Betel Nut Highways and Night Market Dreams: Circling Taiwan's Electric Island
My Taiwanese mother always said I was too American. My American father said I was too Taiwanese. So naturally, I decided to motorcycle around the entire island to figure out what the hell I actually was. 1,200 kilometers, one beat-up Yamaha, and enough 7-Eleven rice balls to feed a small army.
My Taiwanese mother always said I was too American. My American father said I was too Taiwanese. So naturally, I decided to motorcycle around the entire island to figure out what the hell I actually was. 1,200 kilometers, one beat-up Yamaha, and enough 7-Eleven rice balls to feed a small army.
Taipei: The Familiar Strange (Days 1-3)
Landing at Taoyuan Airport with my US passport felt like cheating. The immigration officer spoke to me in English until she saw my face, then switched to Mandarin, then back to English when I fumbled my tones. Welcome to my identity crisis, now with jet lag.
Just Sleep Capsule Hotel in Ximending (TWD 1,100/$35 per night) - because nothing says "finding yourself" like sleeping in a futuristic pod. Ximending at 11 PM is pure sensory overload: K-pop blasting from stores still open, the smell of stinky tofu battling with fried chicken cutlets, teenagers dressed like anime characters come to life.
Taipei 101 and Other Obligations
Yes, I went to Taipei 101 (TWD 600 for observation deck, open 11 AM-9 PM). The world's fastest elevator (basement to 89th floor in 37 seconds) made my ears pop into another dimension. But the real view was watching local families ignore the skyline to take selfies with the golden damper ball - a 660-ton sphere that keeps the building stable during typhoons and earthquakes. Peak Taiwan: engineering marvel as photo op.
Din Tai Fung in the basement (original location, expect 45-minute wait) - ordered xiaolongbao because it's legally required. Watching the dumpling masters through the glass window, each pleat precisely folded, I wondered if there's a metaphor about perfection in there. TWD 220 for 10 dumplings that ruin all other dumplings forever.
The Real Taipei: Night Markets and Narrow Alleys
Raohe Night Market (6 PM-midnight): Skip Shilin (tourist trap). Raohe is where locals go. Black pepper buns from the stall at the entrance (TWD 50) - crispy bottom, molten pork inside, third-degree burns guaranteed. The fortune teller told me I'd find what I'm looking for "where the mountains meet the sea." Thanks, that narrows it down to... the entire island.
Motorbike acquisition: Ridey Rental in Zhongshan (TWD 600/day for 125cc Yamaha). International license required. The owner, Kevin, didn't blink when I said I wanted to circle the island. "Counterclockwise," he said, "mountains on your right, ocean on your left. Better views." Handed me a helmet that had seen better decades.
The Northeast Coast: Jiufen to Hualien (Days 4-6)
Taroko National Park
Free entry, open 24/7. Parked at the visitor center, hiked Shakadang Trail (4.5km, easy). The river runs turquoise through white marble that took 250 million years to push up from the sea floor. Met a group of Aboriginal Truku elders maintaining the trail. One spoke English: "This was our hunting ground. Now it's everyone's photo spot." He wasn't bitter, just stating facts.
Highway 2 hugs the coastline like it's afraid of falling into the Pacific. First stop: Jiufen, the mountain town that inspired Spirited Away. Or didn't, depending on who you ask.
Jiufen Old Street: Arrive by 8 AM to beat tour buses from Taipei. The narrow alleyways, red lanterns, and tea houses do look like the animated film, if you squint through the crowds. A-Mei Tea House (TWD 300 for tea set) - sit on the balcony, watch fog roll over the mountains, pretend you're in a Miyazaki film.
Bitou Cape Trail (1.5km, free): The easternmost point of Taiwan. Wind so strong it reshapes your face. An old man flying a kite in a typhoon-level gale grinned at me. "Every day," he shouted over the wind. "Sixty years." The kite looked homemade, patched with duct tape and determination.
Taroko Gorge: Marble Canyons and Near-Death Experiences
The road to Taroko (Highway 8) requires faith in physics and whoever painted those lane lines. Marble cliffs rise straight up on one side, drop straight down on the other. Tour buses play chicken around blind corners.
Eternal Spring Shrine: The most photographed spot in Taroko, dedicated to workers who died building the highway. Waterfall runs through the temple. Beautiful and haunting - 226 people died carving this road through marble mountains.
Hualien City: Dongdamen Night Market (5 PM-midnight) - Aboriginal cuisine meets Chinese meets Japanese meets pure Taiwanese chaos. Tried wild boar sausage (TWD 100), millet wine (TWD 150), and something called "coffin bread" (TWD 120) - deep-fried bread stuffed with seafood chowder. The vendor laughed at my face: "Not what you expected?" Nothing here is.
