Bao Island Storyteller: Journey to the West

One hundred episodes. One hundred locations across Taiwan. One hundred chapters of Journey to the West. We end where we began — back in Taipei, under Taipei 101, the building that started it all. In the finale episode, we watch the entire team arrive home, receive their destinies, and become what they were always meant to be. Sun Wukong's golden headband — placed on his head in Chapter 14, a source of pain and control for the entire journey — quietly disappears. We eat the full Taipei classics: Din Tai Fung xiaolongbao, Yongkang beef noodles, and a Shilin night market send-off. And Bridge, Bao, and Captain say goodbye to the most extraordinary road trip in history.Location: Xinyi District | DadaochengFood: Din Tai Fung Xiaolongbao | Yongkang Beef Noodles | Shilin Night Market

Episode 99 brings us to Songshan District in Taipei — home of Raohe Night Market, one of Taipei's oldest and most beloved night markets, and the Rainbow Bridge that arches over the Keelung River in a graceful curve of coloured light. Raohe is the night market that locals argue is the best in the city — a single long lane packed with food stalls, the entrance guarded by the ornate Ciyou Temple. We eat two of the market's most iconic foods: Pepper Buns — baked in a clay tandoor-style oven until the crust shatters and the peppery pork filling bursts with juice; and Herbal Stewed Pork Ribs — a medicinal herb broth that's been simmering for hours with fall-off-the-bone ribs, the ultimate Taipei night market comfort food. And we find out what happens when Tang Monk forgets a very important promise — and meets the most justified obstacle of the entire journey.Location: Songshan DistrictFood: Pepper Buns | Herbal Stewed Pork Ribs

Episode 98 takes us to Taipei's Wenshan District — home of the Maokong Gondola, the Taipei Zoo, and the hillside tea plantations where Muzha Tieguanyin tea has been grown for over a century. The gondola rises from the zoo at the valley floor up to Maokong, where tea houses dot the mountain and the city skyline glitters below. We eat Tieguanyin tea cuisine — dishes where the locally grown tea is used as an ingredient, infusing everything from chicken to noodles with its distinctive roasted flavour — and Muzha Goose, the neighbourhood's beloved simple specialty: tender poached goose served cold with a ginger-scallion dip. Over these homey Taipei flavours, we witness the most extraordinary moment in the whole journey — the team finally arrives at India, sheds their mortal bodies, and meets the Buddha. Then things get complicated.Location: Wenshan DistrictFood: Tieguanyin Tea Cuisine | Muzha Goose

Episode 97 takes us to the mountains just southeast of Taipei — Shenkeng and Shiding, two neighbouring old towns in New Taipei City connected by winding mountain roads. Shenkeng Old Street is Taiwan's undisputed capital of stinky tofu, where an entire lane of shops each offers their own take on this pungent, crispy, irresistible delicacy. Nearby, Shiding's Crooked Lane (不見天街) is a covered alley built over a stream, and the viewpoint at Thousand Island Lake reveals a reservoir studded with green islets that looks like it belongs in a fantasy film. Over fiery, crispy Shenkeng stinky tofu and a refined Shiding tofu meal, we follow Sun Wukong as he goes from hero to prisoner to underworld investigator — all to prove they didn't do something they didn't do.Location: Shenkeng DistrictFood: Shenkeng Stinky Tofu | Shiding Tofu Meal

Episode 96 takes us to Dongyin — the most remote, most northerly island of Matsu, sitting at the edge of Taiwan's sovereign territory. A white lighthouse stands at the island's northern tip — the northernmost lighthouse in Taiwan — and the old military fortification Guozhi Beige keeps watch over the sea from its granite cliffs. This is 國之北疆 — the Northern Frontier of the Nation. We eat the freshest seafood of the trip: cold-current sea urchin, fat steamed oysters, and clean-broth fish soup from waters where the Kuroshio and cold currents collide. And we take a small, ceremonial shot of Dongyin Gaoliang — the local sorghum spirit that clocks in at 58 degrees. Over these most remote flavours, we follow Tang Monk as the wealthiest man in the land tries to give him everything — and he says no to all of it.Location: Dongyin, MatsuFood: Dongyin Seafood | Gaoliang Spirit

