Formosan monkey, in the wild.

Taiwan: You Should Visit

a [short] story of travel

Wade Kelly
Aug 28, 2017 · 9 min read

Note: I found this post sitting in draft form and realised I never finished and posted it. I wrote 90% of it in January of 2016 after returning from Taiwan. I’ve updated, edit, and finished it. Enjoy!

In 2015 we started planning a trip together with our friends Lauren and Zack, who live in Canada. We had spent inordinate amounts of time together in Canada and missed them dearly. The plan was set in motion that Lauren, who’s doing a PhD, would come to Wagga Wagga, NSW, for two weeks and then Phil, Lauren and I would meet her husband somewhere. But where? It’s a rare opportunity to be able to choose a place to visit out of all the places there are to visit. Typically, our travel schedule is motivated, if not dictated, by work (conferences), seat sales, or events (one time only, you have to be there). So, getting to choose a country, out of all of the countries, was pretty exhilarating. This was a question asked by many of the people we met over our three weeks in Taiwan, “why Taiwan?”

Taiwan: in the middle and homofriendly

We wanted somewhere that would be roughly halfway between Australia and Canada, that wouldn’t be terribly busy at Christmas, and that is relatively liberal and therefore safe for two homos to be travelling around in. Taiwan checked all the boxes. Full credit to Lauren for suggesting it. The flight from Canada is 13 hours and it is 9 hours from Australia. Taiwan’s predominate religions are Buddhism and Taoism. Only 3.9% of the population are Christian so it certainly wasn’t busy as a result of Christmas. Christmas is not a popular time for tourism in Taiwan, which was perfect for us: few lines, great weather, and occasionally special attention (like the tea house in Luye where the proprietor called her daughter at 2am Toronto time to translate our tea tasting). Finally, Taiwan is probably the most liberal country in Asia and, while gay marriage is not yet recognised, there has been tremendous activism on that front in recent years and several of the major cities (Taipei, Kaohsiung, and Taichung) have same-sex registries (a stop-gap until federal legislation is introduced). With that, it was decided that Taiwan would be the location of our first great adventure abroad together.

[Generally] Complimentary Travel Styles

When I travel I don’t tend to do a tremendous amount of research. I like the IMDB approach to travel, look it up after you’ve seen the thing. It was about two weeks before we were headed to Taiwan that I realised I didn’t speak a word of Chinese — oh well. Phil (my husband) and Lauren (a wonderful long time friend) approach travel more like a final exam; in the lead up to leaving, studying up. For them I think it’s half the fun, researching helps build the anticipation. For me, it seems like work. On one hand, my expectations are typically pretty low; I experience new places by aimlessly wandering and asking for recommendations from locals while riding the wood (sitting at the bar in a pub — credit to L&Z for the term). On the other hand, there’s the possibility I will miss things, awesome things. Thankfully, Phil’s and Lauren’s mode of travel compliment the holes in mine. The ying and yang of travel planning, it works nicely — choreographed spontaneity. That said, I think I will do a bit more research in the future, particularly in countries with minimal English and, in the case of Taiwan, few pubs to ride the wood at.

Beach time in Kenting National Park

The greater distance you have from a trip, the greater clarity you have concerning the impact of the trip. What resonates a week, a month, or a lifetime later, is the true impact that travel has on a person’s life. Taiwan certainly increased my desire not only to travel more, but specifically to travel more of Asia. Immediately after returning, I missed the green (the mountain areas), meeting new people, translating cultures, ordering and not knowing what you’ll receive, and the unexpected things that your day will bring. That’s the best part of travel for me, when I get up I don’t know what the day will give you. One thing I don’t miss is the omnipresent buzz of scooters.