The imposing Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, with its distinctive blue octagonal roof representing the eight principles of conduct.
Taroko Gorge's massive marble cliffs and turquoise waters create one of Taiwan's most dramatic landscapes.
The East Coast: Where the Mountains Meet the Sea (Days 7-9)
Highway 11 from Hualien to Taitung - this is what the fortune teller meant. Mountains literally tumble into the Pacific. Pulled over every 10 minutes just to stare.
Sanxiantai (TWD 10 parking): Eight-arched bridge to a small island that looks like a dragon's spine. Local legend says three immortals rested here. At sunrise, I was the only person on the island. Crabs scuttled over volcanic rock, and I thought maybe the immortals were onto something.
Dulan Village: Stopped for gas, stayed for the vibe. This tiny Aboriginal village became a surfer/artist haven. Sugar Factory Café (in an actual abandoned sugar factory) serves coffee that could wake the dead (TWD 120). The barista, covered in traditional tattoos and wearing board shorts, talked about preserving Amis culture through art. His gallery next door sells paintings on driftwood.
Taitung City: Fewer tourists, more real life. Tiehua Music Village (free to walk around) - old railway warehouses turned into craft markets and live music venues. Caught an Aboriginal band mixing traditional drums with electric guitar. The lead singer switched between Mandarin, Taiwanese, and Puyuma. I understood maybe 40% but felt 100%.
Identity isn't geography. It's all the places you stop between where you started and where you end up. It's the stale candy from a stranger, the perfect dumpling pleat, the wind that reshapes you at the edge of the world.
The South: Tropical Endings (Days 10-12)
Rounded the southern tip at Kenting. Taiwan goes full tropical here - palm trees, beaches, and resort prices.
Kenting National Park: Eluanbi Lighthouse (TWD 40) - Taiwan's southernmost point. The white lighthouse against blue sky looks like a postcard, because it is one. They sell them in the gift shop. Bought three.
Houbihu Fish Market: Where Kenting locals eat. Point at what looks good, they'll cook it. Sashimi platter for TWD 300 that would cost TWD 1,000 at the resorts. The vendor threw in free fish soup "because you look hungry." I always look hungry.
Longpan Park Tip
Free, unmarked, spectacular. Grassland cliffs drop into the Pacific. No fences, no safety rails, just you and the edge of the island. Wind-sculpted grass ripples like green water. A wedding photographer was shooting a couple at the cliff edge. The bride's dress became a sail. Nobody looked concerned.
The West Coast: Industrial Poetry (Days 13-15)
Highway 17 north through Kaohsiung, Tainan, back to Taipei. The "ugly" coast, they say. Factories, fish farms, and concrete. But there's beauty in the honest mess of it.
Kaohsiung: Formosa Boulevard MRT Station - the "Dome of Light" is 4,500 glass panels telling Taiwan's story in kaleidoscope. It's in a subway station. Because why not make commuting transcendent?
Lotus Pond (free): Dragon and Tiger Pagodas - enter through the dragon's mouth, exit through the tiger's. Supposed to turn bad luck to good. An old woman at the tiger's mouth handed out candy to everyone exiting. "Extra luck," she said. The candy was stale. The gesture wasn't.
Tainan: Taiwan's ancient capital, where temples outnumber convenience stores.
Anping Tree House (TWD 50): A warehouse reclaimed by banyan trees. Roots and walls merged into something between architecture and nature. Like finding Angkor Wat in an industrial district. Kids played hide-and-seek in rooms made of roots.
Shennong Street at night: Qing Dynasty street turned hipster paradise. Art galleries in 200-year-old houses, cocktail bars in former rice shops. Bought handmade incense from a shop where the owner's great-grandfather sold the same product to Japanese colonizers. History has layers here.
Full Circle: What I Found (Day 16)
Returned the Yamaha to Kevin with 1,247km added. He inspected it like a concerned parent. "You found it?" he asked. "Where mountains meet sea?"
I found this: Taiwan is contradiction held together by convenience stores and scooter exhaust. It's Aboriginal culture surviving in electronic music, night markets next to Michelin restaurants, temples sharing walls with KTVs. It's my mother's Taiwan and my tourist Taiwan and neither and both.
The fortune teller was right, but also wrong. Mountains meet sea everywhere on this island. Maybe that's the point. You can't separate the elements. Can't untangle what makes it Taiwan.
Identity isn't geography. It's all the places you stop between where you started and where you end up. It's the stale candy from a stranger, the perfect dumpling pleat, the wind that reshapes you at the edge of the world.
The Trip in Numbers
Identity Crisis Status: Ongoing, but with better snacks
Maya Chen-Williams is a freelance writer based in Portland when she's not circling islands trying to figure herself out. She's already planning her next loop, clockwise this time. ■
