The Taiwan Adventure 2: : The Other Fish Market

The midnight Fish market was too much, even for me, so we tried again at a different place. This time we went to a day fish market in Yilan Daxi. This market was more my style. Friendly vendors selling fish at a good price. This isn’t a wholesale market. This is a retail market.

You could ask questions, people smiled and talked to you, and didn’t make faces when you asked to buy one fish. For me, it was all “Happy, happy, joy, joy!” I always like it better when people don’t think I’m a pain in the butt. I mean I am, but I just like it better when they don’t think that.

You don’t have to worry that the fish might not be fresh, either. The fishermen get up real early in the morning…real early. They get in their boats and go out fishing about 4:00 am. Then they come back before 1:00 pm, and unload. The market opens at 1:00 pm. So, you’re buying the fish caught that morning. I saw crabs that were still alive, and trying to grab some guy with their pincers. There were some fish in bowls of water still alive enough to give you the old “stink-eye.”

All of the fish are caught just off the shore in a channel between Yilan and Turtle Island. So many varieties; Amberjack, Scarlet Shrimp, crabs, Flying Fish, Red-eye, and the specialty of the market 安康魚 (phonetically: Awn Kong Yu), which we call Monkfish in English.

The fish are reasonably priced. We bought a giant Amberjack for $380 NTD, (about $12.69 USD), but the Amberjack had two flying fish in its stomach, so we got two bonus fish. We also bought a kilo of Scarlet Shrimp, another Flying Fish and three Monkfish. All of that, plus that giant Amberjack cost us $1125 NTD (about $37.57 USD).

Here’s the really cool part though, after you buy the fish, and the vendor cleans them, then you take them upstairs to these restaurant stalls and they cook them up for you. At the restaurant we got the Amberjack made into sushi, fried filet, and soup, (with the Flying Fish that were in the Amberjack’s stomach). Then we had a fried Flying Fish, and they prepared the Monkfish with some vegetables. We also got fried cabbage and 空心菜, (phonetically, kowng shin sigh) which is called water spinach in English. In the US, you can only find 空心菜 in Asian stores, but it’s really expensive. The restaurant only charged $1020 NTD (about $34.06 USD). Altogether we paid $2145 NTD, ($71.63 USD) for all that. Five of us ended up eating fish for three days. I think that’s pretty inexpensive. You could probably get all of that in the states for the price of a small car.

That last place as I said I wouldn’t recommend for tourists. It was not a fun place. This place, on the other hand, I would call a "don’t miss" tourist stop. It is even wheelchair accessible, with a large disabled person restroom and a ramp down to the Fish Market. Fresh fish and delicious cooking, what more can you ask for, and definitely don’t forget the Monkfish. It was the best part.

半夜的魚市場對我來說實在太誇張了，連我都受不了，所以我們換了個地方再試一次。這次我們去了宜蘭大溪的白天魚市場。這個市場就比較像我習慣的樣子了——友善的攤販、實惠的魚價。這不是批發市場，而是零售市場。

你可以問問題，人們會微笑並與你交談，而且當你只想買一條魚時，他們也不會露出不悅的表情。對我來說，整個體驗就像「快樂快樂、歡喜歡喜！」我總是比較喜歡別人不覺得我是個討人厭的人。雖然我的確有點煩，但我比較喜歡他們不這麼覺得。

你也不必擔心魚不新鮮。漁夫們一大早就起床……真的很早，大概凌晨四點就出海，然後在下午一點前返回卸貨。市場下午一點開門，所以你買到的是當天早上捕的新鮮魚。我還看到螃蟹活蹦亂跳，試圖用鉗子夾住某個人。有些魚還在水盆裡，活到可以對你翻白眼。

所有的魚都是在宜蘭與龜山島之間的海域捕撈的。種類多樣，有青魽魚、緋紅蝦、螃蟹、飛魚、紅眼魚，還有這個市場的招牌——安康魚（英文叫 Monkfish）。

魚的價格都很合理。我們買了一條超大的青魽魚只要380元台幣（約12.69美金），而且青魽魚肚子裡還有兩條飛魚，等於多了兩條魚！我們還買了一公斤的緋紅蝦、另外一條飛魚和三條安康魚。這些加上那條巨大的青魽魚總共花了1125元台幣（約37.57美金）。

最酷的是，買完魚之後，攤販會幫你處理乾淨，然後你可以把魚拿到樓上的小餐廳去，他們會幫你料理。我們把青魽魚做成壽司、炸魚排和湯（加上它肚子裡的飛魚）。接著還吃了炸飛魚，安康魚則是配上蔬菜一起烹調的。我們還點了炒高麗菜和空心菜（英文叫 water spinach）。在美國，空心菜只能在亞洲超市買到，而且很貴。但這裡的餐廳只收了1020元台幣（約34.06美金）。總共我們花了2145元台幣（約71.63美金），五個人吃了三天的魚。我覺得這真的很划算。在美國，這些東西的價格可能都能買一台小車了。

我之前說過那個半夜的市場我不推薦給觀光客，那真不是個好玩的地方。但這個地方我會稱之為「絕不能錯過」的旅遊景點。它甚至還有無障礙設施，有大型的無障礙廁所，還有通往魚市場的斜坡。新鮮的魚加上美味的料理，還能要求什麼呢？千萬別忘了安康魚，那是最好吃的部分！