The [loveliest] People

I didn’t know what to expect frankly but the Taiwanese people are bloody lovely. All the people who I know who are either Taiwanese expats or came from Taiwanese families are just delightful people. I didn’t want to be foolhardy and assume I could generalise that characteristic to an entire nation. I was wrong. People were patient, honest, warm, welcoming, and open. In Tainan we ended up eating dinner with such a diverse group of people that you couldn’t have orchestrated if you wanted to: two gallery curators (one from Taiwan, the other from Hong Kong) two artists (one from German, the other from France), and four Canadian travellers (two of whom live in Australia). After eating, our host insisted on paying, which would have been the second time he did so in three days. Thank you, Jack, for the memories and for letting me pay the second time around.

Some street scenes from around Taipei, Tainan, and Kaohsiung.

The food. As someone who doesn’t deal well with a tremendous amount of dairy, I was in heaven. As someone who loves cheese in spite of not dealing well with dairy, I had moments of longing, and then found cheese. The food of Taiwan is the amalgam of a delightful mix of influences including Hoklo, Hakka, Chinese, and various other Asian influences (Japanese occupation has left a lasting legacy, particularly hot springs). My favourite was a dish generally eaten around breakfast — green onion pancakes with egg, tuna, corn, and sauce. Zack saw a line and got in it. It was our first meal after landing in Taiwan and one of our last on our final day in Taipei. We tried fish eyes, pig intestine, and anything else put in front of us. There was a remarkable amount of greens, squashes, and fruits that we’d never seen before but were always eager to try. I didn’t dislike a single thing I ate in Taiwan.

The transportation. A very dense population means that finely tuned transportation solutions are needed to meet demand. The Taipei Metro only started operating in 1996 but it’s incredible. I don’t think a train was ever even a second late. We were able to easily zip around the cities (Taipei and Kaohsiung) with the various lines all being signed in English. In fact, transportation around the country is all signed in English (and Taiwanese), making it pretty easy to navigate. We also got SIM cards (so cheap!) with a boat load of data — Google Maps were consistently accurate. On the east side of the island we rented a car. There were some crazy roads, replete with crazy drivers, but it was great. We took a tilt train and a bullet train. We took buses and boats, a gondola, and even a ferris wheel (I don’t know if that really qualifies as transportation). We didn’t attempt scooters but there were plenty and lots of tourists do: “with 762 registered motorcycles per 1000 people, Pingtung County has the highest motorcycle registration level in Taiwan.”

The sights. If you like lush landscapes and hikes in marble gorges, the east side of the island is for you. If you are more of a city dweller, the west of the island will have something to titillate you. It’s not that big of an island though (you could fit Taiwan into Canada almost 300 times), so I highly recommend exploring it all (we had three weeks). In the rural areas, there are stunning hikes with amazing wildlife (like the picture above of the Formosan rock macaque, taken in the wild) and lots of beautiful agriculture (banana, pineapple, papaya, etc.). In cities, check out the shrines, go to the zoo, do all the touristy stuff (minus the Palace Museum, which was the busiest place on our trip and terribly curated exhibits), but then just go for a walk through the various markets. Find the specialty streets where there is store after store of medical herbs or dried fish. I also recommend a cooking class (Ivy’s was stellar!) or a tour (Chill Chill Kaohsiung Hakka tour was brilliant). At our request our guide took us to a grocery store at the end and we just talked about food culture. Great memory). Do a tour early in the trip as having an English speaking tour guide will give you ideas of what else to do while you’re touring around — an insiders’ perspective. Oh right, bring a camera. I bought an Olympus OMD EM10 MKII with three lenses prior to the trip; I can’t say enough great things about my little camera — DSLR quality, 1/3 the size.

Taiwan: You Should Visit

In the end, the title of the post pretty much describes my sentiment a year and a half later. You should visit Taiwan. We had a great time travelling together (with only a few skirmishes) with memories that will last a life time.

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Thanks to Phil Paschke

Wade Kelly

Written by

Educator | Community Engagement Proselytiser | Researcher | Travel/Food Fan | Guy about Town

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