First impressions from Taiwan

Small details that stood out during my first days in Taipei.

Greetings from sunny(!) Taiwan! We got very lucky to spend our first few days here under clear skies and sunshine. I know how fortunate we are, as Taiwan is known for having a high number of rainy days each year. With the sun on our side, it felt like the perfect start to slowly take in our first impressions of the island.

When planning this trip, I honestly didn’t quite know what to expect. I had heard bits and pieces about Taiwanese culture being closer to Japanese than Chinese, but since I hadn’t been to either, I didn’t have much to compare it to. This week we finally arrived, and I got the chance to see things for myself. In this post, I’m sharing a few first observations and small details that stood out to me during our first days in Taipei.

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My immediate reaction was how organized and clean everything felt. From our first subway ride from the airport into the city, to every street walk and food market visit, every place seemed to move to its own quiet rhythm, and everyone went along with it. At subway doors and escalators, people naturally form perfectly ordered lines. No one rushes or tries to cut ahead. The streets are spotless, and people are remarkably polite and respectful.

What surprised me most were the night markets and street food stalls. Taipei has plenty of both, and all of them feel incredibly clean and well managed. Vendors have designated dishwashing stations, and trash is nowhere to be seen. People patiently queue for their favourite stalls, again without any sense of stress or competition. If anything, one early observation is that people in Taiwan truly respect a good queue.

Another thing I couldn’t help but notice is the number of cute dogs, and especially the number of cute dogs in strollers! It almost feels like all the fluffiest breeds have gathered in Taipei to take over the sidewalks. Many of them seem perfectly happy being rolled around in little carts or carried by their owners. Honestly, how can you say no to that level of fluff?

Something else I expected, but didn’t quite realize the scale of, is the bubble tea culture. As a tea lover, I knew Taiwan was the birthplace of bubble tea and I was excited to try it here. But I didn’t expect to see bubble tea shops on nearly every corner, or that at any given moment a large share of people on the street would be carrying a cup.

There are even special cup holders designed just for bubble tea. I gave in and bought one myself on my second day.

One more observation that stayed with me came from a post I once read about Taiwan from Having Been There Substack by Chris Mongeau :

“Somehow, everyone seems to have taken classes in color theory.”

Link to the post.

And walking around Taipei, I can see what that meant. The buildings may not be traditionally “colourful”, but many seem to share soft, slightly faded pastel tones that blend together in a surprisingly harmonious way. The overall effect feels calm and visually balanced.

As we continue travelling across Taiwan, I’ll keep collecting these small observations and documenting our journey along the way. Follow along if you’d like to receive future posts.