Returning to Taiwan after 3 years affected by the Covid 19 epidemic (Taiwan only opened its border on October 13, 2022), I was really impressed not only by the unique beauty of this place, but also by accidentally knowing super interesting facts. The “mystery” gradually discovered by experiences was what Taiwan scores with a tourist who loves novelty like me.
When the trip in Korea ended, my partner and I decided to book a direct flight to Taiwan for 3 reasons: it’s been a long time since we visited Taiwan (in 3 years due to a lockdown by Covid 19 epidemic). Moreover, the flight from Korea to Taiwan is extremely convenient and easy, taking only a few hours. Finally, to be honest, I missed Taiwanese milk tea, as well as some of their signature dishes. As usual, this trip combined two purposes, tourism and also doing our market survey.
#1 “Oh my god, Taiwanese milk tea doesn’t come from Taiwan!!!”
One of my biggest motivations and special impressions when it comes to Taiwan is milk tea. Their signature milk tea brand has made a global mark, and has received too much love and appreciation from visitors for its excellent taste. Even when I moved to Pandora, I was introduced to an item with the symbol of a cup of milk tea, like a “national costume” of this country. They were very cute, especially for a milk tea “addict” like me.
For decades, I have always kept to myself the concept of a cup of Taiwanese milk tea with the highest quality and best taste in the world. During the time before this trip, I thoroughly introduced to my partner how delicious and special bubble milk tea in Taiwan was. However, when attending a party of Hawee – Ho Chi Minh Business Women’s Association, I was “disillusioned” when I learned the truth about milk tea cups that I always appreciate: 80% of Taiwan’s milk tea ingredients are imported from Vietnam.
This information was heard from a business woman at this party, who specializes in producing milk tea powder. Her business is the source of distribution of milk tea powder, after production is completed, it will be exported to her largest market in the world, Taiwan. It can be said with certainty that almost all the local or slightly famous bubble tea shops buy their ingredients from her. Actually, I was shocked to know this fact, because I always kept in mind that the typical Taiwanese milk tea, that flavor, that fragrance, could only be made from “ingredients that can only be found in this country”.
However, I reaffirm that Taiwan’s milk tea is still a famous global brand and still retains its distinctive flavor. The remaining 20% still retain the unique vibes of Taiwanese milk tea in the way it is processed, mixed, combined with esoteric recipes. Small and medium-sized brands need to economize the source of goods and materials, so they choose to import mass-produced milk tea powder made in Vietnam.
Fortunately, according to my research, there were still 2 Taiwanese brands that produce milk tea with machinery lines, 100% Taiwanese flavor. I was recommended by my local client and went there to fully enjoy it.
#2 Impressive creativity blends with artistic beauty in Taiwan
One thing that I almost remembered during my trip to Taiwan, is that the creativity and art were extremely top-notch even though this was a rather small country. With their artistic mind and the ability to arrange extremely skillfully in design, they created a great overall picture, with the interference of buildings possessing traditional beauty, and modern buildings with a design oriented style without losing the “connection wire” to each other. People would not realize the gap between rich and poor, or urban-rural thanks to the deliberate, purposeful design from the beginning, to create the most relevant and harmonious scene. For someone who pays attention to design and hidden art in each object and space like me, this detail was a really great “gift”.
And yet, Taiwan was also “the land of art” in my eyes when there were areas dedicated to art. I could only exclaim “It’s so beautiful!”, “Extremely amazing!!”. To say a little bit, I am an “addict” to the beauty of art, in which Korea and Taiwan were two countries that really impressed me, because their art was developed with the ability to be creative in amazing levels. This has evolved from our distributors, with showrooms and displays designed to mix and match, creating visual effects like a miniature museum. I also found contemporary beauty in many art collections. In other words, coming to Taiwan, small to large details, captivated me and made me immersed in an extremely special art world.
In particular, I had a look at a special product of paper, which I consider to be one of the “peaks” of artistic creation. When I first saw this, I thought it was made of materials like porcelain and ceramic. But no, they were made entirely of cardboard, then shaped and held together with glue. Overall, it looked quite like the Japanese art of origami, when the maker would cut the paper so well, keep the lines, then glue according to the instructions, finally creating such a structure. Depending on the ability of each person, they would produce large or small results, but it was extremely certain.
I really had to admire this creativity. Having traveled around the world, learnt the art and design styles of many countries, but Taiwan was the first place that gave me the experience with this unexpected product. I also researched and talked with the creator of this unique paper-cutting style, and he was always ready to protect his “creative work” throughout the Asia-Pacific region, and at the same time affirmed that this was the first creative model appearing in the art world.
#3 Place “must go” in Taiwan: Underground Book Street bookstore
Before recounting my experience, I have a little advice for those who are going to Taiwan: MUST GO TO THIS BOOKSTORE AT LEAST ONCE! This bookstore was not just a place to sell stationery anymore, but really became a must-visit destination when it comes to Taiwan, besides enjoying a cup of milk tea and their signature food.
This bookstore, I don’t know what to say other than exclaim: “So beautiful, so creative.” I could walk into it without ever wanting to leave. I was also recommended a lot about this destination before my trip to Taiwan. In particular, everyone here was very civilized, lined up neatly, selected books, read books and then put them in their original positions. All created a perfect “chain” of consciousness, making everyone feel comfortable and fully enjoy this space.
I have been to many countries, and also spent time visiting a few bookstores to understand the design features, order books with the owner’s intentions. I was quite impressed with Korean and Taiwanese bookstores. In Korea, the bookstore scale was very large, spacious, and had many titles in various genres. In Taiwan, the delicate, calculated and arranged design with its own creative intention was thing that I would remember forever and would definitely come back to next time. If it were big and wide, anyone with many books could create a bookstore, but to own such a unique and memorable layout, very few people could do it.
#4 Taiwan night market with special experiences
I have to say, the food night market that I visited on my recent trip to Taiwan was very well-organized, with the best quality and delicious food out of all the night markets I went to in Korea, Phuket (Thailand), Vietnam,… This was also a food night market that I was highly recommend by Google, friends and local customers.
Most especially, there was a super delicious dumpling at the night market that I promised myself to definitely come back to Taiwan to enjoy this taste again. The dumpling was made from glutinous rice flour, inside was a salted egg custard (perfect choice for an addict of salted eggs like me), then rolled and fried, without oil. It was not too fancy but it reminded me forever and was one of the highlights of this trip to Taiwan.
Promise to come back to Taiwan as soon as possible
The combined trip of business and tourism after 3 years helped me realize how amazing Taiwan was. The weather these days was so beautiful, very suitable for walking around to visit. The epidemic situation was still gradually being controlled, so we had to wear masks when going out, but not when sitting indoor.
Because I have been to Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia so many times, when I came to Taiwan, the novelty stimulated my love of travel. Not only have I discovered new interesting things, I still felt at home in Taiwan. Here, people did not speak too much English, so in communication language, I had more difficulty. However, this somewhat helped me recall a few ways of speaking in Chinese (I have learned and spoken Chinese myself), so I was quite happy and excited.
There is one activity that I want to mention here, releasing lanterns. As a typical culture that any tourist should try once, but because in Taipei, it was not close to the light drop area, so I did not try this experience. However, due to the negative effects on the environment, I personally would not participate in releasing the lights in the future.
Overall, Taiwan immediately made sense to me. With emotional experiences, interesting facts, I wanted to come back to Taiwan as soon as possible. As a small country with just over 25 million inhabitants, this place possesses too many secrets waiting for curious tourists like me to discover gradually. Taiwan will be one of the top destinations on my wishlist destination in the near future!
