Over 20 years ago when I first came to Taiwan I was living in the main city Taipei. It was quite a trying time for me and Taipei: I was going through culture shock-moving from the US to an Asian emerging nation and also from a small city-Tucson to a much larger city: Taipei. Taipei was a place with terrible weather-often rainy, cold in the winter and hot in the summer and the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport system) was being built throwing the already crowded place into total gridlock because of tearing up already crowded streets for the much needed MRT.
One day a classmate of mine from college who was also living in Taipei invited me over and started showing me all these neat handicrafts she bought while simultaneously telling me stories of Lukang: this wonderfully traditional cultural treasure of the "Real Taiwan" not like the then culturally confused Taipei-having only tiny pockets of traditional culture with mostly faceless mediocre western style construction. I was getting quite antsy so I scheduled a trip to Lukang and as soon as I got off the bus-I just loved it. So much Ching Dynasty era temples, traditional Taiwanese farmhouses and Japanese Occupation era-downtown. The place just reeked of charm and history with some of the friendliest Taiwanese people I've ever met.
Here we are some 20 odd years later and even though the place has modernized some it still is a magical, charming and culturally rich place. If you ever make it to Taiwan I strongly suggest you add this place to your list of must see destinations.
David Byrne-The Last Emperor
