We flew to Taipei from Amsterdam. It was a direct flight and it took about 12h. It was 6°C when we left Holland and 32°C when we arrived in Taipei. Heat is one thing but humidity is another. And Taiwan is super humid. When we were waiting for the bus to take us to Taipei, I really thought I was going to melt. But the locals are well-equipped for the heat that it’s easy to avoid it for the most part. Air conditioning is everywhere – in the shops, in the underground and in all public places. And thank goodness for that!

I first heard about Taiwan when I was a little girl. Most of my toys were produced in Taiwan. I think that was the case for the majority of my peers. During the 1970s and early 1980s, Taiwan’s toy industry boomed as foreign manufacturers flocked to the island to take advantage of the low wages and growing industrial capabilities. By 1987, toy export values reached US$1 billion. But that phenomena only lasted for about two decades when foreign toy companies took their product orders to China and Southeast Asia because of the rising local wages and a shortage of blue collar laborers in Taiwan.

We arrived in Taipei a couple of days ago so I’m still discovering the town. Btw, this is my first trip to Asia. But I’m liking it here. And our Airbnb hosts, Sarah and Ken, are absolutely wonderful.

My jet lag is slowly fading away which means that there’ll be more posts soon.

So, here are my first impressions of Taipei…

1. Taipei 101 – The building (509.2m) was officially classified as the world’s tallest in 2004, and it remained such until the completion of Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2009.

You can go to the top or just stroll around the shopping centre inside.

2) The town is very traditional and new at the same time.

3) The traffic is quite heavy so it’s quite noisy too…

4) There are some fascinating temples that you can visit for free…

5) The food is good although I struggle with chopsticks… But that’s just me!

6) And I like the town at night…

There are so many things that I want to do here. Let’s just hope that I’ll have enough time…

Published by natalyadrian

I am a writer, a teacher, a translator and a digital nomad. View all posts by natalyadrian