Episode 95 takes us to Beigan — Matsu's other main island — and to Qinbi Village, one of the most beautiful preserved settlements in all of Taiwan. Stone houses built from local granite cascade down a hillside facing the sea, their tile roofs and narrow lanes unchanged for over a century. The whole village looks like it belongs in a Mediterranean painting, except the architecture is pure Fujian. We eat two Matsu specialties: Fish Noodles — noodles made from actual fish paste, chewy and oceanic and unlike anything you've had elsewhere; and Red Lees Dishes — the signature fermented red rice lees of Matsu used in everything from braised meats to fried fish. And the story delivers the revelation: the Moon Rabbit, escaped from the Moon Palace, finally unmasked — Chang'e arriving from the sky — and the real princess, alive and waiting in a locked room for twelve years, finally free.Location: Beigan, MatsuFood: Fish Noodles | Red Lees Dishes

Episode 94 keeps us on Nangan, Matsu — standing at the foot of the towering Mazu Giant Statue, the 28.8-metre goddess who watches over the sea from the island's highest point. From here, you can see the entire strait, the harbour below, and on clear days, the mainland coast. Nearby is the Matsu Tianhou Temple, the oldest Mazu temple in the archipelago, where fishermen have been praying for safe passage for centuries. We eat two of Matsu's most essential comfort foods: Old Wine Noodles — thin misua noodles tossed in the island's aged rice wine with egg and sesame oil, a dish that warms you from the inside out; and Jiguang Bing — savoury sesame-crusted biscuits with a chewy centre, originally baked for soldiers and still a beloved staple. And the story reaches its dramatic tension point: a garden party where everything looks perfect, Sun Wukong is the only one who can see through the disguise, and he has to find a way to prove the "princess" is a demon — while everyone else is enjoying the party and wishes he would stop.Location: Nangan, MatsuFood: Old Wine Noodles | Jiguang Bing

Episode 93 takes us to Nangan — the main island of Matsu, Lienchiang County. This is Taiwan's closest territory to mainland China, a windswept archipelago where Fujian stone villages cling to hillsides and old military tunnels are carved into granite. We walk the old streets of Nangan Village, explore the Beihai Tunnel — a Cold War-era boat tunnel carved through solid rock — and stroll the Tieban coastal path. We eat two of Matsu's most iconic dishes: Red Lees Pork, braised in the island's distinctive red rice wine lees until fork-tender and deeply savoury; and crispy Oyster Cakes, golden-fried pockets of batter stuffed with fresh local oysters. And the story marks a turning point: after fourteen years of travel, the team is nearly at India. And then a mysterious woman appears on the road, claiming to be a lost princess — and throws a ball straight at Tang Monk.Location: Matsu NanganFood: Red Lees Pork | Oyster Cakes

Episode 92 takes us to Little Kinmen — Lieyu Island, just a short ferry from the main Kinmen island, only five or six kilometres from Xiamen, China. The island's history is heavy — underground bunkers, anti-tank obstacles still lining the beaches, artillery shell casings turned into the famous Kinmen kitchen knives — but its life force is undeniable. We eat continuation bread stuffed with a fried egg and taro ice cream made from local taro. And the story delivers the satisfying counterattack: four divine officials arrive in animal form, each one the natural predator of a rhinoceros spirit, and the thousand years of stolen moonlight is finally returned to the sky.Location: Lieyu Township, KinmenFood: Continuation Bread with Egg | Taro Ice Cream

Episode 91 keeps us in Kinmen, heading east to Jinsha Township. Shami Old Street has crumbling yellow walls that locals call "the Morocco of Kinmen," and the Lion Mountain Artillery Fortification still holds the howitzers from the 1958 bombardment, with live artillery drill demonstrations. Over a warming bowl of Kinmen Cantonese congee — rice cooked until the grains completely dissolve — and another round of crispy oyster fritters, the story this week is about a lantern festival gone very, very wrong: three ancient rhinoceros spirits have been stealing the moonlight for a thousand years, and tonight they've decided to steal Tang Monk too.Location: Jinsha Township, KinmenFood: Cantonese Congee | Oyster Fritter

