This article is about to be written – I’ve just spent 1 month in Taiwan and the full travel guide will be written once I get home. Here’s a couple places worth seeing to begin…
Massage
If you are by Reifung Night Market, look to the left of the market to find Master Deng Traditional Spa. They have the Taiwanese Foot, Neck, Back massages that are done in a reclining chair, as well as lay-down Body Massages.
I tried the 60 minute lay-down Body Massage. They gifted us a 10 minute shoulder rub on chairs that have foot jacuzzi’s on the other side of the above short wall. Have a look at the prices at the time of this posting.
Each therapist massages slightly differently, and the two therapists my friend and I got were both lovely. One was an older woman and the other a younger woman. They both had strength, specificity, and skill. They asked in Chinese where was sore or where would we like them to pay extra attention. Luckily I speak some Mandarin so could understand. You could probably just motion with your hands to show tense areas.
If you need them to go softer, say ” Shiao Lee” and if you need harder, say “Dah Lee” – though neither of us needed much adjusting, they were pretty spot on. If you have an injury you can tell them where to avoid by saying No and pointing to those areas, I’d imagine they could understand that no problem.
Both therapists had good pressure, and it was a deep tissue massage, Shiatsu style, where they don’t use lotion, they put a towel over your body and press into your muscles and it’s heaven. It felt as if my whole back side of my body got re-aligned with that treatment.
What To Eat in Kaohsiung
There are tons pf restaurants and night markets to try in Taipei, let’s get started with some restaurants.
Duck Zhen
If you are a duck fan, you’ve found the right place. They serve roast duck in duck fat, duck offals, greens, soups and more.
Some items worth trying are the Duck Rice, which comes with roasted duck, duck fat, and the delicious savory sauce. It’s moist, it’s fragrant, the duck fat is flavorful, as is the marinade sauce, which they pour over the rice.
If you are an adventurous eater or simply like offals, they have an offals ginger soup, which contains duck hearts, liver, possibly kidneys and intestines in a lovely ginger broth with shards of ginger. The broth feels nourishing and the offals are filled with nutrients and good for you!
They also have a duck thigh and leg piece that they cut up into slices, and after the side they have a duck sauce and a chili sauce that you can dip it in. They serve it with julienned ginger on the side. The duck sauce is slightly sweet and slightly salty, and the chili sauce gave it a nice pop! Add some ginger in between bites as a pallet cleanser or with your bite to add a little zing.
Add some garlic water spinach as a side dish to balance out your meal with a little green. Well seasoned with small chunks of garlic mixed throughout, their water spinach, also known as morning glory, is a welcome addition!
Chopsticks, spoons, napkins, toothpicks, duck sauce and chili sauce are on the table I’m just outside. You can ask for a cup of water, there are plastic cups in a dispenser on the wall across from the kitchen, where one of the cooks grab them from, then went to a partition in the middle of the restaurant by the vets of duck fat to get some water.
