Tour Guide with Stories is a collection of travel recommendations across Taiwan, shaped by personal moments, submitted by people who have lived there, and curated by Natasha Tseng.
Each place holds a memory, a connection, a story worth sharing. Want to add yours?
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A Serendipitous Discovery
Best Teacher Ever
Market Traditions
The Magical Valley
My Favorite Apple Tea
Worth the Wait
It Grew on Me
The Jetty of Secrets
Market Traditions
TienTienShin Evening Market
No. 508, Mingcheng 1st Road, Sanmin District, Kaohsiung City
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Chia Chen
Food & Culture, Kaohsiung
We’ve been coming to this market since we were little because it’s close to home. My mom would drive me, my brother, and sometimes our cousins here for groceries.
We the kids were always excited to go because while my mom worked through her shopping list, she would give us some coins to buy snacks. I remember how difficult it was to decide what to get. On busy days, my mom would assign each of us a task, and we would scatter to different corners of the market to fulfill our missions.
I liked wandering around, smelling the food while watching them being made. Lots of my favorite foods could be found in the market, so sometimes I just stood and stared, wishing that I could take some home for free. My mom knew most of the vendors we visited, and I liked listening to her chat with them. It was always casual; they usually speak in Taiwanese.
As I got older and busier with school, I stopped visiting as often. Now that I think about it, I should set aside time to revisit TienTienShin with my mom. ✺
TienTienShin Evening Market is a bustling outdoor market featuring a diverse mix of vendors, offering everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to cooked meals, traditional snacks, and clothing.