although it's less than two and a half
hours away from Fukuoka by air taiwan is
one of the lesser known and probably one
of the most underrated destinations in
all of asia Lonely Planet calls it a
secret foodie Wonderland with one of the
finest night market scenes in the world
some of the best food is found in small
local restaurants there are also lots
and lots and lots and lots of dogs and
cats and of course beautiful people so
this is Taiwan I prefer staying at
Airbnb is because it allows you to
experience living in a proper local
neighborhood and without room service a
concierge or a guide staying in an
apartment gives you the independence and
insight you'd gain if you were actually
a resident of the country or visiting I
don't know what this is I wasn't
expecting this place to be nicer than my
apartment in Japan but it totally was
and if you look up here
we're on the eighth floor so the wind is
blowing and it feels so nice because
it's actually so hot and humid right now
it's going to rain probably for the rest
of the trip so it's like the only non
rainy day we might as well enjoy it
enjoy it you're enjoying it my travel
partner for this trip is my best friend
and photography buddy Tatsu although our
styles are completely different
we often hang out and take photos and
videos together even in Japan cement
no cement
scheanette is really fun because it's
like a really really energetic and young
area of Taiwan and there's so much going
on here on the streets and you can
really feel Taiwan has like this
affinity for Japan
you see so many Japanese brands so many
Japanese restaurants establishments and
yet I guess because of the humidity and
because of leg heat like the fact that
it's like 30 degrees it's like really
really hot maybe not Japan it's not not
like any other place one thing that
really impressed me about Taipei was how
cheap the taxi rides were this makes
touring the city so incredibly easy and
fun our next stop was the famous
shooting night market although it's
extremely touristy and can get really
crowded it's still exciting and an easy
gateway into the night market culture
here in Taiwan Tatsu seemed pretty
preoccupied with capturing the night
market scene so I decided to grab a
bubble tea and walk around by myself
bubble tea actually originated in Taiwan
so if you're visiting you should
definitely try it part of what makes the
night markets so much fun is
encountering things you've never seen
before things like fruits and foods and
free really
why hope you are kinda cute
so bits of it of it the stick is like
not even very long more like how hold it
yak to like suck it
oh my god
and all those small local restaurants
and night markets are said to have some
of the best food even more established
restaurants seem to serve their food
with pride and style codes politeness is
it's like push this is like don't push
thanks we were lucky to find son
ho-young a trendy restaurant that was
located within walking distance to our
Airbnb apartment a lot of the foods I
had never seen or heard of before and
since I can't speak Chinese it was so
helpful to have photos and English
descriptions on the menu the seafood
rice was served in a pyramid shape
talked with cousin Nicole a type of fish
egg you almost feel bad when you destroy
the shape of the pyramid just to eat it
next we ordered the specialty tiger
striped steamed bread and some super
juicy pork belly blocks to eat with them
the pork is really sweet
I'm a big layer of fat on the top
and I thought it would be weird
the texture is really nice
so makes a really nice
and finally we got San Juans most famous
and probably most adorable item the
porcupine shaped pork buns honestly
these were almost too cute to eat and I
kind of felt bad biting their heads off
I don't know what kind of fight
Brown spikes they're like thin slices of
the bread
so you bite down there crunchy
there's still so much more I want to
show you from Taiwan so if you're
interested please check out part 2 which
should be coming out pretty shortly it
is not just the sounds you hear from
everyday life
the excitement vibrations
people
Hey