I had not realized that I knew nothing of my hometown until one day my professor said one thing in class. “Stop telling your foreign friends to go to Taipei 101 anymore,” he said, “what’s so good about it?” It was a course about English Nature Writing and my professor shared his abundant mountain climbing experiences in Taiwan. “There is so much to tell of Taiwan’s mountains.”

 

Paths that Lead Home  

Xiaoyoukeng, Yangminshan National Park

 

        That is a good point. Why Taipei 101?

 

        I mean, yes, Taipei 101 is surely a landmark of Taipei, and Taiwan of course. The tallest building in the world! Every New Year the firework show amazes hundreds and thousands of people. But hey, it is actually not the tallest building anymore. As construction techniques improve every day, there will be more and more Burj Khalifas that replace the former titled as “the tallest building.”

 

       What I am trying to say is, there are so many places that worth visiting here in our beautiful island. For example, I have some embarrassing moments when I know nothing more than Taipei Zoo, Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, The Shilin Main Presidential Residence, Taipei Story House, or Raohe Street Night Market in Taipei for my foreign friends. How can this even happen? I have lived here for more than twenty years and my understandings of my hometown are almost the same as a tourist here (what is worse of it, maybe even a foreigner knows better than I do).

 

Paths that Lead Home  

Xianntian Lake, Miaoli Nanzhuang

 

        So I made a decision. I will walk to sites where the spirits of our culture are reserved; to sites known and unknown, like into the mountains. Remember, legend had it that four hundred years ago the Portuguese praised Taiwan as “Formosa” when gazing the mountains afar from the ocean.

 

        This is a journey that never ends, as long as the wind blows over the mountains.

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