Frantic Toilet Photos and Group Selfies at Entrances: The Unusual Crowds at Kaohsiung’s Triumph and Golden Diamond Night Markets

▲Visitors taking photos for social media at the night market entrance.

Reported and photographed by Chen Shichang, Kaohsiung

Since opening at the end of July this year, Kaohsiung’s Golden Diamond and Triumph Night Markets—boasting 1,500 stalls and touted as Taiwan’s largest night markets—have attracted huge crowds. Weekends are especially packed, leading to severe traffic chaos around Triumph Road. The scenes inside the markets have also been amusing, with people frantically taking photos of toilets and groups gathering around entrances for group selfies.

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The two night markets attract not only locals from Kaohsiung but also many visitors from southern Taiwan on weekends, with some even seeing tour guides leading foreign groups holding small flags. Ms. Wu, who traveled from Taipei to Pingtung, visited “out of fame.” She said the entire market was so large that she only managed to cover about one-fifth of it in two hours, and there were no places to sit, making the long walk quite tiring. She suggested that adding more seating areas and upgrading the night market into a food street would be more consumer-friendly and humane.

The crowds have also brought traffic issues. The Kaohsiung City Government has rolled out major improvement measures and is encouraging tourists to take the MRT and public transport when visiting the Golden Diamond and Triumph Night Markets. The city is also asking night market operators to increase shuttle bus frequency between the markets and MRT stations to boost public willingness to use transit, thereby jointly maintaining shopping quality and surrounding traffic order.

▲The luxurious men’s restroom in Golden Diamond Night Market, featuring a fountain and a little boy urinating statue.

▲Traffic improvement measures inside and outside Triumph MRT Station.