Tuesday, April 14, 2015

The land of stinky tofu vs the land of ema datsi

Hello everyone, and so sorry for not writing for such a LONG, LONG time! But there's a reason why there were no new posts lately - our family has now left Bhutan, and we're now settled in another small country called Taiwan. Taiwan is an island located in East Asia. I think that there are tons of similarities between Bhutan and Taiwan starting with their super-friendly people, their love for music and the size of the country, both of them measuring slightly less than 40,000km².


Of course, there are also lots of differences so this post is all about comparing Bhutan and Taiwan.



First off, the people, as mentioned before. Just like Bhutan, the Taiwanese are willing to help you out in any situation - one of the friendliest places I've been to. This made our first trip to Taiwan so fun and so much easier.


The food, however, is a big difference. With all due respect to the Bhutanese, their food has developed into a rather monastic (and spicy!) diet, that many Westerners don't especially appreciate. Taiwan is the place to go for yummy street food and amazing night markets. It is also the place where bubble tea was invented - tea with little balls of jelly-like tapioca inside, as well as stinky tofu (obvious from its name) that has, er, an acquired taste. Beef noodles are also a speciality, and although I have never tasted them (I'm vegetarian), I'm guessing if people say it's good, it's good.





In both Bhutan and Taiwan, there's a huge love of music and many concerts and shows take place all over the country. The aboriginals in Taiwan have a very special kind of music that reminded me of traditional Bhutanese songs. The likeliest explanation I can come up with is that the instruments used could be very similar. In Taiwan, there is also something called Chinese Opera (it's not what you're expecting, don't get fooled by the name) that also reveals some Chinese traditional music.

And lastly, I think that both Taiwan and Bhutan are very interesting places to travel to and explore - why don't you visit Taiwan on your next holiday?