Like many others, I came to Taiwan to study Chinese. With tis combination of traditional culture and modernity, Taiwan offered the best chance for cultural immersion without the risk of culture shock. Moreover, since I was primarily interested in learning written, rather than spoken. Chinese, I felt that being surrounded day-in-day-out by Chinese characters would force me to read them. I was right: I was surrounded by a sea of what were at first mostly unintelligible squiggles. But I was also wrong: this did not per se help me to learn them.

I was overwhelmed. I needed a system.

For to long I clung to mantra-like myth (wish?) that Chinese writing was based on pictographs. This is no more true for chinese than for any other language, and it is no more useful to know that “女” (woman) is derived from a picture of a kneeling woman, than it is to know that the English letter “g” is derived from the picture of a camel.

My left brain had fun, however, in systematically searching for and learning as many of these picture-based characters as it could: “人” (person), “大” (big; a person with his hands outstretched), “日”(sun), “月 ” (moon' with wispy clouds across), “口” (mouth), “手” (hand), “眼” (eye), “川” (river), “山” (mountain), “馬” horse, “雨” rain, “魚” fish, “水” water, “木” tree, and so on and on.

Meanwhile, my right brain was enjoying watching the sun rise over Mt. Jade(玉山) or set into the sea behind Tainan's temples, or checking out the jades and other artworks in Taiwan's museums, and my mouth was investigating the tastes on offer in restaurants and night markets from Taipei in the far north to kending (墾丁) in the far south.

Restaurant menus, however, pose a serious challenge if you just know to distinguish those primitive characters. A more advanced system was needed and I soon learned that for millennia Chinese script has been composed mainly of characters combining a sematic with a phonetic element. For example, (pronounced ma and meaning mother) combines the idea of “女” (woman) with the sound of “馬” (ma).

This also provided me with a means of looking up strange characters (unknown words, not people I met in nightclubs), since most dictionaries are arranged on the basis of there semantic elements.

The phonetic elements also ties in with the spoken Chinese I was learning during my right brain's developing social and travel life. Thus, the “ba” of “” (jiou-ba; wine bar, i.e., pub) was related to “爸” (ba; father). The “gu” of both (gu-gong; the “gu” of both (gu-gong; the National palace museum) and of (siang-gu;mushroom)both contain the element (gu). The “ting” of (listening) looked similar to that of (can-ting;) “Meal-hall,”i.e. restaurant). And the “hun” of (hun-li; wedding (not mine)) was not unlike that of (hu-dao; to faint).

To cut a long story short, I did eventually make some progress with Chinese, and still believe that Taiwan is the best place to learn it. I would probably have done better to spend more time in school, however, and less in bars, restaurants, and temples, and generally wandering the streets, checking characters I met against those in my dictionary, and searching for the perfect system. But it was, and still is, fun.

Nick Walton spends a week travelling through the countryside and city centres of Taiwan finding a surprising deep sense of individuality and mystery from an island little larger than our own North Island

Taiwan has developed into a comfortable, warm and embracing destination that has the potential to meld the best of Japan, China and the South East into a perfectly palatable product for New Zealanders.

While Taiwan is known more for its economic and technological achievements (and also its shopping to those have been lucky enough to visit), the landscape that passed the window of my poach was often far more rural then I expect.

Seas of deep earthy brown made a checker board of swampy rice poddies with emerald green shoots standing at wavering attention. Unlike the over-industrialised People's Republic of China, Taiwan (also known as the Republic of China) has retained what agriculture it can on an island that was born from the sea and riddled with mist-shrouded mountain peaks, which make up some 65 per cent of the land. Created about four million years ago, the wrestling of tectonic plates has created a world of mountains and deep lush valleys with skiing and sun worshipping coexisting in a unique sub0climate. Earthquakes, however, have destroyed many important shrines and industry especially the big one of 1991. This land of rushing streams, gorges abundant with bio-diversity, and a scattering of pacific-like islands has the potential to quench even the most avid travellers thirst for difference.

