5 Reasons to Visit Taiwan

Are you thinking about taking a vacation, looking for somewhere new to explore, or just wanna daydream about your next adventure?  Why not visit Taiwan!  Taiwan is a small island off the coast of China with a vibrant culture and a lot to offer travelers.   Here are my 5 favorite reasons to visit Taiwan.

5. Temple Life

Taiwan has a lot of temples.  So many that it’s probably impossible to count them all.  There seems to be a different temple around every corner.  You’ll find temples on mountain tops, deep in the jungle, and squeezed in next to 7-11s in Taiwan’s bustling cities.  They are everywhere and they are fascinating.

Most temples are either Buddhist, Taoist, or Confucian, but some are a mix of all of these along with other folk religions.  Each temple has its own unique style and character.  Some temples are loud, vibrantly colored, and heavy with decorative details, while others are simple, austere places for contemplation and prayer.  There is often incense wafting through the air, and the architecture is always intriguing.

Taiwan is also home to a vibrant temple going culture.  The temples are not just decorative.  Most are heavily used by the locals.  On any given day, you will find people crowded in a temple, lighting incense, and going through their daily rituals of prayer, contemplation, or paying respect.  If you are lucky, you may even stumble upon a temple celebration with food, fireworks, parades, and music.

4. Food

Taiwan has amazing food.  The Taiwanese love to eat, and they especially love to eat out, so there are restaurants, snack stalls, and food markets everywhere.  Taiwanese cuisine is a rich mixture of different regional mainland Chinese, indigenous aboriginal, and Japanese cuisines with just a touch European influence.

You will find all sorts of foods made with all sorts of ingredients.  Abundant seafood dishes, fresh vegetables, wild mountain pork, multitudes of different mushrooms, bamboo, noodles, tofu, soups, dumplings, soup-dumplings, hot pot, and, of course, perfectly cooked rice.  Whether you are strolling through the night markets or sharing in a family style banquet dinner, you will surely find a ton of new, mouth watering flavors.

Some of Taiwan’s most famous dishes include beef noodle soup – a rich, deeply flavorful beef broth with succulent noodles and tender beef brisket or beef shank; xiao long bao (soup dumplings) – delicately wrapped dumplings with a gelatinous pork mixture that melts into a deliciously savory broth inside the wrapper when steamed; oyster omelettes – a quickly cooked egg omelet wrapped around juicy oysters and Chinese greens then drizzled with a sweet and salty sauce; and the ubiquitous and often misunderstood stinky tofu – fermented tofu with a strong and unmistakable aroma that is often fried and served with spicy cabbage.  There is really something for everyone – sweet, savory, and unusual.

Stinky Tofu

Mango Shaved Ice and Tapioca

3. Landscape and Scenery

When someone mentions Taiwan, most people imagine a bustling, crowded. and polluted city like Taipei, and to be fair, Taiwan does have its share of chaotic cityscapes, but there is another side to Taiwan that outsiders rarely see.  When the Portuguese first encountered the island of Taiwan, they dubbed it Ihla Formosa, or Beautiful Island, and for good reason.

Taiwan has some amazing scenery and jaw dropping landscapes.  For such a small island, there is a lot of geographical diversity – natural hot springs, tropical beaches, snow capped mountain tops, lush forests, cascading waterfalls, bamboo groves, and numerous other natural wonders.  You can go from climbing a 4,000 meter (approx. 13,000 feet) tall mountain to relaxing on the beach within a few hours.  Taiwan’s central mountain range basically runs down the center of the island.  Most of these steep slopes are covered in thick forests and jungles, but they are also scattered with small mountain villages.  There are some great hikes through the mountains of Taiwan, and amazing views are abundant.  The east coast is less developed and offers some amazing rocky cliffs that dive right into the ocean.  The southern tip of Taiwan has a tropical climate and beautiful beaches.

