It’s chaand raat in Pakistan, officially if not actually (it should actually have been last night, but the ongoing spat between the Moonsighting Committee and the Minister for Science and Technology led to Eid being declared for tomorrow in Pakistan instead of today). I ended up with something quite similar to the chaand raat of my childhood, of going out to a busy night-time market in Karachi on warm evenings lightened by sea breezes, with lights strung along the shops and stalls, and families with excited children strolling down. We went to Shennong street, which is one of the iconic streets of Tainan, a quaint little street with old houses and strung with paper lanterns. A few souvenir shops along the way, and ghosts of crowds past, but tonight it was quiet except for some families and orderly queues to take photos with the lanterns, and some restaurants and shops ranging from a second-hand shop that appeared to have been accreting junk since the Nationalist retreat, to a grey concrete bar with a selection of achingly hip beers and a cunning and immense plate glass window which was also the door, hinged in the centre. It too had some excited toddlers dashing around inside and playing with the door.
On the way bac we stopped for dinner, and had a bowl of noodles with fishballs that were closer to actual fish than most fish balls: instead of being made from paste or slurry, they were made of chunks of fish, and since it was milkfish, very flavourful.
Our time in Taiwan really feels at an end now; every time I leave the flat I think now of what it’s like before one arrives in a place, when it’s still an open map and one could go anywhere and do anything thing. Very quickly it narrows down, of course, but I do love that feeling of possibility.