Uncovering local stories
As the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps the world, many countries have seen no choice but to close their borders. Walk in Taiwan, meanwhile, tells us, “If we can’t go abroad, then we can travel here at home!” If you can’t broaden your horizons by traveling overseas, then why not engage in some “self-discovery” in Taiwan?
In fact, Walk in Taiwan has been doing “travel here at home” for many years now. They launched their first guided tour of Dadaocheng back in 2012, and since then they have been leading people deep into streets and small lanes, telling of the glory days of Taiwan tea, showing visitors city blocks where renovated old buildings are full of creative shops, or taking them to feast at the many small eateries around Cisheng Temple. In Dadaocheng, with its rich cultural foundations, new innovations are spliced onto old traditions, and you could visit countless times without getting tired of it.
Going at an unhurried but steady pace, Walk in Taiwan has developed more than 400 cultural tours and mini-trips. They have held tours at 3:30 a.m. to visit the early morning wholesale market, where tourists could witness the subtle gestures by which bids are made and acknowledged. They have followed the procession of the deities from Bangka Qingshan Temple. Each October, they hold LGBTQ-themed tours in coordination with the Taiwan Pride parade. And they cooperate with the “Brilliant Time” Southeast-Asia-themed bookstore to visit locations where migrant workers gather in their leisure time. Behind these activities there lies the concern for social issues felt by the people at Walk in Taiwan, issues that include preservation of cultural heritage, revitalization of old buildings, gay rights, and cultural equality. Working on the principle that understanding is the first step in mutual exchange, they hope that through more knowledge and understanding they can stimulate discussion in society.
In recent years, Walk in Taiwan has expanded to other places including Keelung, Yilan, Hsinchu, and Chiayi, where they work with resident local historians, cultural workers and businesses, using guided tours to help local people discover their own cultural assets, and applying the concept of sustainable tourism to ensure a beneficial relationship between the travel industry and localities.
“The majority of Walk in Taiwan’s customers are younger adults, and what motivates them is a desire to find out who they are,” explains Suni Yen, the company’s chief marketing executive. This led to the realization that they should devote more effort to educating children, guiding kids to get to know the city where they live, and, through the influence of children on their parents, helping more people recognize that Taiwan is an island with its own stories to tell.
In fact, there has never been any shortage of stories in our cities, but in the course of our studies and our working lives we lack opportunities to really get to know our own neighborhoods. James Shih, who went on numerous Walk in Taiwan tours before training as a guide himself, recalls: “When the first tour I ever joined in Dadaocheng was over, my first thought was that I wanted to come back, because I wanted to learn more, and I wanted to bring my friends back with me to Dadaocheng and tell them the stories I had heard.”
The vendors outside Cisheng Temple are repositories of the food memories of longtime Taipei residents.