Episode 90 takes us to Kinmen — the island that sat on the front line between Taiwan and the mainland for decades. Inside the Zhaishao Military Tunnel, soldiers carved through solid granite by hand over six years, creating an underground harbor where the sea water reflects light onto the cave walls in eerie silence. At Juguang Tower, built in 1952 to honor fallen soldiers, we look out over the strait toward the lights of Xiamen. Over crispy oyster fritters, crumbly peanut candy, and slices of Kinmen's famous beef jerky, we meet the enemy Sun Wukong cannot defeat — and learn that sometimes the only way through is finding the person who has a relationship with the problem.Location: Jincheng Township, KinmenFood: Oyster Fritter | Peanut Candy | Beef Jerky

Episode 89 takes us island-hopping to Penghu's outer islands — Wangan, where green sea turtles come ashore to nest each summer, and the even more remote Dongjiyuping (Dongji Islet), where a Japanese-era lighthouse stands alone on a grassy hilltop surrounded by nothing but sea and wind. Over purple-red cactus ice cream and grilled small squid so fresh they barely need seasoning, we follow Sun Wukong's most creative infiltration mission — and watch Pigsy undo it at the worst possible moment.Location: Wangan Township, PenghuFood: Cactus Ice Cream | Grilled Small Squid

Episode 88 takes us by ferry to Qimei — the southernmost inhabited island in the Penghu archipelago, over an hour of open sea from Magong. Its famous Double Heart Fish Weir is made of two overlapping heart shapes built from coral stones on the tidal flat, constructed by two villages working together over generations. Over plates of fresh sashimi and small squid straight from the morning boats — Qimei has no supermarkets; you eat what the sea provides — we hear about a kingdom where three princes want to train with legends, and a single night where everything goes wrong.Location: Qimei Township, PenghuFood: Qimei Fresh Seafood

Episode 87 stays in Penghu and crosses the great bridge to Xiyu — the westernmost of the main islands. At Daguoye village, a wall of hexagonal basalt columns rises twenty metres high, formed hundreds of thousands of years ago when volcanic lava cooled slowly into perfect six-sided pillars. At Waian Fishing Harbor on the far western tip, the sunset drops straight into the sea with nothing in the way. Over crispy hand-pounded cuttlefish balls, crumbly peanut candy, and fresh-caught seafood, we follow Sun Wukong as he discovers why a county has had no rain for three years — and goes all the way to Heaven to argue for people he's never met.Location: Xiyu Township, PenghuFood: Cuttlefish Balls | Peanut Candy | Fresh Seafood

Episode 86 continues our stay in Penghu, heading north from Magong to Baisha and Huxi townships. At Kuibi Mountain, the famous "Moses Parting the Sea" phenomenon reveals a tidal walkway between the headland and a small islet when the tide drops — a path through the ocean that disappears in hours. Then we cross the Penghu Cross-Sea Bridge, where the wind blows so hard you feel like you're flying. Over a bowl of small squid vermicelli and a plate of sea urchin scrambled with egg, we reach one of the most surprising moments in Journey to the West — the episode where Pigsy, of all people, saves everyone.Location: Baisha Township, PenghuFood: Small Squid Vermicelli | Sea Urchin Stir-fry

Episode 85 flies us to Penghu — the wind-swept archipelago in the Taiwan Strait. Magong City is the capital: home to the Tianhou Temple, one of the oldest Mazu temples in all of Taiwan with over four hundred years of history, and the Guanyin Pavilion seawall where the sunset over the Xiyu Bridge is Penghu's most iconic view. Over vivid purple-red cactus ice cream made from wild prickly pear fruit and crispy hand-pounded cuttlefish balls, we follow Sun Wukong and Pigsy as they fall into jealousy and bickering, lose track of their real enemy, and have to swallow their pride and work together when Tang Monk is kidnapped while they're arguing.Location: Magong City, PenghuFood: Cactus Ice Cream | Penghu Cuttlefish Balls

Episode 84 takes us along the North Coast to Wanli's Yehliu Geopark, where millions of years of erosion have carved the rock into bizarre mushroom-shaped formations including the famous Queen's Head, and onward to Jinshan Old Street where the duck rice stalls draw lines down the block. Over plates of tender Jinshan duck and sweet roasted sweet potatoes from the local fields, we follow one of the funniest chapters in all of Journey to the West: a city called "Dharma-Destroying Kingdom" where the king has vowed to kill ten thousand monks, Sun Wukong uses his powers to shave every single head in the city in one night, and the king wakes up to find himself and his entire court bald — and has to reckon with what he's been doing.Location: Jinshan District, New TaipeiFood: Jinshan Duck Rice | Jinshan Sweet Potato

