It is very common to hear people in Taiwan saying “bye bye” when parting, a practice adapted from the English language. Also commonly heard is the Mandarin bai bai, used when referring to praying at a Daoist, Confucian, or Buddhist temple.
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Winter in Taiwan is strawberry season. Beginning in December, the farms nestled in the hills of the northeast part of Taipei City blush crimson with the year’s harvest, attracting families eager to pick their own fruit.
After a slow start, the eco-conscious, plant-based food trend has finally taken firm root in Taiwan. The past two years in particular have seen a diverse scene blossom, with options to suit everyone.
Small, tranquil, and attractive Yuguang Island lies directly off the coast on the south side of Tainan City’s Anping Harbor. New purpose-built inn-style homestays, a new museum, and new on-land/on-water fun activities have brought the island compelling allure.
Local young folk in Tainan revel in giving new life, personality, and mission to the humbler old architectural jewels they’ve grown up with, creating a treasure map of small eateries, tea rooms, cafés, boutique hotels, and other cultural-creative enterprises for travelers to culture-spelunk.
Tainan City, born four centuries ago, is Taiwan’s most illustrious repository of important heritage sites. Here is a quartet of attractions that have been born within the past two decades.
In this article we rollick about the coastal, flatlands, foothills, and urban-core regions for quick-dips at some of the best tourist-friendly natural treasures.
The magnificent Alishan National Scenic Area, known for iconic Taiwan sunrises, narrow-gauge alpine railway, and “seas of clouds,” is divided into three main corridors, north, central, and south. The northern corridor is perhaps the quietest of the three, a region of steep-slope tea plantations, bamboo forest, scenic heritage trails, soaring waterfalls, indigenous-culture experiences, and much beyond.
Constructed over a century ago, the narrow-gauge Alishan Forest Railway branch line, today plied by tourist trains, is one of just three steep-gradient alpine railways on the globe. The others are also located in exotic locations off the beaten tracks: a line in India that runs through the Darjeeling tea-plantation region and one in Chile-Argentina that traverses the high Andes.
Chiayi is an old city sitting in the middle of the southwest plains with a pleasingly relaxed pace. It is filled with nuggets awaiting the history spelunker, more and more of its architectural nuggets now turned into places of trendy cultural-creative enterprise, joining the legion of friendly old-time shops and eateries.