Sketchbook Diary Comics: Taiwan

Documenting a long-awaited trip to visit the heart I left in Taiwan

Sep 25, 2024

My partner and I got back from Taiwan about a week and a half ago and I’m feeling somewhat settled back into my routine and life in Brooklyn. It’s hard to believe how recently I was just on the other side of the world.

In recent years, I’ve been more intentional about recording memories as a way to cement them because I tend to forget things easily and I’m a sentimental person. I make short travel videos for myself, I bring my sketchbook, I take less photos on my phone to stay present, and I use a simple point-and-shoot camera to shoot on film. In the past year, I’ve folded this newsletter into my process of documentation as well. If anything, all this processing will help me live in these memories a little longer.

**September 2 + 3:** Travel day to Taiwan, seeing family in Taipei, Lin An Tai Historical House and Museum, thrifting and cafe-hopping in Zhongshan

**September 4 + 5:** Day trip to Jiufen and Houtong Cat Village, Raohe Night Market, hiking Elephant Mountain, Taipei 101 Observatory, Songshan Creative Park, shopping at Eslite Spectrum

**September 6 + 7:** Visiting my Ama, aunt and uncle in Huwei, going back to my mom’s childhood home

**September 8 + 9:** First day in Tainan. Exploring Hayashi Department Store, rainy day drawing session at the hotel, exploring Yongle Market, Shennong Street, Zhengxing Street, Anping Tree House, Sunset Platform

**September 10 + 11:** Grand Mazu Temple, Chikan Tower, National Museum of Taiwan History, seeing capybaras for the first time at Mogu Kabi, meeting family in Tainan, travel day back to Taipei, Eslite Spectrum souvenir shopping

**September 12:** Travel day back to NYC

It felt like a monumental trip in some ways. The longest period of time I’ve lived in Taiwan was a six-week internship in Taipei in the summer of 2012, but this was the first time I’ve been able to experience Taiwan on my own terms as an adult. Seeing family reminds me of who I am with them and I’m grateful for those memories, but getting to know a Taiwan that is outside the context of family was really meaningful. I was able to return to places I’ve known and loved, but I also discovered new places together with my partner for the first time. This was also our first time back since 2019.

I missed the familiar and ordinary sights of Taiwan. Taiwan to me is a place made up of layers of color, texture, culture and moments in time. It’s a juxtaposition of the industrial and the natural. Houseplants overflowing off of terraces, growing against concrete, tile, metal window grills. Newly built high-rises towering over Japanese colonial architecture. Everything is painted with a desaturated earthy color palette that feels a bit like a postcard that’s been sitting in the sun.

I missed the smells, and the memories that they instantly evoke. The scent of tea eggs brewing and the blast of air-conditioning when you walk into FamilyMart or 7-11. Sitting on the train with magnolias my Ama picked for me in my chest pocket, getting a whiff of the transportive fragrance every few minutes until they eventually wither away. The smell of breakfast stalls opening up on every street in the early morning, waiting to feed Taiwan’s workforce.

I missed the feeling of ease and comfort underneath everything. My heart and body just feel lighter when I’m there. Even though I feel like a visitor and people see me as such, it still feels to some degree like a homecoming. Finding pieces of my past and connecting them to new memories. But it’s such a strange and surreal feeling to feel like you’re at home and visiting at the same time. To feel like you miss people and a place, to feel a yearning that is never fully satiated even when you return. It’s a shared experience, I’m sure, amongst diaspora communities around the world, and yet it can still feel like a unique and isolating experience.

I’m not sure I’ll ever fully be able to find the root of my longing, but I know I’ll keep searching for it every time I’m back.

Till next time, 下次見 💚

✦ Selected Recommendations ✦

Taipei:

上引水產 Addiction Aquatic Development: A seafood lover’s dream for fresh seafood, takeout bentos or a standing sushi/sashimi bar.
象山 Elephant Mountain and Taipei 101: A moderate hike to get a beautiful view of Taipei’s skyline, then switch it up to gaze down on the city from a bird’s eye view from Taipei 101’s observatory.
良粟商號 Liang Su Shanghao: One of our favorite breakfast spots, delicious egg sandos!
林安泰古厝 Lin An Tai Historical House and Museum: Felt like a step back in time, a huge 200 year old traditional courtyard house (四合院) with sprawling gardens in the middle of the city.
NKU: Modern Taiwanese cuisine, a carefully crafted and stunning tasting menu using local ingredients.

Tainan:

鼎富發豬油拌飯 Ding Fu Fa: My favorite breakfast in Tainan–simple but so delicious. We ordered pork lard rice topped with a raw egg yolk and a side of grilled chicken skewers.
國立歷史博物館 National Museum of Taiwan History: Such an incredible and impressive walkthrough of Taiwan’s history from the aboriginal people of Taiwan, through multiple periods of colonization to modern day. The exhibits are a blend of artifacts and life-size dioramas that made the experience feel really immersive.
蜷尾家甘味処 Ninao: A tiny ice cream spot, with rotating flavors. We got red bean with condensed milk and roasted oolong.
觀夕平台 Sunset Platform: Now my favorite place I’ve ever watched the sun set!
Super Ray Coffee: The guava coffee here was the most unique and refreshing coffee I had on this entire trip.
十平 Zyuu Tsubo: A small Japanese restaurant in a former rubber workshop that only seats ten customers at a time, run by the most charming owner/chef! He told us he left behind a life working in Taipei real-estate to chase this dream.