Taiwan 2020

Taiwan 2020 was a solo trip to Taiwan that ran from late 2019 to early 2020. The stay was limited by a 90-day visa. The trip happened during a rare period when health and finances were both stable. The original plan was language study in Taiwan followed by travel across Asia. COVID began to spread during the trip, and the plan changed because of COVID.

Core takeaways

• Taiwan’s MRT worked very well and made travel around the island easy and reliable. A public system of that quality cuts the effort of daily life and widens where a person can go. Private options rarely cut effort or widen movement at the same scale.
• People in Taiwan were friendly, and the average level of friendliness was about the same as in the United States. The difference was in the range: interactions in Taiwan stayed within a narrow, predictable band, so the worst ones were less bad.
• The trip fit a period when health, money, and obligations were all stable at once. Such periods come rarely and end at unknown times, so the trip used the time for Mandarin training and exploration.
• Because of COVID, Hong Kong became off-limits early, and an 8-day trip to Japan in February 2020 replaced part of the plan.
• Once the plan failed, basic travel Mandarin and a readiness to change plans were worth more than expected.

Why the trip happened when it did

The trip happened during a specific and temporary period. Health was stable, finances were stable, and there were no major obligations. Such periods do not come often. When such a period starts, no one knows how long it will last. So the trip used the period for language acquisition (Mandarin training) and exploration.

The MRT and what good public systems do

The MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) worked very well. It connected the island and ran reliably. For an American, the MRT was a model to aim for. The United States is unlikely to build a system like it in the foreseeable future. Political, cultural, and coordination barriers are the reason.

In general, a high-quality public system lowers the effort each person spends on daily movement and widens where each person can go. Private solutions rarely lower effort or widen movement at the same scale.

How friendly people were

Taiwanese people were generally friendly. On average, the friendliness was not much different from the United States. The difference was in the range of interactions. In the US, politeness and rudeness cover a much wider range. A likely reason is greater cultural diversity and weaker shared social norms. In Taiwan, interactions stayed within a narrower and more predictable band.

A narrower range can feel more friendly even when the warmest interactions are equally warm, because the worst interactions are less bad.

How COVID changed the plan

The trip began in November 2019. COVID was still only a news item. The plan was language school in Taiwan, then travel to other Asian countries on cheap airfare. Hong Kong became off-limits because of early outbreaks there, so the plan had to change.

The eight days in Japan

In February 2020, a short 8-day trip to Japan replaced part of the plan. The Japan trip was not a major journey on its own. It was a short change of route made while the larger plan was failing. It gave a brief break for seeing another culture during a period that was growing more uncertain. By then COVID was impossible to ignore. The time for travel could end at any point, so the aim was to use that time while it lasted.

The original plan involved moving between several countries. Because of that plan, even basic travel Chinese (Mandarin) was more useful than expected once plans started failing.

The Japan trip confirmed that even a short period of free movement can still give real exposure to different systems: public transit, urban design, and social norms. The Japan trip also confirmed that once large shocks begin, the ability to adapt and the ability to use the local language and culture become much more useful.

What the trip showed

• High-quality public infrastructure lets one person do more with the same effort.
• Lower social variance can give a better day-to-day life than higher average friendliness with high variance.
• Personal periods of stability are rare. Treat them as high-value resources with a limited time.
• Even a well-prepared plan can fail when a rare, large, unforeseen event happens. During such an event, flexibility and language and cultural skills are worth more.

How to practice this

1. Ride the public transit in a place you visit. Notice whether the transit cuts the effort of each trip and widens where you can go.
2. After a day of many short interactions, note the rudest one and the warmest one. Notice whether the gap between them, more than the average, set how the day felt.
3. Check whether your health, your money, and your obligations are all stable at the same time. If they are, notice that you do not know how long that will last. Decide what to spend the time on.
4. Before travel through several countries, learn enough of the local language for basic travel tasks. Notice how much more you use the language when a plan fails.
5. Take a plan you have prepared well. Write down one large event that would break the plan. Notice which skills would still have value after that event.

Related pages

• Experiences hub
• Meiwaku: contrast between cultures with high awareness of social friction and cultures with high variance
• Red Teaming: the value of cultural empathy and of modeling how other cultures work

Sources

• Original NX note: Capture/taiwan_2020.org
• Personal journal reflections from the period