Taiwan: The Place Where I Met My Younger Self Again…
If I could travel back in time, I know exactly who I would visit.
I would find the teenage girl whose bedroom walls were covered with Meteor Garden posters and stickers.
The girl who hurried home after school every afternoon because missing an episode wasn’t an option.
Back then, there was no Netflix.
No YouTube.
No streaming services.
You watched your favorite show at the time it aired or you waited and hoped for a replay.
I remember sitting in front of the television, completely captivated by Dao Ming Si, Shan Cai, and F4. Their story became part of my teenage years, and like many girls growing up in the early 2000s, Taiwan existed only through the screen.
I never imagined that one day…
I would actually be there.
I stayed in Ximending, one of Taipei’s liveliest neighborhoods.
Every morning, the streets felt almost empty, giving me the rare feeling that I had the city all to myself. It was peaceful, almost intimate.
Then night arrived…
The quiet streets transformed into a sea of lights, music, food stalls, and other tourists.
One of my first stops was Ximending’s famous Xin Fu Tang.
I’ll admit…
I wondered if the famous brown sugar milk tea was simply another tourist trend.
Then I took the first sip…
I finally understood why people waited in long lines.
It wasn’t just another milk tea.
Even now, I haven’t found anything quite like it.
One of the things I genuinely admired about Taiwan was how effortlessly it made traveling feel.
Since I visited Singapore, I had already experienced one of the world’s most efficient transportation systems, so I couldn’t help but compare the two. To my surprise, Taiwan felt just as impressive. The MRT stations were incredibly easy to navigate, with clear signs that made getting around almost effortless even for a first-time visitor.
It gave me the confidence to explore without worrying about getting lost.
I also had the chance to ride Taiwan’s High-Speed Rail, and it completely lived up to its reputation. The train arrived exactly on time, departed exactly on schedule, and within what felt like minutes, I found myself watching cities and mountains blur past the window.
I also climbed Elephant Mountain, one of the places every traveler recommends.
But what stayed with me wasn’t reaching the top.
It was the climb itself.
Each step pulled me farther away from the city’s noise.
The higher I went, the quieter my thoughts became.
Then suddenly…
There it was!
Taipei 101 standing proudly against the skyline.
The view made every step worth it.
Sometimes life reminds us that the most beautiful perspectives only come after we’re willing to climb a little higher.
Another place that left me speechless was the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.
Standing beneath its grand architecture, surrounded by history and tradition, I found myself thinking about how every country preserves its identity in different ways.
Travel has taught me that history isn’t just something we read in books.
It’s something we can stand inside.
The perfect view of Taipei 101, however, wasn’t from the skyscraper itself.
It was from the National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall.
Standing there, with Taipei 101 rising in the distance, I understood why photographers love this spot.
Sometimes the best way to appreciate something beautiful is to take a step back.
I also wandered through Dihua Street, also known as Dadaocheng.
To many visitors, it’s a charming historic district.
To me, it felt familiar.
Scenes from one of my favorite Taiwanese dramas, A Taiwanese Tale of Two Cities, were filmed there.
Walking through those streets felt like stepping inside another story I had once watched from afar.
It reminded me how films and television have a unique way of connecting us to places long before we ever visit them.
As magical as those places were, nothing compared to Jiufen.
The mountain town that inspired the atmosphere of Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away felt like entering another world.
Narrow alleyways twisted between old tea houses and lantern-lit staircases.
Every corner invited me to explore just a little farther.
As daylight slowly faded, hundreds of red lanterns illuminated the streets.
For a moment…
It no longer felt real.
It felt like I had wandered into a dream.
Or perhaps into one of the animated films that taught us there’s still magic hidden in ordinary places.
We also stopped by Zhongshe Flower Market, where colorful fields stretched endlessly before us.
It almost felt unreal.
As if someone had quietly placed a piece of Europe in the middle of Taiwan.
It was one of those places that doesn’t need words.
You simply stand there…
Smile…
And let yourself be amazed.
But if there was one experience that made this trip unforgettable, it was the Meteor Garden Tour.
Unlike most guided tours, there wasn’t a constant stream of explanations or rushed schedules.
Most of the time, we simply drove from one filming location to another.
And honestly…
I preferred it that way.
The quiet gave me space to remember.
Each stop felt like reopening a chapter of my teenage years.
Standing in front of the university where so many iconic scenes were filmed, I couldn’t stop smiling.
I found myself recreating photos from the drama, standing in the exact places where scenes I had watched countless times had been filmed.
It felt surreal.
Not because I visited a famous filming location.
But because the little girl who once dreamed about this moment had finally arrived.
Over twenty years ago, she never imagined that life would one day bring her here.
She only knew she loved a television series.
She only knew she dreamed.
She didn’t know those dreams would patiently wait for her.
Looking back now, I don’t think Taiwan healed my inner child because I visited filming locations.
It healed her because it reminded her that dreams don’t always have an expiration date.
Some dreams wait quietly for years.
Some survive heartbreak.
Some survive growing older.
Some survive becoming too busy with adult life.
And then one ordinary day…
Without even realizing it…
You find yourself standing exactly where your younger self once imagined.
Taiwan didn’t simply bring me back to my favorite childhood drama.
It brought me back to the girl who believed that the world was full of possibilities.
And perhaps that’s the greatest souvenir I brought home.
As I boarded my flight home, I realized Taiwan hadn’t simply given me another stamp on my passport.
It had reunited me with a girl I thought I had left behind the teenager who believed every television drama was real, who dreamed without worrying about how impossible those dreams seemed, and who believed that one day she would see the world.
Somewhere between the lanterns of Jiufen, the familiar halls of Meteor Garden, the peaceful climb to Elephant Mountain, and the streets of Taipei, I found her again.
And perhaps that’s what healing your inner child really means.
Not returning to the past…
But thanking the person you once were for believing in dreams long before you knew they could come true.
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