Nathan N.
Yelp
A great place to learn about the history of Japanese imperialism in Taiwan. My host family parents took me here as a not-so-quick stop on my way back to school. While we walked around, they told me the story of how they met and how they fell in love: host mom was a cute college student and host dad was the geeky college student giving her and some other people a tour of historical landmarks in Taiwan. How appropriate that this tradition of going around touring history continues with my host parents showing me old Japanese architecture on this brown sugar factory. It was interesting also how, I guess, to maintain the Japanese-ness of this place, there were cardboard cutouts of various famous anime figures including several Studio Ghibli icons and Doraemon for example.
Beware! I was here in July and the mosquitos were nasty little buggers, especially after the rain. One bit my neck and left me with an unfortunate bite that resembled a hicky (according to my 1-on-1 tutor). Another mosquito bit my hand and I had the worst allergic reaction, resulting in my hand looking like a straight up steamed bun. My only cure really was Benadryl, though I appreciated all the Taiwanese people in my life offering me their remedies too! Taiwanese hospitality is real!
