AT#973 - Travel to Northern Taiwan

Travel with Amateur Traveler Podcast

Chris Christensen

History, Places & Travel, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of Amateur Traveler, Chris talks with returning guest and friend of the show Lee Moore, author of "China's Backstory: The History Beijing Doesn't Want You to Read" and co-host of the Chinese Literature Podcast. Lee returns to share his love for Northern Taiwan, a place he first lived in more than a decade ago while studying Chinese literature in Taipei, and a region he revisited in 2023 with his wife and two young children. Together, they explore what to see, how to get around, and why Northern Taiwan makes an unexpectedly great family-friendly adventure. This week's show is supported by the new Smart Travel Podcast. Travel smarter — and spend less — with help from NerdWallet. Check out Smart Travel ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here. Why Visit Northern Taiwan? Lee describes Northern Taiwan as a place rich in history, natural beauty, museums, night markets, rail-line towns, beaches, and hot springs. It blends the best of Japan and China while maintaining its own distinct culture. He jokes that you should visit now “before China invades,” but quickly follows with more grounded reasons: world-class museums, unique cultural quirks, kid-friendly public infrastructure, beautiful hikes, and easy day trips from Taipei without ever changing hotels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This episode of the Amateur Traveler podcast is sponsored by Smart Travel, a new podcast from NerdWallet.
0:05.9	You know the one friend who always finds the best travel deals, picks the right cards, and somehow ends up in first class for the price of coach, smart travel is like that friend, but in podcast form.
0:19.8	They cover all things travel finance, like how to use AI to plan a trip that doesn't
0:25.8	optimize you into a six-hour layover, how to survive and even save on holiday travel, even
0:32.6	if you're booking late, oh, I need that one, and standby and last minute travel plays that actually work without
0:39.4	living at Gate C-23. And smart travel does that all with a little bit of humor and a lot of travel
0:46.2	smarts. I am not the expert on these kind of questions, and one of the places I go to find my answers
0:53.1	is NerdWallet. Upgrade trips find my answers is NerdWallet.
0:54.7	Upgrade trips, not bills with NerdWallet, follow Smart Travel wherever you get your podcasts.
1:01.7	And thanks to Smart Travel and NerdWallet for sponsoring this episode of Amateur Traveler.
1:07.4	Think about cheese.
1:09.1	Make your thoughts cheesier.
1:11.6	Now add 100% chicken breast fillet, Chipotle sauce and Ameta Cheese melt.
1:15.7	And it's giving the new cheesy chicken stack at McDonald's.
1:19.7	Did we mention it's cheesy?
1:21.3	Cheese.
1:23.2	Availments with the 4th of Jan, 226 from 11 a.m.
1:25.5	Price and participation may vary.
1:26.6	Subject to availability.
1:28.7	Amateur Traveler, Episode 973.
1:32.2	Today, Amateur Traveler Talker talks about a cat city, street food, ancient art history and philology,
1:38.6	a mine train and floating lanterns as we go to northern Taiwan.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 19 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Chris Christensen, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Chris Christensen and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.