n. the street in taiwan where I grew up
I was surprised to see Taiwan in the international spotlight during the last few years, first for its excellent handling of the pandemic, and then as global supply chains collapsed and everyone learned about TSMC. Most of the time, Taiwan flies under the radar, little known and often misunderstood by the rest of the world. I have been lucky to call Taiwan my second home for the past several decades - my parents brought me from America to Taiwan at just 2 months old, where we lived every summer with my grandparents. It is one of my favorite places in the world. In creating this guide, I hope to show you a more personal side of Taiwan, and reveal how I experience it through my eyes.
As an American, I grew up in a California suburb. I love California. Its suburbs are beautiful and clean and meditative - but can also be sterile. Taiwan is the opposite. Taiwan is full of life.
Trees grow on every corner, creeping through cracks in the street, up through historic temples and ramshackle houses and underneath the subway and next to food stalls. There's a grandma on a motorbike, kid in the back and baby in the front and family dog perched on the handlebars - next to a hundred other commuters on motorbikes wearing rain ponchos over full business attire, weaving joyfully through cars like a flock of parrots in rush hour traffic. There's a guy on the subway with a big lizard in his purse and a woman tossing meatballs onto her neighbor's roof to feed stray cats. Socialites gather in opulent hotels for afternoon tea, elderly store owners preside over tiny shops full of nothing but clocks. People are always talking: taxi drivers telling you their life story, students laughing on the subway, strangers switching into dialect that creates instant kinship. People are always eating: sitting outside garage storefronts next to giant vats of burning incense and fresh oysters, sporting their best bling at elegant bistros, walking down the street munching fried chicken at 2am. While many places have a thriving street life, Taiwan is unique for the joy in the chaos - because what I see in people is a fundamental attitude toward life of being cheerful and warm. It's the kind of place where sidewalk fruit stands stay open 24 hours a day.
Yet despite all the noise and chaos and life, Taiwan remains impossibly clean and safe. This is still something of a miracle / mystery to me. Behind the historic buildings and narrow alleyways lies a world class infrastructure and civic system, fueled by a GDP per capita that puts it just between Japan and Italy. A tropical island where people surf and wild coconuts grow by the roadside, yet also the world's #1 maker of advanced microchips and a high tech powerhouse home to Acer, Foxconn, TSMC. A haven for street food, yet also home to 38 Michelin starred restaurants. This duality - the simultaneous capacity to be laid back and warm and joyful and rooted - yet also to excel at the highest levels - is what makes Taiwan special.
All that said, my most favorite part of Taiwan is one that is often overlooked: its stunning natural core. At its heart, Taiwan is a tropical island. Covered by lush forest and volcanic mountains shrouded in mist over 70% of its area, on an island half the size of Scotland. It is one of the greenest places I have ever lived. The connection to nature is omnipresent - not relegated to parks or wilderness preserves, but in every part of daily life. Grassy banks full of butterflies line the two rivers that bring life to Taipei, public transit brings you to hot springs and temples built into the mountains next to waterfalls, my home metro line runs past a mangrove forest where I often see egrets hunting for fish. Many times I feel as though I'm living in a Miyazaki film.
Whenever I am in Taiwan, I feel a sense of inner calm and peace - and why not? I am surrounded by temples, nature, food on literally every corner. Whether by reading this guide or having an opportunity to visit, I hope you will be able to find that too!
🖤 S