When asked about this trip to Asia I usually leave out a description of Taiwan because it is so familiar to me. That’s not fair to Taiwan because it is one of my favorite places in the world and still relatively ‘undiscovered’. So here are my impressions about Taiwan from this trip:
- Not much has changed in the last 3 years. Not really a fair comment since it is about the pace of change. Context: Taiwan has been in hyper-development mode since I arrived in 1987 when it was a poor, undeveloped non-country transitioning from agrarian to industrial and still under martial law. I experienced that. I last visited in Jan 2020 (best election I have witnessed), there has not been much change in the physical experience. The Taiwan Convention Center is still under construction as it was in 2018.
- The pandemic hit everyone hard and has had a big affect on social interaction everywhere. This was one of Taipei’s strengths before but had taken a real hit, especially with night markets. On the up side, while taking a long hike on a trail in the mountains I found that the dynamic with local hikers was the same with the exception of masking (was still the social norm in Taiwan).
- It was the end of the Chinese New Year holiday when I got back so most places were closed in the place where I stay in Taipei. This was amplified to me because where I stay is something like a suburb so the streets were empty. I thought I would use this opportunity to visit some local attractions that I usually hit. That was so wrong! Three issues:
- many people in Taiwan chose not to travel abroad during CNY
- many people with roots in Taiwan choose to travel back to Taiwan during CNY
- all of them they had nothing to do because it was a long holiday (imagine the day after Thanksgiving when there is no game on TV and so your family (which, as a generalization, in chinese culture has fewer boundaries) starts asking progess on your job, romance, life purpose and family responsibility). So they all went to the local attractions that I usually go to relax (hikes, parks, etc). Packed beyond belief: short video.
It was cold in Taipei. All the places I wanted to go were crowded (see video) and someone close to me tested positive for COVID the day after I got back from Malaysia so I rescheduled my return and came home early Friday. Right decision but a downer after a great life chapter-ending trip.
Jet lag hurts more now that it did before.