Episode 83 takes us to Banqiao in New Taipei City — from the bustling Nanya Night Market packed with local vendors and familiar faces, to the serene Qing-dynasty Lin Ben Yuan Family Mansion and Garden, where winding corridors and quiet ponds feel like a world apart from the street noise outside. Over a bowl of Banqiao's famous rice noodle soup and a serving of Youkukou oyster vermicelli, we follow the story through to its resolution: Sun Wukong takes the spirit tablet he found in the demon's lair all the way up to Heaven to file a formal complaint, the Moon Rabbit's true identity is revealed, the imprisoned princess is reunited with her family, and Tang Monk and the pilgrims continue west.Location: Banqiao District, New TaipeiFood: Banqiao Rice Noodle Soup | Youkukou Oyster Vermicelli

Episode 82 brings us down from Taoyuan's mountains into the flat, densely populated streets of Zhongli — home to two of Taiwan's busiest night markets sitting almost side by side. Over chewy Hakka stir-fried flat noodles seared with wok breath and the original Taiwanese bubble milk tea, we discover that the Moon Rabbit was once a celestial creature of the highest palace — and that her plan involved disguising herself as a beautiful princess to capture Tang Monk, while the real princess had been imprisoned in her place. Chang'e descends from the moon to call her servant home.Location: Zhongli District, TaoyuanFood: Hakka Stir-Fried Noodles | Bubble Milk Tea

Episode 81 climbs into Taoyuan's mountain district — Fuxing, homeland of the Atayal people, where the Dahan River's upper reaches carve through deep valleys and Jiaoban Mountain offers sweeping views across the ridges. We walk the glass-floored Xiao Wulai Sky Walk suspended over a waterfall gorge. Over thick Hakka flat rice noodles in maqaw-spiced broth and sweet Lala Mountain peaches, we follow Sun Wukong, Pigsy, and Sandy as they split up to search for Tang Monk, encounter the rat spirit disguised as a beautiful woman, and discover that rescuing the master is far more complicated than it first appeared.Location: Fuxing District, TaoyuanFood: Hakka Flat Rice Noodles | Lala Mountain Peaches

Episode 80 arrives in Taoyuan at Daxi Old Street — a town on the banks of the Dahan River whose shophouses preserve one of Taiwan's finest collections of Baroque-front facades, red brick and carved stone archways, with the smell of braised tofu drifting through every alley. Over slices of dense, smoky Daxi dried tofu and tender soy-braised beef tendon, we reach one of the journey's most famous recurring patterns: Sun Wukong warns Tang Monk, Tang Monk doesn't listen, and the consequences arrive immediately.Location: Daxi Old StreetFood: Daxi Tofu | Beef Tendon

Episode 79 climbs deep into the mountains of Hsinchu's Wufeng Township — up to the Guanwu National Forest Recreation Area, where clouds drift through cypress forests at two thousand metres elevation and the air tastes sweet with phytoncide. Over indigenous bamboo rice roasted in fresh-cut bamboo tubes and fragrant maqaw (mountain pepper) sausage, we watch the Biqiu Kingdom arc reach its resolution: the white deer demon is finally defeated, but not by Sun Wukong — by the very deity who owned her. And eleven hundred children go home to their families.Location: Wufeng Township, HsinchuFood: Indigenous Bamboo Rice | Maqaw Sausage

Episode 78 brings us to Hsinchu City — the windiest city in Taiwan — and parks us at the City God Temple Night Market, one of the oldest and most atmospheric in the island. The temple was built in 1748 and has been the centre of Hsinchu's spiritual and culinary life ever since. Over iconic Hsinchu rice vermicelli stir-fried with wok breath and bouncy pork meatball soup, we enter Biqiu Kingdom — perhaps the darkest single chapter in the whole journey — where a demon disguised as a beautiful person has taken over a king's mind, and the lives of over a thousand children hang on Sun Wukong's ability to act without being seen.Location: Hsinchu CityFood: Hsinchu Rice Vermicelli | Pork Meatball Soup

