About Me

Hi, I am Dokuya the author of this web blog and I would like to introduce myself to you.

I was born, raised and lived all my life in a small town near Chicago in the USA.   The reason for me spending time in Taiwan is that my wife is from Taiwan.  We married almost 25 years ago.  From time to time over the years we would go back to Taiwan to visit family.  I found these trips kind of boring.  One of the problems was that I didn’t speak Chinese so sitting around the house being left out of conversations simply wasn’t that appealing.   There was a 20 year period in which I was visiting Taiwan but I never considered it a tourist destination.  Quite frankly I have never met anyone in the USA who has considered Taiwan a tourist destination.  Worse than that is when I tell someone that my wife is from Taiwan or that I was in Taiwan they almost always respond with something like, “Oh, I heard that Thailand is nice”.

 

As my wife and I started to contemplate retirement we thought about Taiwan, family being the main reason.  At the moment my wife still enjoys her job and wants to continue working.  This afforded me the opportunity to retire a couple of years ago and I decided to spend more time in Taiwan to see if I would be able to adjust / prepare for retirement there.

 

Once I started to get out by myself, figure out the transportation and so on I fell in love with Taiwan.  Almost every day was a pleasant surprise.  Every day was a new adventure and a new discovery.  To be honest I am shocked that Taiwan has so much to offer.  I thought that I would run out of things to do but it is endless.

 

The purpose of me writing this blog is to share my experiences, adventures and discoveries with others.  I think that “others” will fall into 2 categories.  One are my friends who have never experienced Taiwan.  For them this blog will allow me to more fully explain my experiences…but it will still fall short.  For example you can talk about stinky tofu, take photos, make a video but until you smell it and eat it you haven’t experienced it.

The second group of people that I want to share my experiences with are those who are thinking about traveling to Taiwan or are in Taiwan.  I hope that you can get a lot of ideas from me and that we can create a constructive dialog and learn from each other.  Since I cannot read, write, understand or speak Chinese I have developed some creative ways to cope.  So if you are having a problem with something I may be able to help.

I love Taiwan and I hope that you will too.

 

8 Comments

  • Sean B says:

    What an awesome blog…thanks for sharing your experiences and bringing Taiwan to my screen!

  • Henri says:

    I’ve been here for 12 years now, indeed an interesting place, but to know the real Taiwan you need to get out of the city, try the eastern part for example..hiking in Hualien mountains is simply heavenly

  • dokuya says:

    I have visited some places outside of the city but not hiked much other than locally. Thanks for the advice.

  • dokuya says:

    Hi Wade

    I am sure that we have a lot in common and I may be able to provide you with information that you would find helpful. But first things first. This blog is open to the public so please feel free to invite or share it with anyone you like.

    At the top on the right of the blog home page is a Facebook button. If you click that you will go to my Facebook which is devoted to Taiwan. You can also add me, my Facebook ID is Dokuya TW.

    Beyond that why don’t you send me an email to dokuyataiwan@gmail.com

    If you are want to retire here I would like to share some information about immigration that could help you out if you do not have an ARC yet.

    Thanks for your interest.

  • kenneth fish says:

    I spent most of my youth in Taiwan (age 14 to 28), adopted by a family there. I love the island, and hope to retire there. I try to go back every year – it is a wonderful place.

  • Eric says:

    I knew the blog from your Skype. Thanks a lot to let me look into my country from your viewpoint. We seemed to exchange something from Taiwan to US.

    From your blog, l found that Taiwan is so charming because of definitely the living style. I am happy to hear that you would like to live in Taiwan after retirement. Ya, the living in america is kind of boring. And, it is very low cost to live here compared with your country. Leasing house, food, heathy insurance etc are so cheap.

  • dokuya says:

    Nice to hear from you Eric!

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