The article begins in an unusual place for a tourist.
“Last month, I found myself in Hsinchu Science Park, half an hour by high-speed train southwest of Taipei,” writes the author, Zoe Strimpel.
“Hsinchu is the home of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry […] ground zero for global supply of all the chips that make all our devices work.”
Not your usual tourism hotspot, then, although Strimpel explains that she’s “weirdly interested in infrastructure and industry” and although “little is visible to the naked eye, especially that of the tourist […] it was still exciting to set foot in this geopolitical-industrial nerve centre”.
So, definitely not a side trip made specifically to justify the story angle?
Fortunately for all of us who are not weirdly interested in infrastructure and industry, Strimpel writes, “Holidaying in Taiwan does not require a detour to the semiconductor science park”.
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However, “it does require a kind of doublethink: awareness, on the one hand, of the dangerous reality in the form of the constant threat of Chinese invasion, and on the other, appreciation that this lurking menace has the surprising effect of making the island a seize-the-moment, richly enjoyable place to visit.”
Sorry, what! Destinations Known has always found Taiwan a “richly enjoyable place to visit” – whatever the prevailing levels of tension – and we’re willing to bet it would be still, even if rapprochement were achieved tomorrow.
Strimpel does a little more probing – “Every person I asked said something along the lines of, ‘We are aware [of the threat of conflict], but we aren’t scared’” – but the rest of her article is a more straightforward travel piece, as she explores an island that is “a bit like Denmark, but more exotic”.
This was the third article on Taiwan by the author – a guest of the island’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs – for The Telegraph, the second having been published just before ex-British prime minister Liz Truss (she of the economically destructive 49 days in power) was due to visit Taipei.
In the earlier piece (“What war? Taiwan residents seemed in blissful denial when I recently visited”), our intrepid (on the cusp of) war reporter found that, “Daily life in the city is delightful. The people are friendly and generous, the atmosphere tranquil, even sleepy.
“People stroll relaxedly through the super-clean, surprisingly verdant streets, stopping in tiny cafes, serene shops and aromatic street food outlets.
“The young were nicely turned out and walked around, sipping [unfeasibly cheap] NT$2 bubble teas.”
What was she expecting? The Zombie Apocalypse?
Marvelling at the composure of people on “the so-called most dangerous island on earth” may not be quite as crass as encouraging readers to cruise the Arctic before all the sea ice has gone or visit the Amazon before all the trees are chopped down – if only because the act of taking a trip to Taiwan won’t make any difference to the wider political situation whereas journeys to environmentally sensitive places are likely to exacerbate their problems – but The Telegraph’s articles rightfully drew plenty of scorn on social media.
More tasteful was a feature published by The Atlantic detailing a trip taken last September, not long after the then speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, had ratcheted up tensions by visiting Taiwan.
“Upon landing, I found the Taiwan of my childhood summers largely unchanged. I felt silly for expecting otherwise,” writes Katherine Hu, in her account of perhaps her last trip to the land of her ancestors, to see her ailing grandmother (“I Went to Taiwan to Say Goodbye”).
“Almost everything was as I remembered – my grandmother’s 13th-floor apartment near Taipei’s bustling Shilin Night Market; the department store where my father’s family had run a small leather-goods shop; that one stall with gua bao, fluffy white buns stuffed with tender pork belly, and the owner who gets bossier each time I see her.”
Hu, too, addresses the elephant in the room. “At More Fine, an optical shop in the central district of Gongguan […] my father asked the owner why everyone seemed so calm. ‘It’s numbness,’ he called from the back of the shop. ‘What else is there to do’?”
For all their differences in style, both writers discover an island where life goes on pretty much as normal, with geopolitics little more than background noise for the Taiwanese – except for when visitors from overseas arrive and demand to know how they are coping.
Great escape
Another perennial flashpoint in Asia is the Korean demilitarised zone (DMZ) – and this, too, has a certain appeal for tourists.
So much so, in fact, that the “Best DMZ 3rd Infiltration Tunnel Tour From Seoul” ranks third in TripAdvisor’s just-released 2023 Top Experiences in Asia list.
The 1.6km-long (1 mile) tunnel, discovered by the South Korean military in 1978, had been dug to allow up to 30,000 soldiers an hour (by Seoul’s estimates) to cross from the North to the South in the event of an invasion.
A half-day tour from the South Korean capital that includes an inspection of the tunnel was bested in TripAdvisor’s list only by a “Thai Cooking Course”, in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and the “Ubud Tour – Best of Ubud”, in Bali.
Potter mania
Harry himself wasn’t there but Draco Malfoy was.
Standing in the capital’s Nerima ward, the second theme park based on the Potter film series – the first being in Britain – features sets that recreate Hogwarts’ Great Hall, the Forbidden Forest and Diagon Alley, among others, and restaurants that serve “butterbeer” to wash down traditional British grub.
For those travelling by train to the new attraction – as true Potterheads should – Seibu Railway has given Ikebukuro and Toshimaen stations tweaks to resemble London’s King’s Cross and Hogsmeade Station, the nearest to the fictional Hogwarts, respectively. The stations are served by dedicated Studio Tour Tokyo Express trains.
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