Episode 77 explores the Hakka heartland of southern Hsinchu County — Beipu, with its hundred-year-old tea shops and the ritual of lei cha, the hand-pounded bowl of tea-and-grain drink that was once a daily staple; and nearby Zhudong, gateway to the mountain persimmon farms. We grind our own lei cha until our arms ache, and eat persimmon cake that tastes like autumn condensed into a chewy square. The story: Sun Wukong enters a kingdom controlled by three corrupt Taoist ministers, impersonates the Jade Emperor one night, then impersonates the Taoist chief the next. Classic Wukong.Location: Beipu Old Street, HsinchuFood: Lei Cha | Persimmon Cake

Episode 76 crosses into Hsinchu County — first to Guanxi, gateway to the rolling hills where Leofoo Village Theme Park stands with its zebras, giraffes, and roller coasters; then up a winding mountain road to Jianshi and Sima Lake, the most remote Aboriginal village in Taiwan, hidden in a forest of ancient red cypress trees over a thousand years old. Over iconic Hsinchu rice vermicelli and bouncy pork meatball soup, we reach the finale of the Lion Camel Ridge arc: Buddha himself shows up to collect his escaped animals, reveals the golden-winged roc is his own relative, and the most dangerous demon fortress in the whole Journey finally falls.Location: Hsinchu County — Guanxi / JianshiFood: Hsinchu Rice Vermicelli | Pork Meatball Soup

Episode 75 stays in the Miaoli mountain district at Tai'an Hot Springs — where sodium bicarbonate springs bubble up from the valley floor, steam drifts between green mountain walls, and the water leaves your skin silky smooth. Over a sizzling plate of Hakka stir-fry and a perfectly wobbly onsen egg, we reach the single most chaotic sequence in Journey to the West: Sun Wukong being inhaled into a Blue Lion's stomach, where he immediately began doing handstands, stole the demon's medicinal wine, and escaped through a sneeze.Location: Tai'an Hot Springs, MiaoliFood: Hakka Stir-Fry | Onsen Egg

Episode 74 comes down from the mountains to Miaoli's coast — windmills standing along the seaside bluffs of Houlong Cape, and then inland to the sunny Feiniu Ranch with its Jersey cows and famous rich ice cream. We lick ivory-pale soft-serve from grass-fed cows in a breezy field, and eat Hakka tang yuan — glutinous rice balls in a sweet ginger broth — before turning into the Tai'an mountain area for a hot spring soak. The story: the pilgrims approach the most terrifying stretch of the entire journey — Lion Camel Ridge, eight hundred miles of demon territory ruled by three kings whose combined power defeated Heaven itself.Location: Houlong / Tai'an, MiaoliFood: Feiniu Ranch Ice Cream | Hakka Tang Yuan

Episode 73 takes us into the mountain valley of Nanzhuang in Miaoli's eastern hills — a quiet Hakka village tucked between green ridges where the Zhonggang River flows past, and the famous Osmanthus Lane fills the air with sweet floral fragrance when the flowers bloom. We sip osmanthus brew — honey-preserved osmanthus blossoms diluted with ice water, delicate and floral — and eat Hakka mochi dusted in peanut flour, sticky and stretchy and perfect. The story: the spider spirits' secret ally turns out to be the most terrifying demon yet — the Hundred-Eye Monster, a centipede spirit who shoots blinding golden light from a hundred eyes simultaneously. Sun Wukong is helpless. The solution comes from the most unexpected source: a rooster.Location: Nanzhuang, MiaoliFood: Osmanthus Brew | Hakka Mochi

Episode 72 winds up into the forested hills of Nanzhuang — a Hakka mountain township in southern Miaoli where osmanthus trees line every street and the old wooden shophouses smell of flower tea and sesame. We stay at a treehouse resort built on stilts above a mountain stream, eat Hakka ban tiao — smooth flat rice noodles in a fragrant broth — and osmanthus honey cake. The story: seven spider spirits in Chapter 72 have set up a cave that looks exactly like a house. Tang Monk walks right in. Pigsy tries to rescue him and gets thoroughly distracted by a bathing pool. And the spiders have a power nobody expected: silk from their belly buttons.Location: Nanzhuang Township, MiaoliFood: Hakka Ban Tiao | Osmanthus Cake

