Betel Nut booth.
Betel Nut is a chewing thing that acts as a mild stimulant. It comes from the seed of the Betel Palm and is usually wrapped in a leaf and mixed with lime and sometimes tobacco.
It is habit forming I believe. It also rots your teeth, turns them orange, and can also lead to oral cancers. It seems like a nasty habit to me but is popular here in Taiwan and other Asian countries.
You see these booths all over Taiwan and they are characterized by the green fluorescent tube lights as seen in this pic. Sometimes they have revolving lights to let you know they are selling it at a location. Back in the 90's, the person inside the booth would usually be a woman with very minimum clothing on. They are called Betel Beautys. The government cracked down on that. You still see pretty women in these booths- just more clothing now. This lady, as you can see through the glass, is not in that category. Sometimes you just see regular guys or even grandmas selling in the booths. Whoever it is, they just sit in there all day wrapping up the betel seeds in leaves and packaging it. If someone rolls up on a scooter, they will usually give curbside service to the purchaser and send them on their way without the person even having to get off their scooter. I've never tried it but it's all is pretty facinating to me.
More info here with this Wikipedia link.
Here's a video about it. More can be found by searching "betel nut" in you tube too.
No comments:
Post a Comment