The Taiwan Adventure 2: : Take it from Ol' Jack Burton, On a Dark and Stormy Night!

The other night I did something that I’ve never done in Taiwan before. I went to the Midnight Fish Market in Keelong. I loving going to markets in Taiwan. Traditional markets, night markets, wet markets, day markets, morning markets, it doesn’t really matter. They’re so loud and interesting, and there’s so much going on, I like to just hang out and watch.

This was something, though, that I was not prepared for…The midnight Fish Market! This is where the fishermen bring their catches to sell to stores and restaurants. It’s a wholesale market. If you’re looking to buy one mackerel, you are in the wrong place. Not only will they not sell it to you, but they won’t even answer you, when you ask how much. I saw huge tuna and salmon, bags and bags of clams and oysters, piles of fresh seaweed, shrimp that were bigger around than your fist and a bunch of fish I’d never seen before.

There are thousands of people, big trucks driving through the middle of it, and people unloading case after case of seafood. The whole place reminded me of the opening market scene in the movie, “Big Trouble in Little China.” I expected to see the old “Pork Chop Express," (1) rolling through the street, “on a dark and stormy night.” (2) (This is fun, let’s see how many “Big Trouble” references I can stuff into this short narrative.)

The place is chaotic. Sometimes chaotic is fun and cool, in this case, it was one of the most intimidating places I’ve ever been, even Jack Burton (3) would have been intimidated. I fully expected to see some guy floating down on a lightning bolt (4).

So, all this was happening on a small street in Keelong. I looked around for a harbor with fishing boats nearby, but I didn’t see one. The fish come from fisherman’s wharf in Danshui, or more to the east, I think, off Highway 2. In any case, all of the fish coming in here came on trucks.

This is not something I would recommend to tourists, it’s interesting to see, but I wouldn’t want to go there without someone who’s been there before. Fortunately, Elizabeth has blue eyes, so I didn’t have to rescue a girl with green eyes, from a guy named Lo Pan! (5) That’s five “Big Trouble” references, six if you count the title!

If you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out!

前幾個晚上，我在台灣做了一件從來沒做過的事：我去了基隆的午夜魚市場。
我很喜歡逛台灣的各種市場，傳統市場、夜市、濕市場、日市、早市——其實哪種都沒差。
那些地方總是又吵又有趣，發生很多事，我就喜歡待在那邊，看著人來人往。

但這次的經驗我真的沒準備好……就是那個午夜魚市場！
這是漁夫們把他們捕來的漁獲拿來賣給店家和餐廳的地方，是個批發市場。
如果你只是想買一條鯖魚，那你來錯地方了。他們不但不會賣你，連你問價錢都不會理你。
我看到巨大的鮪魚和鮭魚，一袋又一袋的蛤蠣和牡蠣，一堆新鮮的海帶，還有比拳頭還粗的蝦子，還有一堆我從沒見過的魚。

那裡有上千人，還有大卡車直接從市場中間開過去，人們不停地搬下箱子，一箱又一箱的海鮮。
整個場景讓我想到電影《新龍風雲》（Big Trouble in Little China）開場那段市場的畫面。
我差點以為會看到老舊的「豬排快車（Pork Chop Express）」在「又黑又暴風雨的夜晚」穿街而過。
（這好玩，我要看看能在這段小故事裡塞多少個《新龍風雲》的梗。）

那個地方真的很混亂。混亂有時候會讓人覺得很酷很好玩，但這次是我去過最讓人壓力爆棚的地方之一，就連Jack Burton大概也會嚇到吧。
我幾乎覺得下一秒會有人從一道閃電中漂浮下來。

這一切居然就發生在基隆一條小街上。我四處張望，想找找有沒有附近的漁港或漁船，但什麼都沒看到。
那些魚應該是從淡水的漁人碼頭來的，或者是更東邊，我猜可能是台2線沿線的哪個地方。
不管怎樣，所有的魚都是用卡車運來的。

這不是我會推薦給觀光客的行程，雖然很有趣，但如果沒有人帶路的話，我不會想自己去。
幸好Elizabeth是藍眼睛的，我就不用從叫做Lo Pan的傢伙手中去救一個綠眼睛的女孩了！
這樣總共五個《Big Trouble in Little China》的梗了。如果你還沒看過這部片，那你真的錯過了！

如果你還沒看過這部片，那你真的錯過了！