- Hello from Taiwan. (upbeat music) ♪ I said let go ♪ ♪ I ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ I said let go ♪ ♪ I ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ - I've made it to Taiwan,
thanks to Taiwan Tourism who is hosting me for this trip. It's my first time here, and I'm going to be spending
the next week exploring and road tripping around the
main island with a guide, and I am so excited because
the itinerary looks incredible. I'm currently in Taipei,
which is the capital city. It's really pretty. It's surrounded by these
rolling, green hills. And yesterday after I got
in, I went on a little walk and hiked up to an area
called Elephant Mountain that has really nice city skyline views. I found that Taipei
has a bit of everything depending on what you're looking for. There are both new and
old areas of the city so you get everything from
luxury shopping and skyscrapers to historic temples like Lungshan Temple, which is nearly 300 years old and decorated with beautiful dragons. Taipei is also home to Taipei 101, the iconic skyscraper
of the city's skyline. This was the tallest building
in the world from 2004 to 2010, and the design
is really interesting because the building is
stabilized by a ball. It has the largest
damper ball in the world, suspended from the 92nd to
the 87th floor that sways to offset movements caused by
strong winds and earthquakes. And the observatory is really nice. It has a very sleek aesthetic with little dreamy sets to take pictures. (upbeat music) Around sunset, we headed
over to Dadaocheng, which is a vibrant historic neighborhood buzzing with people and shops. This was at the tail end of
the Lantern Festival, too, so there were lanterns everywhere. This was probably my
favorite area of Taipei. And after a stroll past the
shops, we cut a couple blocks over to the Pier 5 Riverside Wharf, which is full of food and drink vendors overlooking the river,
and it's the perfect spot to grab some food and watch the sunset. (upbeat music) This morning we're at the Bitoujiao Trail, which is this beautiful hiking
area right on the coast. It has this staircase that's
rolling through the hills, and it's one of the most
scenic places I've ever been. Before this trip, when
I thought of Taiwan, I just thought of the city of Taipei, so I really underestimated
how much nature there is here, especially on the east coast of the main island where we're driving. 2/3 of this island is forested mountains so there are tons of hiking
trails and huge waterfalls and a lot of scenic coastline. One morning we pulled over
to watch the waves crashing into the shore and there
was this lone fisherman standing out on a rock
repeatedly getting sprayed, and he seemed totally cool with it lie this didn't faze him at all. Taiwan also has nine national parks. We spent a day exploring
Taroko National Park, which is so beautiful. We visited Qingshui Cliff, which is known for its
incredible ocean colors, and it really is spectacular
the way the bright blue abruptly changes to deep navy here. ♪ I just wanna bring you down, down ♪ (singer vocalizing)
(uplifting electronic music) ♪ Oh, I ♪ ♪ I just wanna bring you down, down ♪ (uplifting electronic music) - I am currently staying at
the CHU Resort and FLOW Retreat which is a resort and wellness retreat with an environment
designed to help you unplug, to de-stress, to disconnect. Everything has a very zen,
minimalist, earthy design. They have these beautiful cottage rooms. They have beautiful hot
springs you can relax in. They even offer art therapy here. Yesterday I got to take a
piece of snake stripped stone, which is a local marble found here, and I smashed it up with a hammer. And then I took the
pieces and assembled them with dried botanicals to make a coaster. It was so nice and it had me
thinking, when is the last time I did something creative
with no expectations? Because like, making
videos and taking pictures, there's definitely
something creative to that, but I always have an expectation for it like I'm making something
I'm going to post so I have like these things
that have to be perfect or have to be done a certain way. But I can't remember the last
time I just sat down and like, did some art or created
without any pressure on myself. And it reminded me that
I need to do things like that more often. And then after that, I
headed over to FLOW Retreat and had a sound therapy
session, which was incredible. The birds are chirping,
the grounds are beautiful. It's a wonderful morning. Next, we headed further south to Taitung to go cycling along Mr. Brown Avenue. This is a road reserved
exclusively for cyclists that runs through rice
fields, and it was so lovely. And then we headed into town to grab lunch at a restaurant called Vegetarian Boy. And speaking of food in Taiwan, for starters, all of the food is good. We went to Fu Hang Soy Milk, which is a Michelin-starred
breakfast restaurant in Taipei. Highly recommend adding
it to your itinerary. It is very popular, though,
so prepare to wait in line. But another thing that's a
must is the night markets. You'll find them all over, and they're a collection
of street food vendors with the best food. And it's also a great way
to sample a variety of foods because a lot of vendors will
let you choose your portions. (upbeat music) Our last stop on the trip was
the sunny city of Kaohsiung, and I could tell right away that this was a cool city to live in. Like, they transformed the
old shipping warehouses on the waterfront into an
art center and a food hall. There's beaches to hang
out at, cool hotels. I stayed at H2O Hotel, which was super nice and
had great city views. And for sunset, we took the
ferry across the harbor. This is like a five-minute
ferry ride. It's super fast. And then we walked up to
the Kaohsiung Lighthouse, and this was one of my favorite
stops of the entire trip. This lighthouse is gorgeous. I took so many photos here, and it's up on a hill so
you get incredible views across the ocean, across the skyline. It's a great place for sunset. And then after the sun went down, fireworks started going across the river, and it was the perfect sendoff
for my final night in Taiwan. Well, this is the end of my trip. I hope you've enjoyed
seeing some of Taiwan. It's so beautiful. One of the things that
stood out to me the most during my time here,
it's something very small but the day that we were
bicycling and stopped for lunch, when we left our bikes
outside of the restaurant I asked my guide, "Are they okay here? Do we need to lock them up?" And she was like, "Oh, no,
theft isn't a problem here." And then in the coming days, I noticed as we walked through neighborhoods
and down city streets that people don't lock
their bikes up here. Like, you just leave your
bike outside a restaurant or outside your house and it's
totally fine even at night. And there are so many places in the world that you would not do that. Like most of the cities I've lived in, you would not leave a
bike out on the street that's not locked up. And I just thought that was really nice and speaks to the culture
and the community here. Thanks for watching. I hope you all are doing well, and I'll see you next time, bye. (upbeat electronic music)
