Taipei was a township to the north of the city which my girlfriend wanted me to visit.  It has a lot of local traditions and kind of an old feel to it which was a bit different from the rest of Taipei County and the city itself.

Danshui was apparently first settled by the Taiwanese aborigines and later by the Spanish – eventually being inhabited through the present day by the Chinese.  The fact that there is a Taipei MRT station in the town makes it a pretty popular stop, and I could see this especially around the station itself.

Click on each photo for a link to where it’s stored – and where you can see it full-sized.

Street scene in Danshui.

This sign referred to a buffet that costs $359 NT – about $11.30 USD.  I’m not sure how good the food is, but loved the position of the bike and how the owner uses their space to advertise!

This is Ah Gei (阿給), a famous dish in Danshui.  It consists of a tofu/fish and tofu/pork mix in a thick broth.  While the restaurant we were at was very popular as our seats were snatched as soon as we left, I think the craze for this might be acquired… it wasn’t bad – but I didn’t see why people would go crazy for the dish.

These monks were zooming by on a scooter just as I was trying to get some shots of the street temple across from me without having to cross myself.  I didn’t realize they were monks until after I took this – and managed to get some blurred movement to boot.

I’ll spare you all of the Danshui temple photos as I usually take photos of temples as they certainly interest me.  There are more on the Flickr page.

I thought it was interesting that the temple had a lot of reliefs like this – I’d love to know the story behind it.

These Zong Zi (粽子) were hanging in a Danshui shop window.  I haven’t had a chance to try the sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaf, but certainly will once Chinese New Year comes – or probably before.

Danshui is filled with older sections and its important for Westerners to realize how Chinese cities are interestingly divided into old and new.  These parts are the ones that will probably make Americans feel uncomfortable or at least pique interest – I only went into shoot a picture for about 5 minutes and was already encountering a chicken being butchered for a prospective client.  Fascinating stuff.

As I mentioned earlier, most of Danshui seemed to be in the older style of Taiwanese cities – with winding streets and alleys filled with merchants and street vendors.  This won’t be the only thing you see on this blog – as I post photos from Taipei City, you’ll notice a futuristic looking boomtown.  Taiwan so far has been anything but boring.