TAIWAN TRAVEL TIPS: 13 Things to Know Before You Go

in this video we're going to tell you everything you need to go to Taiwan all right let's go the first thing you need to know is just a little bit of background about Taiwan and Taiwan is a lot more than just a small crowded island with electronics factories fueled by Boba yes there are amazing high mountain ranges beautiful beaches stunning national parks many with hot springs there's amazing food here and amazing shopping too so there's something for everyone to see in Taiwan now uh Taiwan is often confused with China is Taiwan China is Taiwan part of China from a traveler's perspective Taiwan is not a part of China this is a controversial issue and so I'm not really going to dive into the controversy surrounding it but from a country name perspective uh the official name of Taiwan is the Republic of China R and Mainland China is the People's Republic of China when you're coming to Taiwan you don't deal with the government of the People's Republic of China you deal with the government of Taiwan if you need a Visa or any of those sorts of things now the other confusing point just to get out of the way is that Taiwan and Thailand are not the same place Thailand is the Southeast Asian country home to mango sticky rice and Pad Thai the residents of Thailand are known as taies the residents of Taiwan are known as Taiwanese and so is the food number two to really understand Taiwan I think you have to understand its history and this is going to be the really Speedy condensed version of it aboriginals have lived in Taiwan for centuries but in the area of colonization the Dutch and the Spanish were the first Europeans to establish colonies here and give it the name Formosa meaning beautiful Taiwan became a province of China during the Ching Dynasty in the 1800s the Ching Dynasty seated Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after being defeated in the Sino Japanese war and so it was during the area of the Japanese Colonial time that actually this building was built back here this is the red building in sheiman it is one of Tai's first uh covered markets and you'll actually see a lot of construction like this throughout the city and a lot of Japanese influence from those colonial times Japan ruled Taiwan until 1945 what happened in 1945 uh World War II happened in 1945 at the same time the Communists took over mainland China and the previous government of China before the communist or the People's Republic took over the previous government they fled from mainland China to here this island and that's why this island is called the Republic of China because the former government that was over there came over here and said this place is the official China and they hope to basically regroup and reassert themselves and then go back and conquer the mainland so I'm pretty sure the government that's in Taiwan right now has given up on that plan of like regrouping and taking over mainland China I think they're really just focusing on making Taiwan the best place that it can be I don't really know cuz I didn't ask them myself but that's just how it appears but either way this place really has an identity of it it own um formed by these European influences the Japanese influences and certainly the influences from the rest of the West uh including America that have been a significant part of uh Taiwanese culture and the formation of this island enough about the past let's get you oriented today Taiwan is generally shaped like a potato and it's divided into four General regions in Northern Taiwan you have taipe the capital where I'm sitting right now the Hub of Center and commerce and culture one third of all people that live in Taiwan live in the city of Taipei in central Taiwan the biggest city there is Tai Chung it is the second largest city in Taiwan you'll find Scenic mountains and lakes in particular Sun Moon Lake Southern Taiwan is known for its beaches the biggest city in southern Taiwan is Kaa shung it is taiwan's third largest city it is a significant industrial city home to a major sea port another city to check out in southern Taiwan is tyan it's considered like the ancient city in Taiwan one of the oldest population centers tyan is also known as the Food City generally regarded to have some of the best food uh on the whole island and the fourth and final region Eastern Taiwan cut off from the rest of the island by tall mountains makes this area remote you'll want to go to Eastern Taiwan to see the nature let's talk about getting into Taiwan there are three major airports that you might be flying into in this island the first one is taipe T International Airport acronym code PPE it is 40 km from the city center of Taipei it's the biggest International Airport here it's where you're going to find major airlines coming in from North America Europe and points afar the second biggest airport down in the South kaung Airport uh mostly flights to big cities in Asia and then the third big airport is also in Taipei uh TSA airport San airport uh that one has mostly domestic flights within Taiwan and also flights to a few other close by Asia cities like Tokyo Hana the main Taiwanese air carriers are Eva Airlines and China Airlines yes China Airlines is not the flag carrier of mainland China China Airlines is one of the flag carriers of Taiwan and with the whole like is Taiwan China or not you know they've been struggling with that name for a long time debating whether they should change it as not a great solution for them so right now it's definitely China Airlines the fifth thing to know is about getting around Taiwan and one of the best ways to get around the country is by the relatively new highspeed rail or the bullet train that they've built from taipe in the north to kaung in the South it is about 200 miles it'll take you just about 90 minutes on the fastest train fairs are about $50 US for adults you can get a 30% discount if you book them up to 5 days in advance uh there's also a slow speed train that'll take you along the Eastern side of the island not as fast but it is more Scenic uh if you're thinking about driving a car I'd advise you not to like don't run a car driving can be pretty rough and pretty aggressive around here if you want to get around buy car that you will need if you want to go into like the national parks or things like that um rent one with a driver um it's a fairly common practice around here any hotel you're staying at would be happy to give you advice on some chur and Driver Services we've done it before it's a great way to get around for the day in the countryside the sixth thing to know before we go to Taiwan is about the weather and in the summer probably the spring and the fall it's generally kind of hot and humid uh in the winter it can be pretty cool and pleasant the north where Taipei is is generally uh Rainier the South it has less rain known for its beaches it can actually get cold in Taiwan up in the mountains it can get down in like the 40s Fahrenheit when it's windy it's actually kind of nice maybe not for my audio but that keeps the heat away you're not really going to need any like super cold weather clothes though I will say uh if you look out of the people on the streets in the winter when it's a cold day they're going to be all bundled up cuz they're used to re really hot and so when it cools down a little bit they're wearing like parkas like they're in Antarctica and and then I I walk out like this um but if you're from a place that is even slightly cool uh when you come here you know uh this sort of short sleeves and uh you know open legs are probably going to be your friend though if you're going out into the for hiking or things like that make sure you bring some mosquito repel and even in the city they run around here a lot CU of the heat and humidity seven thing to know is about money and in terms of expenses we talked a lot about Japan so let's compare Taiwan to Japan uh Taiwan is significantly cheaper than Japan to do the same things and have the similar experience if you're eating at a street stall you might spend $1 Taiwan dollars or $3 us for a meal out there if you're eating at a mid-price restaurant uh like fast food restaurant maybe double that call it $200 Taiwanese dollars or $6 us for a really good bowl of noodles if you're eating at a high-end restaurant might be more might be500 Taiwanese dollars for your meal if it's a really Swanky one you can get really high-end and luxurious here you don't really have to though tipping isn't generally practiced um around uh Taiwan so you don't need to carry any extra money for those um annoying tips the eight thing to know before we go to Taiwan is about shopping and one of the most unique places to shop in Taiwan is in the Open Air Market some in the day some at night but vendors set up everywhere on the sidewalks um if you're in an Open Air Market and there's no price posted you can totally haggle the phrase you want know is TAA it's too expensive if you see a price posted like you're in a Department Store electronic store those are non-negotiable prices expect to pay the posted price if you do negotiate a price in a Street Market uh that's the cash price most of the street vendors won't take credit cards so have enough cash with you so you can actually pay them my favorite thing to bring back from Taiwan is tea the premium tea in Taiwan is truly delicious and you know what OC girl brought back from this trip a teapot for the premium tea so how do you know where the street Street Markets are for shopping well if you're wandering the city and you see lanterns that's a Surefire sign but most of them don't have lanterns a new thing a lot of markets are doing is they're putting up like digital entry gates to tell you what the street is so if you see like an entry gate at the front of the street that's a pretty good one to go down often they're the ones that are just the busiest or Google Maps is your friend you know shopping Street Night Market find awesome places to shop Chris thank you bye number nine hotels in Taiwan can really range from uh really seedy to really amazingly luxurious mattresses in hotel rooms are generally hard and I think it comes from the Asian tradition of like sleeping on a wood board don't worry you're not going to have a wood board but you are going to have a firm mattress if you're looking for a soft plush Western mattress then probably the Western chains marah Hilton Hyatt are going to be your Best Bets for that though do know that the Western chains um are going to be two to four times the price of what you would pay for a local local chain so if you want the local experience you know check out some of the local chains or go somewhere in the middle maybe check out some of the Japanese chains that are here that's a hotel I was staying out on this trip the mitsui Garden Hotel in Taipei um kind of like mid price and mid in the middle not run down and seidy not amazingly luxurious $200 a night is what I paid for a very centrally located hotel here in Taipei confusing point about the hotels is that they can have different names they can have one name in Chinese and then another name in English and so uh the locals may only