Some of the famous natural areas include Taroko Gorge in Hualien, Ali Shan National Scenic Area in Chiayi County, Yangmingshan in Taipei, Beitou Hot Springs in Taipei, Sun Moon Lake in Nantuo County, and Kenting on Taiwan’s southern tip.  And in case you are a city person, Taiwan’s cities offer some great architecture – Taipei 101 to name the most obvious.

2. Tea

Yup, one of the best reasons to visit Taiwan is for the tea.  The Taiwanese take their tea very seriously, but at the same time, it is very accessible for an outsider.  Taiwan is world famous for its oolong tea.  Oolong is a broad ranging category of tea that roughly covers any tea processed to a level in between green and black tea.  There are light, green oolongs, there are dark, roasty oolongs, and there are oolong teas that cover everything in between.

Oolong tea is probably the type of tea that is most dependent upon the skill of the tea maker, and the Taiwanese are some of the best in the world.  Since oolong covers such a wide range of colors and flavors, knowing what the final product should be, based on your raw material, and executing it well requires an immense amount of skill and experience.

Although oolong tea is the most famous, Taiwan also makes some great green and black teas.  Taiwan is constantly on the cutting edge of modern tea making.  The productive Tea Research and Extension Station is constantly introducing new cross strains and production methods to the tea world.  Two of its most famous varietals are Ruby Red No. 18 and Jin Xuan (Golden Day Lily, Milk Oolong, or #12).

The best Taiwanese teas are like fine wines – smooth, complex, and flavorful with varied aromas and flavor profiles.  Taiwanese tea can be sweet, roasted, floral, nutty, or grassy.  They can have notes of honey, tobacco, fruit, or cream.  They can be fresh, light and refreshing or deep, robust, and grounding.  Tea is also very easy to find in Taiwan.  The Taiwanese love iced tea, and although some are better than others, there are ice tea shops on almost every corner.  Cities and towns of any size will also have at least a handful of quality loose leaf tea shops, and most of them will let you sample their teas for free!

1. People

The best reason the visit Taiwan?  The people.  Its hard (impossible in fact) to generalize an entire population, but it is even harder to deny that the Taiwanese are some of the nicest people in the world.  There are many cultural and social differences between Taiwan and western countries; however, most Taiwanese people are extremely friendly and welcoming to visitors.

Taiwan gets a fair share of tourists from Japan and mainland China, but it is not a top destination for Europeans or Americans.  This means that there’s not a lot of the typical tourist trap infrastructure and culture that has slowly taken over many other world tourist spots.  It is still relatively easy to connect with real people in Taiwan, and a lot of the time, they are excited to connect with you.  After all, this is the goal for many of us when we travel, no?  You can read all about a place in books or online, but when you make a connection face to face, the rewards are so much greater.  It is impossible to visit Taiwan and leave with out having made new friends!

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Travel is an amazing thing.  Ask anyone who has taken the leap of international exploration and they will tell you that it is a life changing experience.  Pushing your boundaries, stretching your comfort zone, and connecting with a foreign culture is a great path towards personal growth and greater understanding of the world we live in.  Traveling is the ultimate adventure and it is much more accessible than many people realize.  Now, in the age of the internet and social media, there is almost no destination, exotic or mundane, that is exempt from regional tourism and world travelers.  The world is getting smaller.  In a certain sense, we live in a golden age of tourism.  So with all these new possibilities, how do you make your vacation special?  The best way to have a rewarding travel experience is by focusing on something specific and unique to the local culture.  With regards to east Asia, tea travel makes the perfect focal point for an unforgettable journey.  Here are the top 5 reasons why having tea as the focus of your travel experience will bring your journey to a whole new level.

