Laohukou Revisited

Photos by MJ Klein

Hui-chen’s sister Ping-chen came over Saturday evening, and we took her to Laohukou Old Street area on Sunday. I’m getting tired of Laohukou because I think it’s way over-rated. Dasi Old Streets is way better and Dasi seems to retain more of the authentic flavor than Laohukou. Nevertheless, Laohukou is nearby, so off we went after a Sunday morning pancake breakfast.

This is the only food photo for this article. I suggested that Hui-chen try using the teppanyaki pan because it’s very easy to control and it should make perfect pancakes. The results speak for themselves. The batter features Bushman’s Secret Ingredient that makes the pancakes light and fluffy. Anyone care to guess what that might be?

Some kind of dried grapefruit.

Jammed with people. I got bumped into by careless people not watching where they are going, all up and down the road – very annoying.

Some local vegetable event was going on, but typical with these kinds of things, the volume of the PA system was so high that it hurt my ears. We didn’t stick around to find out what they were doing. Event planners are going to have to learn that high volume drives away potential participants.

Nevertheless, Ping-chen, who had never been here before, seemed to enjoy the Old Street.

But it sure is getting to be like one big night market. Even the historical aspect seems lost in the selling. If you look up you will see historical markers on old buildings but the facades have been defaced by lights that were installed to show you how historical the place is at night.

In case you didn’t know what a gypsy woman looks like, here is an example for you.

There is an old US-built tank outside of the Old Street area.

We met this gentleman on the corner, tending his garden. This is one thing that I love about Taiwan: you can find people doing things and ask them to tell you about what they are doing – and they almost always are happy to stop and talk with you.

He had these yellow things hanging from his plants. They are insect traps. If you check out the large size you can clearly see insects inside the trap – so they work.

These are 2 other home-brew traps that he made. On the outside is some sticky stuff. Personally I found this more interesting than the Old Street….

Taking photos of lovely Taiwanese women is also more interesting than the Old Street!

Later we went for coffee at one of those moutainside shops, were I took the last photos of the day: