Welcome to Enchanting Journeys

Enchanting Taiwan - the time to go is now  

Asia sticks to you. From the nomadic steppes of Kazakhstan to the frenetic streets of Hanoi, Asia is a continent so full of intrigue, adventure, solace & spirituality that it has fixated & confounded travellers for centuries. Lush landscapes, urban jungles, blissful beaches, brooding volcanoes, ancient temples, modernist architecture, creative cuisine - Asia seamlessly delivers the accessible, affordable exotic.

Then, there is Taiwan that casts a spell on many who visit this charming yet confounding country. Generous like its 23 million people, Taiwan offers wondrous vistas, lively traditions & a culture as luxuriant as Jade Mountain on a sunny day. Come…..experience the idyllic serenity of Taiwan…..with us.

Ancient Civilisations |Vast Landscapes |Glimpse of the Future

As dawn breaks, pots of rice bubble over & the smoke of incense wafts from earth to heaven. The joss sticks lit for the household shrines in Thailand impart a sweet perfume to the thick air. The heavenly aroma of Indian spices follows you for days. Barefoot monks embark on their call to alms among the faithful; the muezzin's call reverberates from mosques urging devotees to prayer; and family altars are flush with fruit & flowers for the guardian spirits. The region’s great monuments were wrought from divine inspiration, from Angkor’s heaven incarnate to Bagan’s shimmering spires. The spiritual side of life is omnipresent & travellers can boost their karmic balance at meditation retreats or by hiking to a golden temple atop a sacred mountain.

This is a spiritual place infused with the gods of past and present: the ancient spirits of the land and the family, the deities of Buddhism and Hinduism and the rules of Islam. Architectural wonders and sacred spaces abound from the Great Wall of China & the temples of Angkor to lesser known marvels in Myanmar, Nepal & Afghanistan.

The cities are stepping into the future with one foot dragging in the past. Bangkok is the gateway to many Asian adventures, where skytrains whisk shoppers from mall to mall & hawkers ply their wares on the steaming pavements below. Singapore is a gleaming testament to Asia at its most efficient. For old meets new, explore the backstreets of Phnom Penh, Hanoi's Old Quarter or downtown Yangon, which have a beguiling blend of traditional architecture, colonial-era gems and a contemporary twist. One thing all the cities have in common is a buzz.

From sublime coastlines to snow-capped mountains, rolling landscapes fed by the monsoon rains & frenetic cities fizzling with energy, the diversity of Asia’s landscapes is mind-boggling. As are their highlights from trekking Malaysia’s’s steamy jungles & wildlife spotting in southern India to riding horses through the Mongolian steppes, skiing Japan’s Alps & dodging falling coconuts on of the continents many remote islands.

Water has sculpted many Southeast Asian landscapes. The jungle-topped islands are fringed by coral reefs that calm the ocean into turquoise pools. The languorous Vietnamese coastline greets the South China Sea from tip to tail, while inland dramatic karst mountains soar skywards. The meandering Mekong River winds its way from the densely packed mountains of northern Laos to the pancake-flat rice bowl of the Mekong Delta. The traditional ‘highways’ of Borneo are coffee-coloured, jungle-clad rivers. And the volcanoes of Indonesia & the Philippines provide a glimpse into the earth’s volatile heart.

Slow boats down the Mekong, motorbike adventures in the jungle & island-hopping in Indonesia were all early highlights, but new frontiers are opening up all the time with Myanmar embracing democracy & Timor-Leste not yet on the traveller radar. The people are irrepressible, the experiences unforgettable & the stories impossible to re-create, but sometime during your journey, Southeast Asia will enter your soul.

Then there is the food. Tuck into fiery Indian curries, get adventurous with a local dish from a road side stall and gulp down a hearty bowl of Japanese ramen. With its colours, smells, flavours & personalities, you will find Asia is deliciously rewarding.

With a burning sun & cooling rains, the earth here delivers a colourful palette of fruits, spices once as prized as gold & the Southeast Asia staple, rice. From Indian curries to Chinese dim sum, the regional cuisine tells a tale of migration & mixing. And there is no better way to meet the region's melting pot of people, with their infectious spirit & irrepressible love of life, than with a meal in a market or a drink at a street stall. Despite the rapid development, the street remains the stage for the real-life drama that unfolds each day.

And now, let us talk about the magic of Taiwan that casts a spell on many who visit this charming yet confounding country. Generous like its 23 million people, Taiwan offers wondrous vistas, lively traditions & a culture as luxuriant as Jade Mountain on a sunny day.

Beautiful Isle| Breathtaking Antiquity | Asian Values on their Terms| Tao of Today

Taiwan is one of the most unsung & one of the most diverse tourist  destinations in all of Asia, its modern emergence as an economic & industrial powerhouse still overshadowing the staggering breadth of natural, historic & culinary attractions this captivating island has to offer.

Ilha Formosa - Beautiful Island. This is what a group of Portuguese sailors, said to have been the first Westerners to lay eyes on the island, uttered upon seeing Taiwan for the first time. We imagine they must have been pretty enamoured. While not every Westerner has the same love-at-first-sight reaction to Taiwan, our Portuguese seafaring friends were just the first of many.

Here, you can criss-cross mountains on colonial-era hiking trails or cycle a lone highway with the blue Pacific on one side & green volcanic arcs on the other. And if you simply want classic landscapes to enjoy, you will find them around every corner.

This is a land with more sides than the 11 headed Guanyin. Towering sea cliffs, marble-walled gorges and tropical forests are just the start of your journey, which could take you as far as Yushan, Taiwan's 3952m alpine roof. With the lush mountains of Wulai, pulsating cities like Taipei, the stunning basalt cliffs of Penghu, excellent hiking in Taroko Gorge, not to mention some of the world’s best hot springs (we especially like the Taian Hot Springs).

Defying those who said it wasn't in their DNA, the Taiwanese have created Asia's most vibrant democracy & liberal society, with a raucous free press, gender equality, and respect for human rights & increasingly, animal rights as well. The ancestors are still worshipped & parents still get their dues, but woe betide the politician who thinks it is the people who must pander & not them. If you want to catch a glimpse of the people's passion for protest, check out Taipei main station on most weekends, or just follow the local news.

Taiwan is heir to the entire Chinese tradition of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism & that amorphous collection of deities & demons worshipped as folk faith. Over the centuries the people have blended their way into a unique & tolerant religious culture that is often as ritual heavy as Catholicism & as wild as Santería. A fascinating mix of technological innovation & traditional Chinese & aboriginal cultures & cuisines, Taiwan is one of the only places on earth where ancient religious & cultural practices still thrive in an overwhelmingly modernist landscape.

Beyond the narrow corridor of factories & crowded cities along Taiwan's west coast is a tropical island of astounding beauty, with by far the tallest mountains in northeast Asia and some of the region's most pristine & secluded coastline. Add to this the impressive array of cuisines - with specialities from all corners of China as well as authentic aboriginal and Japanese fare - and you've got one of the world's most well-rounded & hospitable holiday destinations.

'Have you eaten?' The words are used as a greeting here & the answer is almost always 'yes', as there is just too much nibbling to do. Taiwan offers the gamut of Chinese cuisines, the best Japanese outside Japan & a full house of local specialties from Tainan milkfish & Taipei beef noodles to indigenous barbecued wild boar. Night markets serve endless feasts of snacks including oyster omelettes, shrimp rolls & shaved ice. When you are thirsty you can indulge in juices from the freshest fruits, local craft beer, fragrant teas &, in a surprising twist, Asia's best gourmet coffee & drinking chocolate.

In the first decade of the 21^st century, Taiwan is increasingly drawing travellers of all stripes: from spiritual seekers looking to experience the island’s religious heritage to gourmands in search of the perfect night-market¬ meal to computer geeks scanning the horizon for the latest high-tech gadgets. Taiwan offers visitors a hypermodern skin, an ancient Chinese skeleton & an aboriginal soul. And more than that, Taiwan has some of the world’s warmest people, affable to a fault and so filled with renqíng wei (which, roughly translated, means ‘personal affection’) that few who come to Taiwan a stranger leave that way.

Taiwanese temples (all 15,000) combine worship hall, festival venue & art house under one roof. Watch a plague boat burn at Donglong Temple, go on a pilgrimage with the Empress of Heaven, study a rooftop three-dimensional mosaic & learn why a flag & ball have come to represent prayer.

Much has changed in the centuries since the Portuguese first saw Taiwan. Still, we think if the same group of sailors came back in the present day, they would call it Ilha Formosa all over again.

True, Taiwan hasn’t yet made it to the top of everybody’s ‘to visit’ list, but we think this is partially a result of people not quite knowing what Taiwan has to offer. But within the borders of this small, sweet-potato-shaped island barely the size of many American states lies a world of contrasts & a melange of cultural influences you are not likely to find anywhere else on the planet.

On any given day, the casual visitor can experience this unique juxtaposition of old & new, witnessing time-honored cultural practices while still taking in technological milestones such as one of the world's tallest building, Taipei 101 & the new High Speed Rail that links the island's two largest cities.

Take the plunge now & yep…. the conundrum that is Taiwan, is waiting. On any given day, the casual visitor can experience this unique juxtaposition of old & new, witnessing time-honored cultural practices while still taking in technological milestones. A unique experience is just the beginning……. a warm welcome, historical secrets & an artistic paradise awaits you and The Journeys is ready to take you on well, a journey (or journeys) of discovery 

Come……be inspired & discover the World with us

We are in the process of updating our Offerings of experiential journeys to Taiwan. Please contact us in the interim if you want to explore options & we will be happy to offer suggestions based on your personal preferences………