Taiwan is rich in festivals celebrating local folk religions, community and cultural pride. Visitors lucky enough to find themselves in Kaohsiung’s Neimen district during the week of March 29th- April 6 were in for a rare spectacle indeed as the normally quiet town well north of Taiwan’s bustling southern metropolis played host to the annual Song Jiang Battle Array.
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If you’re visiting Taipei, there’s no better (or culturally appropriate) way to start your day than with a traditional Taiwanese breakfast. First-time visitors to Taipei are often amazed at the breadth and depth of what’s available for breakfast on the streets of Taipei (not to mention how early breakfast joints start opening – the Taiwanese tend to rise early).
Some traditional Taiwanese breakfast items have western counterparts, while others will be familiar to anyone who’s traveled in China, Japan or Korea. But a few items are definitely uniquely Taiwanese. In this article, we’ll be looking at a few dishes that Taipei people eat in the mornings and suggesting a few spots for visitors to find them during their early-morning journeys around Taipei.
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Taiwan Scene’s Editor-in-Chief spends the day hiking on a historic trail connecting Taipei City and Yilan, getting out of the city and exploring Taiwan’s natural outdoor beauty.
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Named by the Discovery Channel as one of the top three religious festivals in the world, the Dajia Mazu holy pilgrimage attracts large numbers of people of Chinese descent from abroad and foreign travelers alike. What makes the Mazu pilgrimage so special and fascinating that participants keep walking, determined to never look back, even when they have painful blisters on their feet?
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The Baosheng Cultural Festival (保生文化祭) is an excellent opportunity to immerse yourself in Taiwanese culture. Originally a birthday party for Baosheng Emperor (保生大帝), the god of medicine, the festivities have grown into a two month-long celebration of Taiwan’s history and culture. At the center of it all is Dalongdong Baoan Temple (大龍峒保安宮) in Taipei, where the deity Baosheng Emperor celebrates his birthday during the third lunar month.
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April 1, 2019: Citing concerns that not enough is being done to encourage families with small children to experience the majesty of Taiwan’s most famous scenic area, Taiwan’s Ministry of Unspecified Services has announced joint plans with local authorities to Child-Proof Taroko Gorge for this year’s Children’s Day Festival. On April 4th, 2019, Nineteen kilometers of the famous gorge stretching from the Taroko Park Visitor’s Center westward past the village of Tienxiang will be filled with approximately fifteen trillion colorful plastic balls, turning the most visited stretch of Taiwan’s most beloved scenic area into a child-friendly ball pit.
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In Taipei, you are never far from a century-old tea shop. Blessed with frequent international exchanges over the centuries, the city is the confluence of tea houses from different cultures. No matter where you roam, there is no way you can miss the elegant smell of tea among Taipei’s streets and alleys.
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From March to June, Azaleas, calla lilies and hydrangeas take their turns to appear on Yangmingshan. Many of these gorgeous blooms can be visited one after the other as a day trip. Below are some popular routes for flower viewing in the spring.
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When Céline and Xavier Pasche left Switzerland by bicycle in 2010, they had no real fixed route in mind. Their goal was merely to begin cycling, and their only agenda was to go where their bicycles took them and to trust the road completely.
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Hualien from the airplane window was lovely enough to warrant a full day’s exploration, but on that day we would only be passing through. We were headed further down south in search of the elusive Formosan black bear (台灣黑熊). Without even stopping for coffee, we left the city by train, bound for the town of Yuli.
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