Taiwan

Biting_midge_on_human_skin, CSIRO_ScienceImage. CCx3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

It’s a buggy life

A couple days after my family joined me in Taiwan, we went swimming in the rural mountains of Miaoli County, where my mom grew up. In the 15 minutes between emerging from the water and putting on insect repellent, my 10-year-old kid racked up over 100 intensely itchy insect bites. “We didn’t see any mosquitoes!” …

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Beitou hot springs: snake oil baths?

I arrived in Beitou early on a drizzly Wednesday morning, exhausted and achy from a cramped and sleepless 14-hour flight. Fortunately, the apartment I booked had a hot springs tub and piped the jade green “magical waters” right from the source, flowing from the volcanic Thermal Valley. Hoo boy, was I looking forward to that! …

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Raohe night market (饒河夜市): a concentrated chaos of Taiwanese street food, young folk, middle-aged tourists and sellers hawking cheap knockoffs

No visit to Taiwan is complete without a visit to a night market. Despite my exhaustion from jet lag and walking around Taipei in sweltering summer heat, last night I made it to the Raohe night market (饒河夜市) next to the Songshan MRT and local train station and was pumped enough by all the activity …

Raohe night market (饒河夜市): a concentrated chaos of Taiwanese street food, young folk, middle-aged tourists and sellers hawking cheap knockoffs Read More »