When you go, eat like the locals. Tuck into big portions, don’t waste time standing in line, and enjoy the freshest beef soup in Taiwan. Soft-shell turtle, freshly slaughtered beef scalded in broth, hearty portions, and sugar, sugar, sugar. That’s some of what you’ll encounter when dining in the southern city of Tainan, a prime…
Taiwan’s ubiquitous night markets are cleaning up their act, becoming more environmentally friendly, providing better entertainment options, and exploring new markets to accommodate the island’s changing demographics. It’s twilight and drizzling, and the backlit signs in the Tonghua Night Market flicker as they come to life. Vendors set up their stalls as a motorbike with…
The Michelin Guide Taiwan ventured outside of Taipei for the first time in 2020 and explored Taichung. Four restaurants earned Michelin stars – JL Studio, Fleur de Sel, Forchetta, and Oretachi No Nikuya – and the choices revealed the stark differences between the Taipei and Taichung culinary scenes. By Sunny Wu, CommonWealth Magazine Founded in…
When winter weather arrives, a soak at one of Taiwan’s many hot springs is an attractive way to ward off the chill. Certain foods are also said to help achieve the same purpose. “Cold” is, of course, a relative term. For those coming from overseas locations with harsh winter climates, Taiwan’s cold season might seem…
It is hard to know what 2021 will bring us, but it appears that travel will not be a big part of the agenda, at least in the first half of the year! As per tradition (Don Shapiro informs me this goes back to 2003), the Wine & Dine edition of TOPICS will help provide you…
By Steven Crook and Katy Hui-wen Hung Families across Taiwan continue to engage in an ancient tradition of offering up ritual feasts to their ancestors. One clan has been performing these rites in the northern city of Taoyuan for over two centuries. Ancestor worship is an ancient and persistent custom among Han Chinese. Traditionally, deceased…
Taking the 921 Earthquake as inspiration, modern art exhibition “Code Blue,” held in late March, looked at how people are affected by disasters. Much of life as we know it was forever altered when the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) began its spread last December. To capture the trauma that people are experiencing around the world as…
Taiwan is a relatively easy environment in which to live, but inevitably many expatriates find the transition to a new culture to be a challenge. If you’re an expat in Taiwan, you have probably experienced some symptoms of culture shock. Maybe excitement about living in such a vibrant culture, or perhaps exasperation at the crowded…
The island’s economy may no longer revolve around sugar cane, but many reminders of that period remain. Several of the world’s poorest countries are dependent on sales of a single agricultural commodity, among them Burundi (the livelihood of 55% of the population is tied to the coffee crop) and Malawi (tobacco represents over 70% of…
Any traveler with the good fortune of a window seat when flying through clear skies into Taiwan will catch alluring glimpses of the island’s dramatic topography. Rugged mountain landscapes more than 1,000 meters above sea level account for 32% of Taiwan’s land area. A similar proportion is taken up by hills and other uplands at…
