Far East Travels Video Podcast

I always get asked when is the best time to visit Taiwan. I always respond with almost anytime if you don't mind hot weather, rain, or an occasional typhoon. For most the idea of spending their vacation in a place where typhoons regularly develop between May and November is a scary proposition. If you do ever find yourself traveling in Taiwan during those months, and I've met many people who have found themselves in that position, consider yourself lucky to be in one of the safest and most well equipped places in the world where typhoons, hurricanes, cyclones, all the same thing, occur. Because of the country's history and experience with typhoons they have become one of the best prepared nations in the world to minimize injury and fatalities. If you ask most Taiwanese about typhoons most will shrug them off as a regular occurrence that only requires staying put inside, watching TV or renting a karaoke room with friends and waiting until the typhoon is no longer a threat, usually only a few hours. So if you should ever find yourself in Taiwan when a typhoon warning has been announced, just make sure you have some extra food, snacks or water, something to keep you entertained in your hotel room, a flashlight and a battery pack for your phone, in case of a power outage, and a little patience to wait out the storm. Perhaps even an expectation that you might be delayed a day while transportation around the island gets back to normal. Unless you happen to be on one of the outer islands where tourists are often evacuated off of before a typhoon approaches the area, you'll at the most be inconvenienced. If you can carry the same attitude that Taiwanese do, you'll just sit back, appreciate the force of mother nature, and let the typhoon pass by. You'll also take away a unique travel experience and a story that you'll never get tired of telling. In this episode some highlights of my live streams and coverage of two recent typhoons in Taiwan, Meranti and Melakas.