July 15th - National Museum Of Taiwan History and half free day
This morning started off at around 7:30. Due to some hotel remodeling, breakfast was handed out in to go boxes. The items given were very good however the only downside was the lack of protein.
One of the bread buns had a black bean filling and the other was a crème filling. There was a small cheese bun, soy milk, and small packet of nuts. Plus a cute little sticky notepad. It was good, but once again, no real protein. After we ate, we decided to go down stairs and get coffee from a shop that is attached to the hotel. It was very good! I enjoyed it very much and highly recommend it!
We departed from the hotel at 9:30 and headed to the National Museum of Taiwan History. It took about an hour before we got to the museum due to closed roads. The museum was very interesting! I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the history of Taiwan! I thought the glass beaded jewelry was very pretty! The agate set was incredible! I love seeing the thoughtfulness and creativity that is in the Taiwanese culture and throughout its history! How the displays were set up were very interesting. Being able to walk through the museum and it be interactive because of the displays was a lot of fun. The gift shop was really nice too! It had plenty of different things about Taiwans history and some fun trinkets to buy!
After the museum, we returned to our hotel and were given the rest of the day off! Of course, we took this opportunity to do laundry, homework and rest. For lunch, we went to an egg pancake restaurant right down the road! It was pretty good!
For dinner, as per a recommendation from the group, we went to Tokiya! It was really good! We enjoyed the food! However, it was a lot! But it was worth it for the price and we (Thanks to Yeh Laoshi’s quick response) able to ask for our food to be packed up to go! Although, when I began to ask, all it took was “请你” and the waiter instantly asked if I wanted it to go. So I guess I practiced a little 😂. The dessert was amazing! It was a brown sugar boba ice cream! We walked around after dinner and ran into Anna and Logan! We all walked around for a bit. It was a really fun night! Then we returned to the hotel. It was a very nice day!
Independent Excursion 1-Academic Reflection
Tourism is widely known in many countries to influence the culture, economy and the life’s of the people who live in the country. In 2019, Taiwan received 11.8 million tourists. In 2024, Taiwan ranked 36th in World Tourism Barometer. In 2025, Taiwan had 8.575 million international visitors. Tourism plays a part in Taiwan’s economy as it does in lots of other popular countries. Tourism, whether liked or not, negative or positive, plays a part in the cultural aspects of many places. For Taiwan, it is well known that many people travel hundreds of miles for their night markets alone. The Taiwanese night markets are some of the most popular night markets known to the world according to multiple sources. It is a large part of Taiwanese culture. In addition to this, tourists experience many different aspects of Taiwanese culture and traditions. For myself, I wanted to experience the nature of Taiwan. My personal interest is hiking and it is one of the top rated things that pulls up on the internet when you search “What to do in Taiwan?”. I commonly see recommendations of different national parks, mountains and trails to explore before leaving Taiwan. “Hiking tourism in Taiwan has seen significant growth in recent years. National parks serve as the primary venues for hiking, attracting hiking tourists with their scenic landscapes [14], diverse ecosystems [13], and cultural heritages [15]. The Taiwanese government has implemented various measures to support sustainable hiking tourism, including developing eco-friendly infrastructure, promoting responsible hiking practices, and enforcing regulations to protect sensitive areas [14]. More than five million Taiwanese are estimated to participate in hiking activities, accounting for approximately 21% of the total population [14].” For the independent excursion assignment, Layla and I visited 象山 and Shifen Waterfalls. My personal interest of both of these outings was the hiking aspect. As I am a tourist focusing on my personal hobbies, through traveling to the hikes I was able to experience of few different traditions! Experiencing the nature of the country you are visiting is very important. Involving as many different lifestyles as possible in your trip will teach you about the culture. Because people in major cities and people in smaller communities that are located farther live differently. For example, I was able to enjoy the tradition of painting, lighting, and sending off a lantern in Shifen. As we hiked up Elephant Mountain, we came across many different temples. It was also interesting that something I noticed was the number of foreigners and Taiwanese people who were hiking. There were many different people from different countries all enjoying the same culture aspect of Taiwan. Noticing this before I had decided to write this blog about tourism was probably the reason why I am doing this research on tourism. In conclusion, Taiwan is full of culture and life that draws so many people from all over the world to come and enjoy! Taiwan offers a wide range of different cultural experiences and traditions. It is easy to say that it offers a unique experience to everyone who chooses to travel to Taiwan.
Ng, Sai-Leung, and Ming-Chien Hsu. 2024. "Motivation-Based Segmentation of Hiking Tourists in Taiwan" Tourism and Hospitality 5, no. 4: 1065-1082. https://doi.org/10.3390/tourhosp5040060