Nature and tourism hold hands in a firm grasp in Taiwan. The development of sustainable tourism is paramount as sites of national beauty often hold religious and ancestral significance to both the Chinese and over 50 aboriginal tribes who call the land, home. The perfect example is Sun Moon Lake, which has had its fair share of tragedy and disruption at the hands of both nature and man and is now regarded as an important, and undoubtedly romantic, environmental destination. Originally two lakes, it was damned and manipulated by the Japanese during their occupation – one of five invading armies suffered by the local population, Dutch, Spanish, American and Portuguese. The shapes of the two original lakes evoked imagination in the aboriginals, who saw the circle of the sun and the crescent of the moon. Story as it that an aboriginal hunting party found the lake while searching for deer and now their ancestors dwell on a tiny island in the centre of the lake only accessible by their high priests. The Chinese later saw two dragons juggling a pearl, the sign of the emperor. In modern day tourist townships, marinas of Halvorsen-like Chinese motor launches and luxury hotels ring the lake. It is known as a family place and a romantic honeymoon spot with the bushlands ringing the lake, filled with walking paths, and picnic spots. It is a place where the aboriginal tribes can ask for blessings from their gods and where the Chinese can come to remember ancestors under the watchful eye of a pagoda built to Chiang Kai Shek's mother.

I laugh to myself when I think back to my expectations. What did I expect Taiwanese people to be like? Bitter about the tragedies that had befallen them – I had learnt one cold winter at boarding school in Auckland. According to my Chinese girlfriend, the Taiwanese spoke a more polite and precise form of mandarin, the mainstream language of Chinese people. This and stories of the 10,000 caches of antiquities that were evacuated from China with the nationalist forces had me visioning a gentle, gentlemanly people rather then the home ransacking divorcee I had been led to except. The Taiwanese people are a modern mix of Chinese and the original tribal inhabitants of Taiwan, known as the Taiwanese Aboriginals. Each group is rich in culture and history and together they form a truly unique blend of textures, colours and tales that make Taiwan as rich but completely different from China.

Taiwan is a land of festivals, religions and beliefs. You only have to travel the highways to see the ancient temples and modern Buddhist institutions to see the importance that religion plays in the day-to day life of Taiwanese. The mainstream religion of the island, known by the Portuguese as IIha Formosa or Beautiful Island, is a mix of Buddhist, Taoism and Confusions teachings. One such example, the Chung Tai Chan Monastery, has to be one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in all my travels. Rising out of the far lands of true believers some 37 floors, this massive living temple is shaped like a monk at prayer. Is filled with halls and temples of the various Buddha movements, including a nine-storey hand carved pagoda and an air tight library protecting scripture from as far back as the Chin Dynasty. The project tool over 10 years and was designed by well-known architect CY Lee who also designed Taipei's 101 tower0- the tallest in the world.

We met with one of the monk masters in a wide diplomatic style room, ringed by monks. Now, I have had little experience with monks, especially not ones the same age as m. A sharp chirping echoed through the serenity of the building and I flicked a dirty look to my fellow traveller, most of whom were Taiwanese travel agents to see which on had stained this sacred place with such electronic sacrilege. A quite “excuse me” and the monk we has been talking with pulled a cell phone from somewhere within her brown cloak, expertly flicked it open and answered “wai” as she strode off outside. The monastery is a must visit for anyone looking for the mysteries for the orient. Entry to the main temple is through two massive 123-foot high doors weighting in at five tonnes each. The main hall is massive and you are greeted first by a large giggling golden Buddha sitting on a sack of the world's troubles, and then by 15-foot height and rather menacing kings, each with four faces. But the building is not just statues and humming prayer. At any one time there are 100 people staying in the dormitories and studding in the libraries. Many come from overseas on exchanges or are going through a spiritual time before returning to the world of men. The monastery is presently building a primary school in addition to the existing educational facilities and has centres in the Philippines, the US and China.

Temple hopping is certainly a great way to see Taiwan and to gain a better understanding of the country and its people. Another temple that was worth a visit was the far older Lung Shan Taoist temple, weighing in at 320 years old. This is a completely different experience. First of all, the temple, like so many in Asia, is wedged into a town, which has clambered during construction to be as close, and as blessed as possible. Consequently the world outside the temple is never far away, with the cries of old women selling dried seafood and cloth , and machine gun-like rattle of old two-stroke motorbikes mingling with the chanting of the devout. Inside the once- colourful timber of the temple is black and scorched from hundreds of years of incense smoke wafting through the muggy monsoon-season air.

I watch old men and women drop crescent shade wood onto the floor, determining decision as small as whether to have chicken soup for dinner or to buy a house, on which side the piece falls on. Others selected long sticks from umbrella stands beside alters heaped with fruit offerings. These sticks, like the stew selection of condemned men, are taken to a desk where the lucky number help you to know which deity to thank. Walls are aglow with tiny lamps, each burning for a period till the metre runs out and it is donation time again. In the streets surrounding the temple are markets and food stalls. The smell of broth, spices and ripe fruit mix with cheap petrol and fresh sugarcane. Gloomy stores are piled high with wood, plastic and porcelain figures designed to keep riches pouring in, dangers out. I relented and bargained my way through an old woman's resolve, purchasing a heavy metal disk carved with good luck charms and mounted on a varnished stand with “made in Taiwan” stamped on the inside. Shopping is a big must-do in Taiwan. From the markets filled with all the things that would have customs officials fainting, to some really good electronics and clothing's.

San Yi is a town of wood. Not literally mind, but definitely in spirit. High in the hills on the road north to the capital, this sleepy little town has a claim to fame in its woodcarving. These figures, from scripture-inspired pieces, to more abstract arts, are showcased in the many stores that reek of sandalwood and polish and in the modern museum on the crest of the hill. Within, room upon room feature intricately carved pieces, from faces and aboriginal art, to European works on loan and the quality makes even a mundane object like a dressing gown come to life and fool the senses.

All this shopping and traveling can make a man hungry and the Taiwanese are as hospitable as any people you can find. Dining is a big party of their culture. Some of the meals that I was lucky enough to try went far beyond the traditional southern Chinese norm that we experience in New Zealand. Local favourites include chicken head soup, char su (barbecue) pork belly and abalone soup, which is always popular with Asian man. When my group passed through the rural landscape of Paihe, we tried lotus stems and whole flowers, raw and dipped in locally produced honey, which is supposed to do wonders for your complexion. There was also the Shao Xing feast, all made with a local and rather potent rice wine. Of course, travel is about trying new things and it can sometimes be a real eye-opener, especially when you are given an ice block of rice wine described as having an “unusual flavour” on the wrapper.

Another place to try out great new taste sensations (and a few that are not so great) has to be the night markets in Taipei. Like many in Asia, expect an onslaught of people, heat, colours and fantasies. On a steaming hot Taipei night I was groped off with some representatives of Taiwan Tourism's office in Sydney and some agents, and we dived into the crowds of the “snake Street.” It was not long until I was confronted with the area's namesake, as men wilding headset microphones tugged massive pythons from glass cases, offering a mandarin sermon on their medicinal values. Now, I am not one to shy away from an experience but I admit to thinking twice when, some minutes later, I was sitting at a formica table with my companions (and what seemed like the whole restaurant) staring at me. Between us were three shot glasses, one red, one green and one milky white. This was the snake package of the night, blood, bile and venom and I was to be the taste tester. Laced with local sprits, I knocked the shots back one after another, trying some of the snake meat soup that was offered afterwards. It was an experience, but I don't think I would do it again – and not wanting another snake to die.

Taiwan is an extraordinary little island. Although its independence as a country has always been at question, its individuality as a country has always been at question, its individuality is unique and multi-faceted, livening visitors a fantastic array of experiences, opportunities and memories. For New Zealander's, Taiwan offers a low-crime, technologically developed and extremely affordable alternative to other destinations affected by disease and terrorism. The island is serviced by Air New Zealand in a code share with Taiwanese national carrier EVA, using an Air New – 767 – though it is expected EVA will begin flights with its own aircraft later in the year.

Heading for Taipei, my guidebook succinctly tells me it's a great place to soak up Chinese

culture... without going to China. Especially, it seems, if you're hungry. As well as the Tai Chi, acupuncture, fortune telling and huge Chinese festivals, it's also the best place in the world to sample Chinese cuisine.

In Australia. most Chinese restaurants only serve Cantonese style dishes, but in Taiwan, there's a whole world of Chinese food - as I discovered. The Taiwanese population is made up of Chinese immigrants who brought with them the local food specialities of just about every Chinese province. ANd being a newly developed country, the "Nouveau-Chinese" food is prepared in spotless conditions and served up in ultra-trendy surroundings.

Of course, there are still loads of street vendors cooking up a stormfor those who want the authentic experience. Just check your dish carefully as English isn't widely spoken in Taiwan.

