Taiwan - Lost in Translation

After at most one day in Taiwan, it was clear to both of us: this is the most advanced and well-developed country we have ever seen. Everything runs smoothly and organized, without appearing programmed. The people are friendly, without being intrusive in any way (if you don't talk to anyone, you can easily travel through Taiwan without speaking). Everything is clean, not a graffiti or tag, no trash lying around, you could eat off the floor in public toilets (we have eaten at dirtier tables)... Simply incredible. The train system is unique and, as far as we can tell, always on time. 10:14 a.m. does not mean 10:13 a.m. or 10:15 a.m. and certainly not 10:14 a.m. and 30 seconds. It means 10:14 a.m. (and yes, dear Swiss readers, you can't do that as well...). They should send someone from the Berlin Transport Company or the German Rail here... Oh, and high-speed trains are really high-speed trains. They can not only theoretically travel over 300 km/h, they actually do... Furthermore, you feel so safe here that you almost start to be afraid of it... And the Taiwanese love tea, in all imaginable forms. We haven't found a pub or bar, but there are neighborhoods where every second house is a tea shop... Furthermore, they like lotteries. And to combat tax evasion, they have come up with a great system many years ago: every receipt has a lottery number and each receipt participates in a monthly lottery. The prizes from the lottery are substantial and therefore encourage everyone to keep their receipts. Not stupid at all! ...so you can't even buy a paperclip without receiving a receipt. (Yes, dear Mr. Alexis Tsipras, it really works!!) Nevertheless, there are enough people who don't keep their receipts... that's why there are collection boxes everywhere, counted by volunteers. If there is a win, the revenue is donated to charitable causes. We are thrilled!

So, now let's stop being enthusiastic, because where there is light, there is also shadow. Although the perfection sun stands so high here that the shadows are short...BUT there is first of all the writing, which doesn't drive you directly insane (actually it does!!!), you simply can't read it! Many Taiwanese actually speak English quite well, but there is a lack of translations everywhere. This is particularly frustrating when you're hungry and can't read anything! Ahhrr! (Photo of a normal map is provided). When you see what is offered at the countless street food stands, you actually don't want to eat a snail, an octopus, stinky tofu (I better not describe how it smells) or a snake, especially for breakfast. And then you have a problem and morale is low. (We didn't think that we would miss eggs for breakfast so much!!) For the mentioned reasons, we have agreed to eat vegetarian here anyway. And when you finally find a place with an English translation, the ordering process goes something like this: "I would like the garden salad." "Okay." "There's no meat in it, right?" "It's with meat." "Mmm, okay, then the vegetable soup, that's surely without meat." "It's with meat." "Okay, is there anything without meat?" ...long pause... "French fries!" "Okay, then the French fries." The Taiwanese have a huge desire for meat! There was hardly anything without...And due to the additional language barriers, we have also lost some weight. The longing for cheese sandwiches and Bismarck rolls has grown enormously again! But we have tried some funny things (also with meat) that we didn't really want to know what they were, but overall we didn't really warm up to the food. So...deductions in the overall grade!

If you're looking for natural wonders or architectural highlights, you will surely be disappointed in Taiwan. But it's great to be here, and there are definitely beautiful natural sights. First, we were in the south, in Tainan, the former capital. Beautiful city with museums and lively markets. You can see old Dutch, Japanese, and Chinese influences. From here, we took a day trip to the Alisan National Park. The journey alone was exciting. Going higher and higher into the mountains, passing tea plantations. We had never seen that before. In the park, we took a short hike through a very old forest consisting of cedar and cypress trees up to 2,500 years old. It was foggy, making it somehow mystical. From Tainan, we continued to Taichung. The city used to be the epitome of "Made in Taiwan". There's not much left of that, but there's a university in almost every third house, so there are many young people, a great night market, and a museum of fine arts. But even this city quickly becomes exhausting. From here, we took a nice trip to Sun Moon Lake. It wasn't bad, but it won't be a lasting memory.

Then we went on to Taipei, where we wanted to spend the second half of our short stay in Taiwan...more about that in the next report.

Taiwan is highly recommended and we had a good start in a great country! Well...except for the food problem. So in conclusion: "Taiwan with Bismarck rolls" - that would be perfect! 😊