Chinese new year is celebrated every year all over the world. For as long as there is Chinese people gather anywhere, they will celebrate Chinese new year (CNY for short) or lunar new year. No one can really back date when this tradition started but it is quite obvious as the history went back a long way, when the society then was very much agricultural base. And therefore, food is what it is all about. To celebrate the start of the new year after a very cold freezing cropless winter. A new hope, a new chapter to start to sow the first seed, to wish to have a great harvet at the end of the autumn.

Food therefore is something very significant and you can’t get away from when coming to celebrate CNY.

This year I was fortunate to have such ‘coincidence’ to happen to be in Taipei. Fortunate because I know Taipei is very much still keeping their tradtional even as she portrays herself as a cosmopolitan. There is this famous street called Dihua Street (迪化街） that about 1 month before the CNY, the whole street will be filling with streetside stalls that sell all kind of food just for celebrating CNY – treat your family and your visitors during CNY.

I am attaching some pictures here just to show you the varieties they are selling on the streetside: from dried food like dried octopus, mushrooms, to fancy candies like imported Jelly beans (the real stuff)!

Candies! candies!

Ah…barbecue pork..

It is still quite early in the day time to experience the crowd. Wait till you go there at night! I preferred to visit there during lunch time, not so congested yet.

Many of the street stall helpers are likely to be students working part time. As times are bad, many teenagers are willing to work part time to earn some wages.

Traditional candies, kind of like nougats, with many flavours too!

Hmm, yummy, all kind of flavoured dried squids. They are really delicious but watch out the calories and etc.. he he.

All kinds of dried seeds like melon seeds. You have to skillfully bite open the seed to eat the flesh inside. It comes with various flavours too!f

Traditional ‘biscuits’. Inside these have different kind of ingredients. Mostly are made from nuts or bean pastes.

去淡水很方便，搭台北的捷運就可以到。從捷運站走不到兩分鐘，就可以看到很多的游客進出的一條街道，就是公明街。你可以選擇一直走，街道兩邊都有商鋪；又或者選擇左邊，沿環河道路走，一邊是商鋪和小吃店，一邊是遼闊的河岸風景。

我喜歡走公明路，沿著許多商鋪走。不是因為我喜歡花錢買東西，雖然我不否認愛買東西，呵呵:p; 而是我發現，當我沿著這些商鋪走的時候，仿佛我是走進了一個時光隧道－我回去了淡忘已久的童年回憶。有些商鋪仍然賣那些我小時候的玩意儿和小糖果。

我還記得童年喜歡吹的泡泡，大概要花新幣5分吧（那是70年代了），就有一支小管和一支吹管。把小管里的紅色液体（應該是橡膠做的吧？）擠出，用吹管的一端把粘糊糊的液体卷起，然后在吹管的另外一端吹，就能吹出一個像气球的泡泡。它很容易破，但是，懂得玩的人會知道怎樣去補救，把破洞的地方捏一捏，就把洞粘起來。我也學會怎樣在泡泡弄個“ 啵”一聲，搞個小洞口，繼續的給泡泡吹大。當然，這個泡泡是不會持久的。記得小的時候，破了就赶快在吹多一個。

當我看到一家商店有賣的時候，我發出了會心的微笑，我想起自己童年的光景：吹泡泡，吃5分的糖果。我買了一些糖果和玩意儿回去，讓孩子跟我分享，在沒有變形金剛的日子、沒有HELLO KITTY，那些包裝精美的各种玩具的日子；爸爸是如何快樂的渡過童年。

當然有的商鋪還是以游客為主的，小吃店也不少。最不能錯過的，應該是要吃阿給。為什么叫阿給？參考這個鏈接就知道了。呵呵，現在的微基小百科，真的很方便：
阿給

阿給很好吃，是油炸的豆腐里面加了粉絲（廣東人叫冬粉）。由于粉絲很會吸湯汁，當你一口咬阿給的時候，豆腐的皮酥、豆腐里的粉絲的韌性（QQ的感覺）和吸飽的湯汁，真的是很令人回味的一道小吃。

淡水的美在那里？在熙攘的人群走動中，我們走到環河路那里，沿河邊有許多的小吃店和咖啡館。在海風吹拂（河是靠近海岸）下，在輕送爵士音樂的咖啡館里品嘗咖啡，在黃昏的夕陽照射下，可是別有一番情景。當然，如果是晴朗無云的天空，黃昏可是仍然刺眼的。呵呵。

我喜歡的淡水，是因為它有一种寬容。各种商店、各种美食并存。在許多游客的商店間，我們可以找到一些老鋪，這對我這個新加坡人來說，是一种欣喜。它沒有被旅游觀光而排斥，我覺得這樣是很有性格的。我更喜歡的淡水是，在周末的時候，靠近捷運那里有各种攤位，喜歡發揮創意的人，都可以在那里來展示自己的創意。我找到不少惊喜：用吸管做成的各种昆虫、一個老外吹排笛子pan flute發出悠揚歡樂的樂曲。

淡水是個令我不斷駐足，不想跟其他游客一樣赶場的一個景點。

冰糖葫蘆，真的很可口，甜中帶酸。味道特別。

沿公明路那里走，兩邊都是商鋪，各种廣告牌，各种顏色，雜亂無章中，又仿佛是一种抽象的彩繪。第一次的感覺是眼花繚亂，不過，慢慢的走，就會發現很多有趣的商鋪、小吃、小玩意儿。