Tainan is an Taiwan’s oldest city, and (some say) Taiwan’s most “Chinese” city. Without getting too political, we think it’s safe to say that visitors looking for either a true taste of Taiwanese Culture or something approaching the classic Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon vibe of ancient China (the two intersect many places) will find what…
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Tons of people are using the popular crowdsourced Q&A website Quora to ask questions about Taiwan. Since many of these questions concern travel in Taiwan, we’ve recently taken to Quora to offer tips & suggestions for first time visitors and the merely Taiwan curious. Below are five (of a dozen or so) questions we answered…
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Taiwan Scene reviews Joyce Bergvelt’s Lord of Formosa, a sweeping historical novel about Taiwan’s Dutch colonial period and the life of Admiral Koxinga.
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Among the 60 % of foreigners who participated in this round-island cycling event, a Japanese journalist talks about him getting deeply moved by the beauty of the east coast, the cheers of the passer-bys, and the potential he sees in Taiwan tourism.
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Summer is at our doorstep here in Taiwan, meaning two things.
It’s hot, and getting hotter, so make sure and stay hydrated! (Have you tried fresh watermelon juice?)
There are tons of things to do everywhere on the island, both to beat the heat and to embrace it.
Eric Lin was not merely my first Taiwanese friend – we’d actually met on the flight that brought me to Taiwan. He was trying to start a business with his friend based on a design idea they’d come up with in their spare time for better packaging of fragile items, which would enable him to quit his monotonous engineering job. He was great fun to talk to, and I was drawn to his complicated shyness: just awkward enough for it to be apparent, but not enough to stop him from ringing me up to have coffee.
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Not long ago, when news of rich and powerful men finally being called to account – dethroned as a comeuppance for sexually predatory behavior – was still rolling in, my friend Darice Dan Chang wrote about how the movement had barely touched Taiwan. Although I’m usually upbeat about life in Taiwan as a woman compared to the rest of Asia, she had a point.
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Dadaocheng is a busy neighborhood on most days, especially in the weeks leading up to the Lunar New Year holidays. But even on the busiest days things are usually a bit quieter on two blocks west, which is where you’ll find InBlooom, a shop specializing in both selling print goods and in teaching Taiwanese printing art to locals and visitors alike.
Read MoreIt’s Mid-September and the unusually oppressive heat of summer is fading at last, replaced by the rich, windy weather (and occasional typhoon) for which Taiwan autumns are known. As a cyclist, it’s my favorite time of the year, and this week’s column would probably be about my upcoming weekend cycling plans, if I’d not been…
Read MoreTaipei has a history of providing relaxing haven to weary Americans dating back to the days of the Vietnam war, when American troops visited Taiwan for R&R tours between combat tours. While some of this R&R was certainly of the more sordid variety, this element of mid-twentieth century Taiwan Tourism is already pretty well documented.…
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