1. Historical Context

Tea is the common thread that subtly weaves together the histories of many different Asian cultures and their interaction with Europe, America, and the rest of the world.  First discovered in China in 2737 BC, it is hard to understate the impact tea has had on the history of Asia.  Some of the oldest tea trees can be found in rural areas of Yunnan, Myanmar, and Laos.  Tea was a major commodity and a driving force for the silk road trade that brought goods from southern China and Tibet to the Middle East and Europe.  Powdered tea of the Song Dynasty(960-1279) was an integral part of classic Chinese poetry, Chinese garden design, the growth of Zen Buddhism, and Chanoyu – the Japanese tea ceremony.  In Japan, monks, shoguns, samurai, and common people are connected through history in a simple bowl of tea.  The Opium Wars and the taking of Hong Kong by the British can all be traced back to the important beverage, tea.  The story of tea in India is both the story of the indigenous people and plants of Assam and the colonial occupation of India by the British.  Tea in Taiwan connects the classic Chinese culture brought to the island by those who fled the mainland during the Cultural Revolution and modern agriculture techniques.  An exploration of tea will open your eyes to the infrastructure, politics, business, and trade that it has helped mold over the course of history.  Tea can show you a lot of the historic context that is often overlooked, but will undoubtedly enrich your experience of that place.

2. Cultural Understanding

Tea is deeply connected to many cultures.  If you are not interested in other cultures, you should probably just go to an all inclusive resort on a beautiful beach filled with vacationers from your home country.  However, if the idea of learning about and connecting with another culture excites you (or at least piques your interest), then consider using tea as a springboard for your cultural adventure.  Instead of just scratching the surface of a place or a culture, tea allows you to dive in and connect on a whole new level.  What makes tea so special is that it is so common.  Tea is the most consumed beverage on earth (besides water, but that doesn’t really count), so you are sure to find it almost anywhere you go.  It is a great way to make friends and get to know the local culture.  Drinking tea can be a very social activity, especially in Asia.  Sitting down to share a pot of tea brings everyone at the table to the same level.  Regardless of language or history, if you are drinking the tea from the same pot with someone else, you are connected.  You are tasting the same thing, you are feeling the same warmth, and you are participating in the same cultural ritual that millions of others have throughout history.  Sitting back, observing, and sipping on some tea can tell you a lot about the culture you are experiencing.  How is the tea brewed?  How is it served?  What style of pots and cups are used?  Is is a formal setting or a casual one?  You can learn so much about daily life from sitting at a chai stall in Calcutta, or tasting at a tea shop in Taiwan, or sipping form a gaiwan in a Chinese garden cafe, or having some green tea after a sushi dinner, or sitting through a formal Japanese tea ceremony… you get the idea.  Regardless of whether you are on a street corner or in a fancy tea house, you are participating in an essential cultural ritual that is open and accessible to visitors from anywhere.

3. Off the Beaten Path

Tea takes you off the beaten path.  For now at least, tea is not a huge draw for most tourists.  You will find lots of tea shops and tea houses in the major cities in Asia, but if you really want to get to the heart of the tea experience, you have to travel to some out of the way places.  Often, most of the small tea towns and tea growing regions are not popular tourist destinations in their own right.  Some places, like Wuyi Shan in China and Ali Shan in Taiwan are popular sites for local and regional tourists, but for each place like this, there are numerous small villages or tea covered mountain sides that rarely get any visitors at all.  This is where the true adventure of tea traveling starts.  As a tourist, anyone can venture blindly into remote farm land, dense jungle, or rural back country, but unless you have a goal in mind, you may find yourself wandering aimlessly in the middle of nowhere.  This can be fun in its own way, but if you only have a short time and you want a more rewarding experience, you need purpose.  Tea gives you a great reason to travel to some of these remote places.  If you are searching for a special tea or specific tea mountain, your journey has purpose and the destination will bring that much more reward.  Locals are excited to see visitors who are excited about what they produce.  Most tea farmers and producers are very proud of their tea, and having foreign visitors can be as interesting for them as it is for us.

