I spent December in Taiwan, my second favourite Asian country (Singapore and Hong Kong being #3and4), including a week in Hualien on the cloudy windy east coast and a week in Taichung in the central West coast, away from my usual southern base camp of Kaohsiung.
Taiwan feels somewhat similar to Malaysia due to its mountains and large number of Chinese, but also different due to being quite Japanese in nature whereas Malaysia is more European-style multicultural.
It was my first time in Hualien but I loved it. The west of Taiwan is quite busy, industrial and can get air pollution both self-generated and blown in from its communist shithole neighbour, whereas the east coast is next to the Pacific and protected from China's pollution by the central mountains. This does mean quite a rainy climate though, which is fine for Brits used to no dry season.
Taiwan feels somewhat similar to Malaysia due to its mountains and large number of Chinese, but also different due to being quite Japanese in nature whereas Malaysia is more European-style multicultural.
It was my first time in Hualien but I loved it. The west of Taiwan is quite busy, industrial and can get air pollution both self-generated and blown in from its communist shithole neighbour, whereas the east coast is next to the Pacific and protected from China's pollution by the central mountains. This does mean quite a rainy climate though, which is fine for Brits used to no dry season.
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