Episode 71 rolls into Miaoli's Sanyi Township — famous for camphor-wood sculpture, dramatic mountain scenery, and the sweetest strawberries in Taiwan. Today we pedal the scenic Old Shanline Rail Bike through tunnels and across mountain bridges, stop at the earthquake-shattered arches of Longteng Broken Bridge, and eat strawberry wine and strawberry mochi from nearby Dahu. The story: a mysterious demon dog is terrorizing a city, and Sun Wukong fights him — but the monster has an unbreakable magic rope that can tie up anyone. Sun Wukong goes all the way to Guanyin for help, and the truth turns out to be far stranger than any demon.Location: Sanyi Township, MiaoliFood: Strawberry Mochi | Strawberry Wine

Episode seventy takes us all the way up to Wuling Farm and Snow Mountain in Taichung's Heping District — Taiwan's highest-altitude agricultural area, where cherry blossoms bloom in winter and the alpine cirque of Snow Mountain looks like it belongs in a painting. Over ripe Lishan peaches and a bowl of crisp sweet Wuling cabbage, we follow Sun Wukong at his sneakiest: disguised as a fly no bigger than a fingernail, he navigates a cave full of demons, steals the one treasure that could help them, and then uses his full arsenal of tricks to drug a demon king into helplessness.Location: Wuling FarmFood: Lishan Peach | Wuling Cabbage

Episode sixty-nine takes us to Lihpao Resort in Houli — Taichung's biggest theme park and outlet complex, where the energy is big and busy and everything is designed for a great day out. Over another perfect sun cake and a freshly baked Dajia taro pastry, we follow the showdown between Sun Wukong and a demon who has been hiding in the palace as a Taoist doctor — and who, it turns out, is the very demon who stole the king's energy in the first place.Location: Houli DistrictFood: Sun Cake | Dajia Taro Pastry

Episode sixty-eight takes us to Yizhong Street Night Market — Taichung's student food paradise in the North District, where cheap snacks, bubble tea, and food that's best eaten while walking fill every narrow alley. Over Taichung's legendary bubble shaved ice tea and a flaky sun cake fresh from the oven, we hear Chapter Sixty-Eight: Sun Wukong pulls off the most improbable medical diagnosis in history — feeling a king's pulse through a thread from three rooms away — and cures him with a pill made of ingredients so ridiculous the king almost refuses to take it.Location: Yizhong StreetFood: Bubble Milk Tea | Sun Cake

Episode sixty-seven lands us at Fengjia Night Market — Taiwan's biggest, busiest, most chaotic night market, right next to Feng Chia University in Taichung's Xitun District. Over a sizzling big-sausage-wrapped-in-small-sausage and a loaded cheese potato, we hear how Sun Wukong dealt with a village-terrorizing python using possibly the most ridiculous strategy in the whole book: he walked straight into its mouth and started doing gymnastics inside its stomach.Location: Fengjia Night MarketFood: Big Sausage Wrapped in Small Sausage | Cheese Potato

Episode sixty-six rolls down to two small towns in Nantou that share a quiet, enduring steadiness — Jiji, where a century-old wooden railway station still stands after being painstakingly rebuilt from earthquake rubble, and Zhushan, home to the Zitong Temple (Purple South Temple), one of the most-visited wealth temples in Taiwan. Over braised dried bamboo shoots that deepen with every simmer and bamboo tube ice cream eaten in the shade, we follow the pilgrim team into their most embarrassing situation yet: every single god sent to rescue them gets poisoned and knocked out. The only one who can fix it? A jolly round Buddha disguised as a melon seller, with a magic belly that swallows demons whole.Location: Jiji Township | Zhushan TownshipFood: Dried Bamboo Shoot | Bamboo Tube Ice Cream

Episode 65 rises to the highest reaches of the Taiwan road trip — Cingjing Farm, where sheep graze on green hillsides that look like New Zealand, and Hehuanshan's Wuling Pass at 3,275 metres, the highest point reachable by paved road in Taiwan. Over a Cingjing cloud bento packed with mountain-grown vegetables and braised meats, and a plate of stir-fried alpine cabbage so sweet it tastes like dessert, we arrive at one of the most humbling chapters in the entire story: for the first time, all four pilgrims — Sun Wukong included — are completely, helplessly trapped.Location: Cingjing FarmFood: Cingjing Cloud Bento | Alpine Vegetables

