Reflection: Tamshui 淡水

Tamshui was one of my favourite places when I visited Taiwan with my sister a few years back.  At that time, we neglected to take the bus or ferry out to Fisherman’s Wharf and focused on spending our time at the night market on Tamshui Old Street instead.  This time around, we made it a point to take the bus to Fisherman’s Wharf right away to catch the sunset.  We arrived at 5:30pm and by then, sky was already quite dark.  We found the big bridge that is popular for pictures but for some reason it was blocked off and we were prevented from walking over the bridge. 

It was a cloudy day and we didn’t actually get to see the sun set.  By 6:30pm, the sky was completely dark and we made our way back towards the centre of town to grab some dinner.

Since I’ve now been to Tamshui twice in 3 years, I was able to have a basic of comparison for things that I have been lucky enough to try both times.  

Back in 2011, we walked along the water with the intention of heading to Fisherman’s Wharf.   We never made it, mainly because we had no idea how far it was on foot.  Instead, we enjoyed taking a stroll along the promenade and visiting Fort Domingo, a fort built by the Spanish in the 1600s when they attempted to colonize this area of Taiwan.  The former British Consular Residence is also located here and many people climb up the small hill to enjoy the great view of Guanyin Mountain.  After strolling around for a bit, we eventually wandered over to Old Street, which is where the differences between 2011 and 2014 were the most apparently.

Back in 2011, the area was filled with people which made for a very lively atmosphere.  I was able to try one of my favourite snack foods – A-Gei (阿給).  It consists of a piece of tofu skin stuffed with glass noodles and fish paste.  In 2014, when I visited Jiufen, I had something similar, which added even more anticipation to trying it again this time around.  In 2011, I tried A-Gei from one of the street vendors on the Old Street, and the lady cut into it for us to allow us to more easily consume it on the street.  This time, we went to an actual restaurant which was supposed to be famous for this very dish.  This A-Gei turned out to be drenched in a sauce, which I didn’t care for.  I liked the one I had on the streets much better than this one. 

The second Tamshui specialty that I tried again is the Iron eggs (鐵蛋).  Again, in 2011, I had the ones from the street stalls which I found to be very delicious.  This time around, they were purchased from a more famous shop called Grandma’s Iron Eggs (阿婆鐵蛋).  As with the A-Gei, I much preferred the lesser known street version.  Grandma’s version was much more rubbery and hard to chew than the street version.  I’m not sure if it was because it was pre-packaged for sale, and likely had been sitting on the shelves for awhile.

One thing that I always look forward to eating in Taiwan is the green onion pancake.  I had a very delicious version in 2011 from a vendor on the Old Street.  The green onion pancake was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  It wasn’t oily either which is a problem with a lot of these types of pancakes.  I looked for him again in 2014 but unfortunately he was no longer there.

This second experience in Tamshui was so different from the first that it’s making me want to go back again to see what a third experience would be like.  To say the least, I was a bit disappointed in this second experience as I had anticipated the same atmosphere and delicious food as the first time, but everything seemed to have fallen short.

For more photos of Tamshui, please visit my Photo Gallery of Tamsui.