Taiwan
Cities
Taiwan
Taiwan travel
Travel
Visiting Taiwan’s southern port city of Kaohsiung
Taiwan’s largest port city, as the south’s largest city, has often played second fiddle to the capital Taipei. While not as bustling as Taipei, Kaohsiung is more laidback, less congested, has more temperate weather and is located by the sea. I first went there with family many years ago on a daytrip, then returned in […]
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Taiwan
Taiwan travel
Enjoying Tainan’s historic sites
As Taiwan’s oldest city with almost 400 years of history, Tainan features the most historical sites out of all of Taiwan’s cities. There are a lot, with the most prominent being two former Dutch forts, but here I’ll feature four other interesting historical places. Of these four, two are former Japanese colonial buildings, while the […]
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Books
Best books about countries
When it comes to travelogues, I really enjoy books about entire countries because you get to know a lot about a country and its many places and its history, culture, and politics. Most of these books focus on travel, but they also feature history, politics, cultural commentary and personal and family narratives. Elephant Complex– John […]
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Cities
Taiwan
Taiwan travel
Travel
Enjoying art in Tainan, Taiwan’s most historic city
As Taiwan’s oldest city and first capital, Tainan is considered the island country’s cultural and historical hub. Established by the Dutch in the early 17th century as a fort and trading hub when they colonized southern Taiwan, Tainan has almost 400 years of history that has included Qing Dynasty rule, Japanese colonization and the 20th […]
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Taiwan
Taiwan travel
Travel
Visiting Beitou, Taipei’s hot spring district
Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan, is both a bustling East Asian metropolis and one filled with nature including hills and mountains, wetlands and natural hot springs. Beitou, Taipei’s northernmost and most mountainous district, is famous for its hot springs. Beitou’s name is derived from the area’s aboriginal name, Kipatauw, which means witch, probably because […]
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Museums
Taiwan
Taiwan travel
Travel
Visiting the National Museum of Taiwan History
As a young island country, Taiwan actually has a complex history of 400 years that includes Dutch colonization, Qing Dynasty rule, Japanese colonization, and a brutal martial law era. Taiwan went through a lot before it became today’s thriving democracy. All this is covered in the National Museum of Taiwan History, located not in the […]
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Museums
Taiwan
Taiwan travel
Travel
Visiting the Southern Branch of Taiwan’s National Palace Museum
Taiwan’s most famous museum is the National Palace Museum (NPM), which houses over a thousand years’ worth of Chinese imperial treasures. Located in Taiwan’s capital Taipei, the NPM only features Chinese exhibits*, not Taiwanese. In order to make its vast holdings more accessible to the nation, Taiwan opened a southern branch of the NPM in […]
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