Taiwan Travels

Taiwan is a fantastic country.  The people are nice, they speak a good amount of English, the strip clubs are out of this world, the food is delicious and the weather in winter is lovely.  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Korea, but once I am done in Korea and travel a good bit, I could see me living/working in Taiwan…raining terror on little Taiwanese children.

Motorbikes/scooters/mopeds…whatever

Whatever you want to call them….they are EVERYWHERE!  I haven’t been to any SE Asia countries, so I am sure it isn’t as crazy as Vietnam or anything, but there are a shit ton compared to Korea.  Taiwan is definitely a motorbike country.  They have special street markers for only the motorbikes because there are so many.  Just like in Korea, the traffic laws are suggestions and not really “laws”. 

Taiwan vs Korea ESL

I love scooters, so this is a definite positive for living in Taiwan.  You get to pick (I guess you HAVE to) your own apartment because the schools do not provide you with one, but you make enough money to compensate for the rent.  The apartments seem larger, nicer and overall better than the shoe boxes in Korea. 

The food and beer is cheaper than Korea.  One negative….NO SOJU!!!  I have become accustomed to stopping at Family Mart (convenient store chain) and picking up a few green bottles of heaven on my way home from work, but not in Taiwan.  Taiwan isn’t a drinking culture like Korea is.  Here in Korea it is the norm to see older Korean men hammered around 6pm holding hands.  Since Taiwan isn’t full of raging alcoholics, it is actually tough to find a bar to drink at.  I mean, you can stop at any convenient store and pick up some alcohol, but it is difficult to find a legit bar to sit at and have some adult beverages.

Taiwan…

Transportation seemed abundant and cheap.  The train to go from city to city was fairly fast and very cheap ($20USD) to travel across the country.  I didn’t take any buses, but they seemed easy enough and there were numerous stops in every city I visited.  The taxis aren’t as abundant as one would hope, but when you do find one….all the drivers I had were sweethearts. 

The food is delicious and cheap as I mentioned before and there is a wide variety.  The night/morning markets are insanely awesome and you can get a bunch of different shit there. 

MMMMmmm....Brains!

 They are very cheap and the food is fucking awesome!  They have everything ranging from exotic (like fried brain or chicken anus) to the normal (hand made dumplings) foods.  The Taiwanese LOVE their fruit juices and tea drinks.  I had at least 10 different types of tea drinks during my brief visit.  Some were a little weird, but most were good.

The last thing about Taiwan….TEMPLES!!!  Holy mother of GOD do they have a lot of temples!  I am on temple overload for the rest of 2010 for sure.  The temples are cool though….but only maybe the first 10, after that it is a little redundant.  The temples are very detailed and ornate.  Lotus Pond in Kaohsiung has enough temples to satisfy your appetite for a while.

Oh ya, there are like NO banks in Taiwan who exchange the Korean worthless Won for NT Dollars.  The flight from Korea to Taiwan is really fast as well.  Only 2.5 hours from Seoul to Taipei and it was cheap too.

I really loved Taiwan.  I am going back sometime before I am 30.  I might live there….I might not.  I like not having to much of a plan these days…shit, I might move there tomorrow if I feel like it!

Tags: night markets taiwan, South Korea ESL, taiwan, taiwan beer, Taiwan food, taiwan motorbikes, taiwan strip clubs, taiwan temples, taiwan travel, taiwan vs korea esl, Taiwan weird food