Taiwan 2024 - “The 2nd Quarter”
This blog post is a sequel to the blog post written three months ago, Taiwan - First 3 Months, where I initially expected to embark on a two-month journey that ended up becoming an entire year’s worth of time commitment in Asia.
And while the 2nd Quarter of any event typically has less significance than the 4th Quarter, this one had more turning points than expected.
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This year includes three distinct themes:
Take advantage of exploring the region of Asia Pacific where I never had the opportunity to do previously
Help my parents remodel an old house in Taipei
Be more immersed in Taiwanese culture
The Last Three Months - the Highlights sans Taiwan
In these last three months, I revisited places like South Korea and Japan and collected 3 more unique passport stamps. Here were the highlights.
Trip 1: itstheship Cruise: Busan - Nagasaki - Busan
I went with Sim, Hans, and Friends, and the cruise festival had been the best experience this year to date. We started in Busan, docked in Nagasaki and visited the Japanese coastal city for an entire day before heading back to the second largest city in South Korea.
Trip 2: Orangutan Trekking in North Sumatra Bukit Lawang, Kuala Lumpur
Trip 2 was a 16-day trip to three new countries. I wrote more about my trip to Indonesia and Malaysia in this section of the previous blog post.
Trip 2: Fiji - The Exclamation Point
Fiji was another top highlight of the last three months. I wrote about it in the previous blog post One Week in Fiji.
The Last Three Months - the Highlights in Taiwan
One big reason why I am enjoying my time in Taiwan is because of the people. This can be categorized in a venn diagram, because I spent the majority of June with family. I can be quite private about my family affairs, but it was special to me beyond words that we had everybody together, from different cities, in the same room.
Having an established base halfway across the world and calling it “home” away from home is certainly something I will not take for granted.
I have met a lot of great people in the last six months, which was something I certainly did not expect coming to Taipei in 2024. Another observation is that the people I interact with are very fit and active. The majority of activities I have done has included social aspects: canyoning, river tracing, hiking, HIIT training, surfing, salsa dancing, rock climbing, tennis and pickleball.
Next Few Trips
While I am taking this year to be immersed in my culture, I remain focused on future aspirations.
After New York City, Year 1 happened, I expected to start New York City Year 2 right after a short stint in The Experience in Brazil, Part 3.
These past few weeks have been the first time I’ve missed the hustle and bustle of New York. I continue to have aspirations of going back after completing the full year in Taiwan / Asia.
However, the year continues in Asia and I couldn’t be more excited to call Taipei my home base. Besides Taipei, I expect to travel to these places in the next quarter: Seoul for SMILE vision correction surgery, India, back to the USA for 2 weeks, and Dolomites 🇮🇹 for a week.
Now What?
Halftime is over and we are officially kicking off the second half. I know I’m not in Asia for long, so I’m doing everything I can to enjoy it as much as possible because the opportunity to spend time in Asia is rare.
A wise man told me that spending the entire year in Asia would change my life.
But he was wrong.
Because it already has in six months.
Future Expectations
On July 13th, I was on my way from Fiji, eager to get what felt like my tenth passport stamp for Taiwan in 2024. The plane touched down at Taipei Taoyuan Airport TPE, and for the first time in my life, the feeling was not only just that I arrived in Taiwan, it was specifically a unique feeling that I made it back “home”.
The exclusive list of other airports around the world that sentimentally makes me feel that way isn’t large. Taiwan is “our” land. Whatever happens that may or may not take place in the future will never change that. I came nearly every summers as a child and now I am enjoying it as an adult. Taiwan is a part of me for eternity and I am very grateful for it.
Thank you Taiwan and the rest of APAC, and I look forward to more adventures in the next three months.