Dihua Street is a place where journeys begin and end. Its legendary market remains thronged throughout Chinese New Year as Taipei residents buy north south goods, foods dried or preserved for the trip that many make to the island’s south to visit relatives.

But most products ICLP students bought when they visited Dihua’s dry markets on February 11 had only to travel by MRT before making the quick journey into their stomachs. “I went to 7-11 to get products to bring to my family, all the dried fruit and vegetables I bought at Dihua Jie I just went ahead and ate,” Wesley Hsu shrugged. It’s a problem Taiwanese are familiar with; New Year’s treats are often easier to gobble down than give away.

Trip co-leader Lin Bihua said, for her, the sights and atmosphere at the market paralleled the ubiquitous samples of tofu, pineapple cake, candy and dried fruit.“The market was just incredibly vivacious, there were so many great foods on display, and I always love the southern food,” she said. “Though many students brought cameras it was just as much a treat for the mouth as it was for the eyes.”

Fiona Dawn said her favorite snack of the street was the squid jerky, though she also returned home with nougat and dried fruit. Later Miss Dawn made a quite literal cultural connection, when one hawker, no doubt inspired by the festive atmosphere, asked for her phone number and even offered to come to America and visit her. “It was all very awkward, but the drink he was selling was delicious, so I had to think on my feet to get one more sample without giving him my number,” she laughed.

Although some students complained that the streets were too packed, they admitted shoving through the crowd probably helped them work off some of the calories they ingested that day.

Like the City Temple that came to sit on Dihua Street after a long history, first in Fujian and then in Taiwan’s south, many of the products sold on the street made similarly convoluted journeys over the New Year. One of the longest was no doubt made by a batch of niuzatang, which Sharon Chiao bought and shipped off to Boston to remind her family of New Years past celebrated in Taipei.