Welcome to the land of the friendly Taiwanese, a remarkably diverse island and home to many people, tightly packed into cities all along the west coast of the island, and on the eastern side, sparsely situated, with cleaner air and less development. In combination with the mountains spread throughout the central region, Taiwan is an outstanding place of natural beauty. 

Why did I come to Taiwan and why would anyone come here? Isn’t that where they make flip flops and computers?

I first came to Taiwan in 2015 on a university programme to study Animation. I was located in Tainan, a traditional city in the south west of the country, boasting a tropical climate and a friendly, local vibe. It was previously the capital city in Taiwan’s ongoing, colourful, political situation.

I was positioned outside of the centre, in Yongkang an industrial district and I didn’t have the chance to explore freely as during the week I was bound under a curfew. I also was too inadvanced for the Chinese classes and most of my lessons were theory based. This gave me a lot of free time to explore my art and the surrounding area.

Beforehand, I had searched the net in England for places of interest and booked an AirBnb in the city before starting to study, this was during Chinese New Year, a festive time where people spend time with family.  I will never being startled by the sound of firecrackers at 6am.

 There I was met by Masha, a Russian exchange student who was the ‘alien’ (resident artist), on ‘Planett‘, ran by young designers. There I also met Yu An, or ‘Nos’ who was one of the co-founders, a contemporary thinker and graphic designer who was interested in European design.

“Planett is the first coworking space that combines design residency, featuring transnational industrial-academic projects among creatives, artisans and manufacturers. Through holding regular meetups, events, and connecting aliens with local communities, planett acts as a creative base for aliens to build up and further their project in Asia.“

During my short stay I was introduced to many inspiring and independent artists, mainly Taiwanese, and most I am still connected to today. I feel it’s very community orientated here, with social groups forming and manifesting great plans.

After returning to the UK to finish studying, I graduated and my film from my final year got accepted into a cutting edge, colourful film festival in Mexico, now one of my favourite places. I went to Mexico to represent myself, I met some idols of mine in the industry and even partied with them, until the next week when I embarked on my second, solo mission to Taiwan after deciding England wasn’t where my destiny was.

I found myself dreaming of an easy-going lifestyle where I can travel, teach, learn Mandarin, make animation and art whilst living an affordable, safe, convenient and comfortable life. Not missing out on the fact of having access to very good healthcare. Taiwan is a remarkable place and it is also not your typical tourist trap.

What’s not to like? Taiwan has become my home and on this journey I have discovered so much the about the Taiwanese culture, the people of this amazing country (and yes, I do believe it is a country) and about my inner self which I might never have had the chance staying in England.

Alishan National Park & Fenqihu | Taiwan – ANIMATE THE EARTH Holly L. James