Episode 64 takes us into one of Taiwan's most distinctive landscapes — the Xitou Nature Education Area in Nantou's Lugu Township, where towering Moso bamboo grows twenty metres tall and the wind through the canopy sounds like a thousand people whispering. We eat bamboo tube rice with its gentle bamboo fragrance baked right into the sticky rice, and stir-fried mountain celery — crisp, slightly bitter, with a clean wild flavour. We watch Pigsy earn the title of unsung hero of the journey — eight hundred li of thorns cleared with his nine-toothed rake. And then Tang Monk, alone in a forest temple, finds himself discussing classical poetry with some very beautiful and very suspicious tree spirits.Location: Xitou Nature Education AreaFood: Bamboo Tube Rice | Mountain Celery

Episode 63 brings us to Sun Moon Lake in Nantou's Yuchi Township — Taiwan's largest alpine lake at over 700 metres elevation, where the northern half is round like a sun and the southern half curves like a crescent moon. In the morning mist the water becomes a mirror and you feel like you are standing inside a painting. We crack open a Shao tribe grandma's tea egg — the shell veined with dark lines where Sun Moon Lake Assam black tea and spices have seeped in — and sip a cup of the famous Ruby No. 18 red tea with its natural mint and cinnamon notes. Meanwhile, the mystery from last episode deepens: the real culprit behind the pagoda theft is a nine-headed demon under a different lake, and Sun Wukong's most creative (and smallest) transformation yet — a crab — might be the only way to win.Location: Sun Moon LakeFood: Grandma's Tea Egg | Sun Moon Lake Black Tea

Episode 62 arrives at Sun Moon Lake — Taiwan's most famous mountain lake, home of the Thao indigenous people, and the source of one of Taiwan's most celebrated teas. Between a cable car ride to Nine Tribes Cultural Village and an afternoon at the Tea Tea Tea museum learning about the lake's red tea heritage, we settle in with tea-smoked eggs from a Thao elder's roadside pot and cups of warm, honey-sweet Sun Moon Lake No. 18. Meanwhile, in Jisai Kingdom, Tang Monk discovers monks in iron collars forced to clean a pagoda — and a mystery at the top that only Sun Wukong and Pigsy can solve.Location: Sun Moon LakeFood: Thao Tea Eggs | Sun Moon Lake Red Tea

Episode 61 brings us to Puli — the geographic heart of Taiwan, tucked in the mountains of Nantou County. Known for its incredibly clean water and the famous Shaoxing rice wine brewed from it, Puli is the kind of mountain town that rewards those who drive past the tourist shortcuts. At the Baolhu Earth God Temple and a chocolate castle inspired by local cacao, we settle in with Shaoxing-braised dishes and pickled eggs steeped in wine. Meanwhile, the Battle of Fire Mountain reaches its thundering finale — all of Heaven descends on Bull Demon King, and Sun Wukong finally gets what he came for.Location: Puli TownshipFood: Shaoxing Wine Cuisine | Shaoxing Pickled Eggs

Episode sixty lands us in Tianwei — Taiwan's self-declared flower capital, where the roads are lined with nurseries and the air smells of things blooming. At Chengmei Culture Park, surrounded by flowers in every season, we follow Sun Wukong through chapter sixty's elaborate game of disguise, counter-disguise, and the moment where having the real fan in your hand still isn't enough — because the person you tricked just tricked you back.Location: Tianwei TownshipFood: Changhua Meat Ball | Fresh Flower Desserts

Episode fifty-nine brings us to Lukang — the jewel of Changhua County, a harbour town frozen beautifully in the eighteenth century. Walking the narrow lanes of Lukang Old Street, past temples with dragon-coil pillars and incense shops that have been open for two hundred years, we visit both the famous Mazu Temple and the magnificent Longshan Temple. Over a pillow-soft Changhua meat ball and a bowl of deeply braised pork rice, we reach one of the most entertaining chapters in Journey to the West: Sun Wukong meets his match not in a powerful demon but in a woman with an extremely good reason to say no — Iron Fan Princess, who gave him a fake fan that made the fire worse.Location: Lukang TownshipFood: Changhua Meat Ball | Braised Pork Rice

