I visited a friend in Taiwan and on the same trip got a brief introduction to the almost Chinese culture. At least the Chinese part was more prominent than any sort of Taiwanese patriotism, judged by a bystander.
The main theme for the trip might be squeezed in to one word: food. I had some amazing sushi, grilled eel and shabu-shabu from the more Japanese-oriented restaurants, Taiwanese pig blood cake (deep-fried was the best) and pretty much anything with shredded, dried pork. And some great steamed "buns" in Lugang. Not to mention the local pancakes which came in all kinds of savoury varieties and made for an excellent breakfast. And tea. Plain tea, Oolong tea, tea with milk, Green tea with milk (microwaved to your liking in your local 7-Eleven), even
cold milk tea with jelly(!).
Pretty much only thing in the tea-fron that I missed was Lapsang Souchong. It appears that the Taiwanese "tarry Lapsang Souchong" is pretty much produced only for export. None of the tea shops knew anything about it, even though our total lack of common language might have played a part in it as well. It's a shame because frankly it was something I was kind of looking forward to.
I spent most of my time in Taichung and I have to say that the museums there are worthy attractions. I especially enjoyed the Museum of Natural Sciences and the Fine Arts museum was a positive surprise as well. Highly recommended if you happen to be around.
The lack of touts and tourist industry (and English-speaking people for that matter) was quite striking. Even in the local tourist information it was hard to find a person who could at least tell you that they don't speak English. Let alone one who actually could. But I guess if you look at the statistics I should have learnt Chinese instead. Over one billion people can't be wrong.
Now we are already in Vietnam, going to spend a couple of days here and after that head onwards to Cambodia. Life is nice.
