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This is... Taiwan - The hidden gem of Asia

Writer's picture: Mario LiuMario Liu

Updated: 2 days ago

Before I share my great experiences travelling around this magical land, I would like to put out a disclaimer: Anything and everything mentioned in this blog is solely for entertainment and informative purposes. It doesn’t reflect any of my personal views on Taiwan’s political issues and beliefs. I am dearly sorry if you feel offended by any of the content I presented in this blog. Please remember that I am a travel blogger and will try to make this less controversial for those reading.

Now, without further ado, let’s enjoy this blog with our most neutral mindsets to get entertained and informed about this hidden gem.

Taiwan is a small island located just off the coast of Mainland China which forms its neighbour to the west, with Japan’s Okinawa island chain to the Northeast, the Batanes Islands of the Philippines to the south, the East China Sea straight ahead, and the Philippine Sea to the east.

Taiwan is another one of those diverse and historic countries in Asia. Starting as a bunch of tribes, the Eastern Wu dynasty first discovered it during the three kingdoms era. It later became a part of China in the Sui dynasty called “lesser liuqiu,” along with “greater liuqiu,” which is believed to be the Okinawa Island chain of Japan. Mandarin, specifically Cantonese, was widespread among Chinese people from the Fujian and Guangdong provinces of China. Who flocked in and remained until the present day.


My first experience on this beautiful island was great! Often overshadowed by its similar neighbour Hong Kong, Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan, is not shabby at all! Immigration was quick and easy (unlike one of my previously visited countries on this Asian journey). All the staff, including our taxi driver, spoke fluent Chinese (Or at least it sounded like it) when I asked them if they understood it. Most people I met were trilingual! English, Mandarin Chinese, and Taiwanese! They laugh, talk, play, work, and do things everyone else does. Seemingly, unaffected by the potential danger to the Northwest.

Often overshadowed by its similar “brother” Hong Kong, many forget how great Taiwan once was. From impressive feats like processing the world’s tallest building before, obviously, the Burj Khalifa led, and some argue still leads, the vast, resource-rich, and diverse lands of Mainland China as the Republic of China (ROC) is still written on the constitution, to everyday details that only exist in Taiwan such as actually convenient convenience stores, which offer free high-speed internet, ticket purchases, and mail delivering services all in a tiny room, and last but not least, free classical music whenever your neighbourhood garbage truck comes visiting, such as Fur Elise by Ludwig Van Beethoven.

Arriving in Taiwan was like coming back home, with malls filled with talking and chattering, the TVs on popular bars and shops booming, keeping you updated every second, and the smell of, you guessed it, soup dumplings, one of my favourite Chinese/Taiwanese dish and made by, you also guessed it, famous worldwide Taiwanese restaurant, specializing in soup dumplings - Din Tai Fung. Being one of the most important restaurants in one of the founding cities of the company, Ding Tai Fung was, of course, good, but what’s better is its surrounding. Possibly the most characteristic, historical, and largest department malls- at least in Taiwan are still in fashion.

Countless bars, clothing stores, pharmacies, and restaurants lay feet there, signifying their importance in Taiwanese lives. It is nice 24/7 all year round, as even the coldest winters don’t get colder than 10 degrees Celsius. But as regular shoppers start hopping into their Toyota Fortuners and Honda Civics to go on their way, street musicians with guitars and basses and drums and keyboards replace them. And, of course, if you’re lucky, you can see a few magicians and stuntpeople down a central plaza. With teens and students pushing and shoving, showing affection to one another, the crack of beer cans and the spinning of roulette wheels in bars and casinos, as well as, nonetheless, nocturnal weirdos in clubs hookin’ girls up in clubs, the people at the shin guang san yue department mall lights up and begins their nightlife routine. Just like any place would do anywhere.


The next few days went by relatively fast, with more intensive remote working and me only finding time to explore more of shin guang san yue at night. Kind of like KL, except just no scams this time. I even found time to go to Taipei 101 for the one-hundredth time on a foggy day, which is quite similar to CN Tower back home, except much more important in the global history of skyscrapers, and Eslite bookstore, which was quite similar to Itoya in Tokyo as well, except for some reason my mom knows it and says it’s famous worldwide. Even though I’m pretty sure it’s just an Asian brand, while Itoya has a North American branch. But unfortunately, unlike any other place on this group of New Year blogs, I couldn’t find a day to enjoy myself and tour the whole city. So I’ll have to write about the next most exciting thing - shopping, “Yay”... with my mom “even better”... “haha”... please help...

Jokes aside, this time ’round, I actually see the need to buy clothes as this is our last stop before going home to the -30 degrees chill (~-20 Fahrenheit). With the previous countries we visited, not even coming close to the “Great Canadian Winter,” we had to stock up on some coats if we didn’t want to be popsicles. Unluckily for us, Taiwan doesn’t have a chilly winter. Why is that bad? Taiwanese shops don’t have coats that can withstand a -30 degree climate. The only two options available are those thin jackets only able to withstand 10 degrees Celsius at best, 40 degrees off what we need. Or the costly but thick coats provided to the few Taiwanese folks that want to go to Antarctica, which, if you didn’t know, is at least 20 degrees Celcius colder than Toronto in the winter. And what else do ya know? It’s not winter in Antarctica right now, so chances are these clothes aren’t even on sale! How do we combat this? Guess that world-famous companies originating from Canada that have shops in Taiwan provide good clothes for the folks back from their homeland that forgot to pack winter clothes for some reason. And to our surprise, Canada Goose does! There is exactly one piece of clothing suitable for Canadian weather that they were about to get rid of for all of us.

So we bought some last-minute reinforcements and hopped on a taxi to the airport. On the flight back home, I carefully evaluated this trip like I did every other time. And Taiwan, I concluded (Please correct me if I’m wrong. This isn’t meant to be a political statement), simply put, is like multiple East/Southeast Asian babies that China adopted but belonged to the Japanese, and the Europeans for a while, all the way till their unification and adulthood and never wanted to come to China again. What does this, again, tell you? It is VERY diverse. But somehow, in some way that I don’t know and don’t care to know about, they got it to work flawlessly! Politically pressured (rightfully or wrongfully ) but still more than operational, like any other place on earth...


This is Taiwan!




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