4. Tea is a Sensory Experience

Travelers travel for the experience.  If this wasn’t the case, we would be satisfied to just look at pictures or read about all the interesting destinations out there.  The more you can experience from a place or a culture, the more interesting it is, the more you learn from it, and the more rewarding the experience is.  We experience the world through our senses, and tea stimulates all 5.

Tea is beautiful.  As we will mentioned below, the areas that grow tea tend to be geographically beautiful, but tea itself is beautiful as well.  The leaves can vary from bright green to purple/red to deep brown.  It can have fuzzy, downy buds and curled spiral leaves.  It can brew ruby red, pale yellow, or emerald green.

Tea smells good.  Tea growing on the bush does not have a particularly strong aroma, but as soon as it begins to be processed, it releases many different captivating aromas.  Depending on where and how the tea in being processed, any given tea factory can exude smells of fresh green vegetables, spring flowers, wet hay, dank mushrooms, camphor, seaweed, juniper, honey, coconut, pineapple, geranium, soil, fresh dew, grass, chocolate, malt, herbs…. the list goes on and on.  After the processing is done, each tea, when brewed, also has its own captivating aroma.

Tea tastes good.  This is ultimately why tea is so popular.  Tea has naturally delicious flavors.  Fresh green and grassy, or complex, sweet and fruity, or bitter, malty and chocolaty, or herbal, minty, and floral… again the list is only limited by the different kinds of tea, which are almost endless.  This doesn’t even include teas with added flavors, like spiced chai, jasmine green, bubble tea, Genmaicha (tea with toasted rice), Earl Grey (bergamot flavored black tea), etc.

Tea feels good.  The obvious feeling of tea is warmth.  You can feel it when you hold the cup and you can feel it when you take a sip and it warms your throat.  The less obvious, but very real feeling of tea is how it makes you feel.  Tea is a stimulant.  A large reason why tea has made its way around the globe is because it promotes alertness, helps with focus, and generally makes us feel good.  It makes mornings easier and is a great pick me up in the middle of the day.  Tea is also filled with other healthy compounds that will keep your body feeling good over the long haul.

Tea sounds good.  I know what you are thinking, “What sound does a plant make?”  But, before you laugh at this one, let me explain.  Tea has its own soundtrack.  The bubbling of the water boiling in the tea kettle.  The clinking of the tea pot’s lid.  The pouring of the water from kettle to pot, and the pouring of tea from pot to cup.  The slurping of tea at a professional tea tasting or the slurping of the foam at the bottom of the bowl in the Japanese tea ceremony.  There is also the sound of the languages that surround tea and the different names given to it.  Gyokuro, Da Hong Pao, Pu’er, Puttabong, Lugu, Super Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, etc.  Experiencing tea certainly has its own sound.

Each region grows its own unique tea, so when you experience that tea, you are experiencing that place as well.  The earth and soil, the weather, the geography, and the people that produce the tea can all be found in each sensory experience of that tea.

5.  Tea grows in beautiful places

Some of the best tea in the world grows in some of the most beautiful places in the world.  Tea is often grown at high elevation, so the landscape surrounding many remote tea growing areas is breathtakingly beautiful.  High mountains with steep slopes make for great tea growing areas.  This can make travel to these areas tough, but the reward is well worth it.  Different tea landscapes can vary, but they almost always have a unique natural beauty.  From 100 year old trees hidden in the lush jungles of south-west China’s Yunnan Province to the rocky cliffs of Fujian’s Wuyi Shan; from the rolling, mist covered hills of Darjeeling to the immaculate, uniformly trimmed tea bushes of Uji, Japan; from the mixed agriculture of loquats, peonies, and tea plants on the banks of Lake Tai in Suzhou to the terraced, cloud scraping high mountains of central Taiwan.  I you travel to find tea, you will find yourself in some amazing places with unmatched beauty.

I hope this list inspires and motivates.  Whether you are ready to get out there and explore the many tea regions of Asia or simply stop by your local tea seller to pick up some fresh leaves, remember that the tea fields are out there waiting for you!

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