The major city in central Taiwan has much to recommend it as a stopover for local and foreign tourists, including its architecture, museums, and – surprisingly – greenery. My first impression of Taipei City was that it was an unlivable, chaotic burg clogged with scooters, people, and exhaust fumes. That this notion was formed during…
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: A Westerner goes to see a psychiatrist at Tzu Chi Hospital. In reasonably fluent Mandarin, he says:“Doc, you’ve got to help me. Taiwan has become too vivid for me, too noisy. I swear I’m hearing trumpets and firecrackers even when there’s no festival at the temple next to…
Once in a while, try something out of the ordinary, or even downright bizarre. Taiwan has so many excellent restaurants – at all levels of the price scale – that it’s really hard for a diner to go wrong. But where to go when you tire of the conventional choices and you’re in the mood…
What it’s like to dine out with celebrities on delectable, rich Michelin-starred food – gout be damned. Publication last year of the first Taipei Michelin Guide launched Taipei into the rarefied ranks of cities like San Francisco, New York, and Shanghai that can boast their own Michelin guides. Of the total of 20 restaurants in…
Two writers’ perspective on a Sun Moon Lake holiday marked by a peculiar mingling of love and death. By Joshua Samuel Brown The sound of gongs and chanting were already pronounced as we turned the corner and approached our hotel at the alley’s end. Though we’d come to Sun Moon Lake for its legendary peace…
Cacai Cacao, Vicky Lin’s bean-to-bar chocolate company is a home business in every sense. The inspiration for the business came during a 2015 visit to her husband Mark’s family home in the Philippines, a trip that gave her the chance to see several cacao farms that make their own chocolate for turning into finished chocolate…
Childhood: Consequence-Free Dining at the Night Market Will was on assignment in Taiwan, one of a group of bloggers, YouTubers, and other influencers invited by the Tourism Bureau to produce millennial-friendly content promoting Taiwan on the internet. It was his first day in town, so I figured the night market was a good place to…
If three solid months traveling around the island researching a new memoir/ travel book while introducing Taiwan to my partner Stephanie has taught me anything, it’s this: Taiwan marches to its own beat. From a massive spherical shopping mall to a humble countryside church that happens to resemble a gigantic glass slipper, the Taiwanese have a…
This remote indigenous village lives on tourism but is determined to preserve its traditional way of life. The road to Smangus (司馬庫斯) is difficult, especially for a travel writer prone to motion sickness. If the idea of a motion-sick travel writer strikes you as odd, so be it. Smangus is a study in balanced contradictions….
Taiwan is now a mecca not just for bicycle importers but for enthusiasts as well. “Ni Fengle!” (You’re crazy!) I remember fondly those words, spoken by my Taiwanese landlady Ms. Yeh on hearing my plan to cycle to Taipei from our shared home in Shuangshi, a small town on the outskirts of the Hsinchu Science…