recognize it by the Chinese name and not the English name so if you're coming from the airport or you're coming around town uh make sure you have the hotel name written in Chinese most hotels once you get there will often have a card that you can get from them it's like a take me to card that you can show to a taxi and it'll say in Chinese take me to my hotel this is the address number 10 let's talk a little bit more about mosquitoes you already know there's a lot of them and so you need to protect yourself from them and get some mosquito repell and if you didn't bring any with you that's okay you'll find them at like nearly every drug drugstore in Taiwan uh Watson's and cosmet are probably some of your best but you know what um cuz if you don't these are the days that we didn't you know we look and mosquito bite mosquito bite mosquito bite they are just all over and it's hot in the summer and so you don't want to cover up but you also don't want a lot of mosquito bites they also sell if you do get bites they also sell things uh at the drugstores that are like mosquito bite um itch reduction and they actually work really well not just to reduce the itch but like reduce the whole mosquito reaction so if you do get bitten by a lot head to one of the drugstores and get some mosquito itch cream and then get yourself some repellent for the next day you should know about the power that they use here in Taiwan it's 110 volt 60 HZ two-prong plug same as used in the US so if you're coming from the USA you're good to go with your electronics if you're coming from elsewhere you may need an adapter and by the way I am standing here in front of Guang haa digital Plaza this in Taipei is the largest electronics Marketplace all Under One Roof and the nearby s Trend mall if you are into Electronics or computers or things like that you'll definitely want to check out these two malls so talk about the food in Taiwan and they love to eat here because food is everywhere I mean you know how I know that they love to eat in Taiwan in their National Museum the two most popular things in the national museum a rock that's shaped like a piece of pork and a cabbage it's a piece of Jade that's shaped like cabbage like two rocks that look like food is what they put up as the things to to show so they love their food here all right so what should you eat when you are in Taipei popcorn chicken one of the like national dishes uh chicken that is deep fried in small pieces with some spicy chili powder on top uh something I've been seeing recently on this trip in like every night market is sweet potato balls these are deep fried sweet potato but not deep fried all the way through like a french fry they're like soft in the middle and pretty tasty um and you know to drink you should definitely get a milk tea it's like the national dish national drink of Taiwan I would say you can get it without Boba or you can get it with Boba these tapioca balls at the bottom then they give you big straw and you drink in the tapioca comes up and you chew it uh if you're eating out in the small restaurants in the country um they may only sell food and they may not sell drinks um and so in that case you'll want to like bring a drink with you to the small restaurant to make sure you actually have something to drink and uh if you're with kids you know definitely ask for kids bowls cuz nearly every restaurant will have them and they all seem to be these same ones these like bowls from from Ikea at sit down restaurants when all your food's been delivered they'll typically bring you your receipt or your bill this is how they gave it to us at this restaurant how much was this meal $1,221 Taiwanese dollars they will generally not take your payment at your table generally your payment is over at a counter as you leave so um just because they bring your bill doesn't mean they they want you to leave that's how it is in restaurant in the US right like when that bill comes to your table they're like please please pay and please leave now don't feel like you need to leave cuz you got your bill but if you get something that looks like this um know what that is take this to the cashier pay and then you'll be on your way for dessert in Taiwan definely try out some Shave Ice you'll find seasonal fruits on display this one's got kiwi watermelon and banana mango is also some of my favorite you'll find that in the summer the 13th thing to know is about drinking and the legal age to drink alcoholic beverages in Taiwan is 19 um but Taiwan does not really have a heavy drinking culture so you won't really find people drunk out on the streets uh and you don't really find that many bars I I think the number of bars in Taiwan is outnumbered by Boba te- shops likely 100 to1 like 100 t- shops to one bar uh and so in Taiwan you know if you're hanging out with a new acquaintance and they say to you like hey would you like to go get a drink they are more than likely talking about tea instead of uh a beer or alcoholic cocktail we fell explorers the last thing to know is I've got more videos if you're planning a trip to Taiwan you might enjoy some more of my videos You'll find here right on the screen there's also links the description below if you're planning a trip to Taipei definitely check out my city guide you'll find it right right here and as usual I won't say goodbye cuz I'll see you in the next video

Channel: Yellow Productions

Views: 27,041

Keywords: Yellow Productions, taiwan, taiwan travel, taiwan travel guide, visit taiwan

Id: y8mwxEYXvag

Length: 15min 41sec (941 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 21 2023