Why Taiwan?

Why Taiwan? Is probably the most common question I get when I tell people I have chosen to relocate to Taipei. The answer to this question will most likely surprise you.

I considered moving to Asia starting in 2016, and at the time I was focused on relocating to Thailand. Who hasn't seen all of those amazing pictures of beautiful beaches, mountains, jungles, elephants, temples, and of course the food. I was pretty certain that nothing would deter me from making my way to Thailand. That said, I took the advice of others and started looking into it in detail, and decided to go see the country for myself in November 2019. On November 9, 2019 I set out from Toronto to Bangkok to start a 29 day Thailand adventure that would take me to 11 various spots in the country.

At the time I booked my flight, the best deal I was able to find was using Eva Air. As my goal was to get to and from Bangkok, I didn't give much thought to where my layover would be as there were no direct flights to Bangkok at the time. Seeing as I was going to land in Taipei both on the way to and from Bangkok, I decided to spend 3 days in Taipei on my way home. Might as well make the most of the layover, right?

So what went so wrong in Thailand you ask? I didn't find any true sense of local culture. As part of my trip three of my stops took me to places completely devoid of Thai people. Everything in Thailand seemed to be about appeasing and catering to tourists. This just wasn't what I was after. Please don't take this the wrong way. Thailand is stunning, I have plenty of fond memories of my visit and am looking forward to being there again. It is definitely an awesome vacation destination that offers something for everyone. Thailand should definitely make the top 10 places for a vacation in my opinion. That said, it is also where it stops for me. Great for a vacation but not to live in.

I spent 28 days in Thailand and was feeling pretty disappointed as I realized that living in Thailand just wasn't for me, and was just really looking forward to getting home, when I found myself realizing that I still had three days to spend in Taipei. 

On the morning of November 9th, I landed in Taipei. My first impression of Taipei was how unprepared I was for this part of my journey. I had spent a considerable amount of time getting ready for Thailand, from learning Thai, to creating my itinerary, booking hotels, making lists of places I needed to see and how to accomplish that, and of course which foods I needed to try and where. To my surprise the only Thai I actually used in Thailand was sawadee krap (hello for a male) and kobkun krap (thank you for a male). I found that everyone in Thailand spoke Thai, English and Mandarin really well. 

And there I was in Taipei, where after taking the MRT (transit system) from the airport to Taipei Main Station, all of a sudden I was in a place with no westerners in site, and no English to be heard anywhere. I had booked my hotel close to Taipei Main Station ("TMS") to make it easier for me to get around. My first encounter with a Taiwanese person was in TMS as I could not figure out how to exit the maze which is the station. This person was a security guard that spoke no English. I tried my best to ask him how to find the exit but with him not knowing English and me not knowing Mandarin this was going nowhere fast. He gestured for me to wait for a minute, and having nothing to lose I just stood there as he walked away from me. I was certain he was not going to return, but to my surprise he was back within five minutes with a person that spoke broken English. I explained to this man where I was trying to go, and he in turn explained it to the guard. The guard walked me all the way out of the station, and even pointed me in the direction of the hotel once we were above ground. I did not know how to say thank you in Mandarin, but I am very grateful to this man.

My experiences over my three days in Taipei were along the same lines. Everyone appeared to be local. I only saw a handful of westerners over my three days there. Visiting attractions was a breeze and most were fully free of tourists. This may sound ignorant but I could not tell the Chinese tourists apart from the Taiwanese when I was first there, and so I incorrectly assumed everyone was local. Despite me not knowing any Mandarin and most people I encountered not being able to speak any English, somehow it all worked, and I felt extremely welcome. At the end of my three days I had wished I had more time in Taiwan, and this is when I realized I should figure out if I can make a move to Taiwan work. This is the ‘why Taiwan’.