What is a legitimate reason to visit a country? My initial motivation in visiting Taiwan was as simple as my dream of seeing the Taipei 101, which used to be the World’s tallest building until 2010. Being only a hop-over away from around South-East Asia, I decided to spend a week on the island known as the People’s Republic of China. Having met some Taiwanese on the Philippines before, I had a positive impression of the Taiwanese culture, which seemed to be happy, friendly, calm and considerate to me.
I was not to be disappointed in this picture. Arriving in Taipei, my host Peter picked me up from the bus station. He was incredibly attentive and eager to show me around his city. He had a motorbike of his own. “You want to ride?”, he asked me when handing me a second helmet, knowingly that I was usually traveling on my own bike. Riding a motorcycle in every country I visit? Check! Reaching towards Taipei centre and seeing the magnificent Taipei 101 blink out between the buildings is a picture I will not forget.
In the beginning, I wondered why most of the motorbikes I saw were so scratched, but I soon could explain: Since Taiwan is very organised, even two-wheeler parking is regulated — park outside a designated area and you’ll find a ticket on your bike when returning. What to do when there is no parking space left? In Taipei, it seems totally acceptable to simply make one by squeezing your scooter between two others — I watched my host Peter performing this move and it was both entertaining and painful to watch — you might have noticed I tend to appreciate bikes. For sure, I was happy to not have my own motorcycle with me.
Touristing 101
Our first lunch was to try the famous pork dumplings at a restaurant called Din Tai Fung (actually, it’s a chain). Albeit a bit touristy and costly, the food really is high-quality and you can watch the cooks prepare the dumplings through glass walls, definitely worth a visit and worth the wait around lunch time. The celebrity-like fame you tend to get as a Westerner, it seemed to me, is not only in South-East Asia, but also in Taiwan. At Din Tai Fung, they had a business photographer around on that day, so I got readily interviewed and photographed before being seated.
(Pictures above: Rahoe Night Market and Busy Market Streets of Taipei)
Brave New (Media) World
One thing that struck me in Taiwan was the excessive use of smartphones — surely a global phenomenon nowadays, but particularly to be seen in the Far-Eastern part of Asia. The Taiwanese I met loved to take pictures and videos, and loved Social Media, Instagram in particular. For sure, it was nice to mostly have a personal photographer with me and it is entertaining to see the regular “stories” of my newly-won Taiwanese friends. It’s just that I’m feeling a little awkward when everybody, me included, is continuously holding their digital extension in their hands, where for Taiwanese, this seems to already have become normality.
(Pictures above: Street scenes seen in Taipei)
I was lucky to already have some contacts in Taiwan, so, after finishing casual Taipei sightseeing, I was asked to join some friend for heading to the mountains for the weekend. I seemed to be the only one who had prepared for a hike, soon to find out that my friends' understanding of going to the mountains was to just enjoy some fresh air and to have a good time. Fair enough! We were on a well-equipped camp site run by super friendly Taiwanese Hakka (the Native minority of Taiwan). We had hot pot, beers, a campfire, sparklers and boardgames — Taiwanese come prepared! As a German, I was expected to be an expert at “Rummikub”, but I honestly played it for the first time that night.
(Pictures above: Camping out and meeting some kids in the morning)
Getting Closer to the Heart of Taiwan
“You haven’t been to Taiwan if you haven’t seen its mountains” is what I’d picked up in my first days in Taipei. For the remaining days, I wanted to see the lesser-populated eastern part of Taiwan, which is known for exceptionally scenic mountains and greenery. Peter and a friend from Austria came along and we were headed to Hualien City and to Taroko National Park. All three of us scraped our traveller’s budget and shared a room in a rather fancy hotel in the mountains, and the views from the rooftop pool were spectacular.
(Pictures above: Hiking in Taroko National Park, Hualien County)
I was truly amazed by the beauty of Taiwan — by Taipei’s busyness and style, by the beauty of the less-populated, hilly East of the country, and mostly by the prudent respectfulness and warmth of its people.
(Pictures above: Traditional Market in Jinshan)
(Pictures above: Hualien City on the East Coast of Taiwan)
I’m considering Taiwan as a true gem in the Far East and would surely like to come back, and maybe I’ll make it to (motor-)cycle around the island once. The perks of traveling is that your bucket list doesn’t really grow smaller as you’re ticking things off, but bigger as you’re making new connections and finding out about the sheer endless gems of this world.
(Pictures above: Taipei Liberty Square and Chang Kai Shek Memorial Hall)
(Pictures above: View from Xiangshan / Elephant Mountain in Taipei)