Letters to Taiwan: Day 1

Dear Taiwan,

On the morning of the 8th of March, we looked out of our plane windows into absolutely nothing. We were surrounded by so much fog that we couldn't even see the ground when our plane touched down. But somehow, I still felt excited for what's to come.

We stepped out of the airport into cooling mists, and hopped onto a bus bound for Taichung. The bus ride was long, but in the midst of some shut-eye, I managed to catch a glimpse of your beautiful landscapes. Something like 2 hours passed by before we finally got off the bus, with weather that was cold, but not too cold. Before our Airbnb check-in time at 3pm, we had hours open for us to explore. So we chucked our luggages at the Taichung Train Station's baggage deposit, and set out for the town.

If I were to write a list of things I love the most about you, Taiwan, it would be your fascinating array of drinks, microwavable food, snacks, and everything else in your convenience stores. Everywhere we went, we came across convenience stores. And what's better is how cheap everything there is. I never knew that this legendary milk tea came in so many other flavours, but I probably drank at least one bottle every single day. A pity we couldn't figure out what the brand name was.

When you don't travel for prolonged periods of time, you start to forget that not every country is just like Singapore. Even the flora and fauna that grew around you was stunningly refreshing. 

Taiwan, your people sure knew how to embrace animals. We visited a couple of restaurants and cafes with house pets freely walking around. Here's one of the cat that just lounged around in a ramen place we had lunch at. Guests are even allowed to pet them!

We had a first taste of the many night markets on the first night, and the word bustling doesn't even begin to describe it. The crowd was immense, the food was amazing, and the atmosphere was great. Practically everything that we could find there was so different from the food that we usually get in Singapore. 

Now, I can't even remember the exact foods we ate, but these handmade taro chips were one of them. We also had a go at a couple different milk teas, and devoured lots of fried mushrooms and chicken.

I felt pretty overwhelmed by the end of the first day, thanks to not getting enough sleep on the plane, and walking around non-stop the entire day. But experiencing the night market was the perfect way to end a tiring day.