I soon found that the best way to find a spot to eat is to wonder down the side streets of the capital. Taipei, which are bustling with traders and restaurants. If you're into spicy foods, you'll fall in love with Szechuan cuisine. Highly recommended is the spicytofu dish. Ma Po Tofu and the stir-fried green beans, Gan Bian Si Ji Dou.

I also developed a taste for jasmine and oolong tea; it's served everywhere you go in Taipei. But for an authentic tea-drinking experience, visit a traditional Chinese tea-house, where you can truly appreciate the culture's obsession with tea. Grab a cuppa at the Wisteria Tea House, where the fab Ang Lee movie Eat, Drink, Man, Woman was filmed.

Up for something stronger? For those who enjoy a drink or 10, it's worth checking out the famous Room 18 pub. Nestled in Taipei's Warner Village cinema complex. It's a popular spot with young people and the fashionable crowd. If you prefer to drink with other travellers, the Tian Mu district of Taipei has plenty of bars filled with lao wai (foreigners).

Of course, if you want to finish up your evening in typical Asian style, you won't be able to avoid the karaoke circuit. As in Japan, karaoke is a national pastime in Taiwan. Look out for the famous Cash Box karaoke chain where you can pay for a small karaoke room by the hour and sing to your heart's content. It's addictive... take it from me.

GONE SHOPPING

During a visit to the famous Lungshan temple, I found myself in close proximity to Taipei's famous nght market, known as Snake

Alley, which gets its name fro mthe live snake skinning show that takes place there. (My weak stomach and I had depart the scene, so I can't describe this in any detail) Thankfully there is an abundance of stunning Chinese-style clothing on sale at the market. There are also locals of sex toys, Buddha ornaments and decent looking watches for around AU$10. And a trip to the market wouldn't be complete without indulging in a reflexology foot massage.

If market aren't your style, you can pick up some beautiful Chinese clothing in the basement shopping mall of Lai Lai Sheraton Hotel in Taipei. There's a divine selection of embroidered purses shoes, cotton jackets and traditional qipao dresses (price range from AU$30 to $150). Happy shopping.

GET OUT OF TOWN

With its palm tree-lined boulevards and flashing lights. Taipei's atmosphere is intoxicating. But I also discovered that the countryside has a charm al of its own. With its tropical fruit plantations, delapidated roadside stalls and friendly locals, it really felt like a Chinese version of Thailand.

Taroko National Park is excellent for hiking and can be accessed by rail or plane. The park's stretch of sheer limestone cliffs is Taiwan's answer of Victoria's Great Ocean Road. A major highlight was visiting the female monastery, which is nestled in the park's hills. For some reason, the holy women in this peaceful have lavished me and other visitors with handfuls of lollies as we wandered around. The religion practised by most Taiwanese is a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism and CHinese folklore. There are many temples to visit in Taipei, such as the Lungshan Temple dedicated to Kuanyin, the goddess of mercy, and the Paoan Temple, built in 1765, making it Taipei's oldest temple.

Taiwan's countryside also boasts some of the world's best geothermic hot springs. In fact, it has cold springs, mud springs and seawater springs, too, which all deliver great therapeutic benefits. You can usually choose between a private pool, a single-sex pool or a mixed outdoor pool. The single sex pools are a naked affair. Although that gave me cause for shyness on my first visit, the awkwardness only lasted a few minutes. I soon realised that the locals are used to the nudity and are not at all inclined to look around at other bodies. The biggest challenge was handling the heat of the water. If you're based in Taipei, the Wulai Hot Springs makes a great day trip. Wulai is also home to the indigenous people of the Atayal aboriginal tribe, so you can enjoy traditional Atayal cuisine and performances while visiting the region.

If it's beaches you're after, Kenting National Park is Taiwan's most thriving holiday destination. But if you're just looking to kick back on a remote island for a couple of days, then Wang An Island (part of the Penghu Islands, off the west coast of Taiwan) is an undiscovered paradise. Although hte main island of Penghu is a popular tourist destination. Wang An Island's warm, clean beaches and delicious food are a well-kept secret. There's a small hotel with bungalow-style accommodation on the island and the people welcome visitors with open hearts and smiles. There are two flights a week to Wang An Island from the city of Kaohsiung. Alternatively, you can take a boat from Makung on the main island of Penghu to get there. it's worth it!