Episode fifty-eight takes us up into the mountains of Yunlin to Gukeng — Taiwan's most famous coffee village, where hundred-year-old camphor trees form a cathedral-like green tunnel over the road. Walking through the green tunnel, past coffee farms in the mountain mist, and up to the Pink Bubbles scenic overlook, we hear the Buddha explain what the six-eared macaque really is — and watch Sun Wukong do something that shocks the entire assembled universe. Over oyster omelettes, crispy oyster fritters, and delicate phoenix eye cakes, we witness the most precise act of self-definition in the entire Journey to the West.Location: Gukeng TownshipFood: Oyster Omelette | Oyster Fritter | Phoenix Eye Cake

Episode fifty-seven takes us into the heart of Yunlin County — to Huwei, where the old sugar factory heritage park preserves a century of industrial history, and to Beigang Chaotian Temple, the most famous Mazu temple in all of Taiwan. Over cups of Gukeng mountain coffee and bamboo tube rice eaten in the temple courtyard, we encounter the most philosophically disturbing chapter in all of Journey to the West: the appearance of a perfect double, a doppelganger so exact that nobody in heaven, earth, or the underworld can tell which Sun Wukong is real.Location: Beigang TownshipFood: Taiwan Mountain Coffee | Bamboo Tube Rice

Episode fifty-six takes us to Dalin — a quiet old market town in southern Chiayi County, the kind of place where the morning market has been happening in the same spot for eighty years and the old temples still anchor the community. Dalin is unhurried and unpretentious, a farming hub that feeds a whole district. Over crispy fried tofu skin and bowls of sesame oil chicken, we follow what might be Sun Wukong's most painful episode yet: he kills to protect his master, gets banished for it, goes to Guanyin, comes back, gets banished again — and begins to understand that patience isn't weakness.Location: Dalin TownshipFood: Fried Tofu Skin | Sesame Oil Chicken

Episode 55 takes us into the tea hills of Meishan and Fanlu — the foothills of Alishan, where tea terraces climb the mountainsides in perfect green rows and the Alishan Highway winds through fog and bamboo groves. These quiet farming villages sit between the lowlands and the high peaks, at the altitude where tea grows best: cool nights, warm days, and mist that never fully lifts. Over a second round of Chiayi-style turkey rice (different shop, important comparison) and sticky rice sausage from a roadside grill, we tackle Chapter 55: the scorpion demoness, Sun Wukong's unexpected vulnerability, and the discovery that the most powerful solution sometimes crows at dawn.Location: Meishan TownshipFood: Turkey Rice | Sticky Rice Sausage

Episode 54 takes us up into Alishan — one of Taiwan's most beloved mountain destinations. We ride the forest railway through cedar and cypress, walk the Sacred Tree trail among thousand-year-old giants, and stand on the Er-yanping overlook where the morning mist fills the valleys like an ocean. Over bamboo tube rice cooked in fire-roasted green bamboo and smoky wild boar sausage from a roadside grill, we enter the Women's Kingdom — one of Journey to the West's most unusual chapters. A kingdom run entirely by women, a queen who wants to marry Tang Monk, a plan to escape, and a spider demoness who shows up at exactly the wrong moment.Location: AlishanFood: Bamboo Tube Rice | Wild Boar Sausage

Episode 53 takes us to Chiayi City — the gateway to Taiwan's mountain country and the undisputed capital of turkey rice. We explore Aimu Village, a wood culture museum built inside an old timber warehouse where the scent of hinoki cypress still lingers, and visit Jiuhuashan Dizang Temple, one of the most important Dizang (Ksitigarbha) temples in Taiwan, where incense has been burning since the Japanese colonial era. Over the legendary Fenqihu railway bento and cups of high-mountain oolong, we follow Chapter 53 of Journey to the West — a chapter that is both hilarious and surprisingly tender: Tang Monk and Pigsy, having accidentally drunk from the Mother-and-Child River, are now pregnant. Sun Wukong has to find the one spring that can cure them — but it's guarded by a demon who doesn't want to cooperate.Location: Chiayi CityFood: Fenqihu Bento | Alishan Tea

Episode 52 takes us to the north Tainan countryside — to Houbi and Baihe, where Guanziling Hot Springs offers one of only a handful of mud hot springs in the entire world. The grey, silky mud water coats your skin and the surrounding hills are dotted with temples and old resort inns. Over Guanziling hot spring eggs with amber yolks and hearty Houbi harvest rice, we untangle Chapter 52 — the follow-up to the green ox arc, where Sun Wukong realizes the magic circle is still a problem and the Buddha quietly points him in the right direction.Location: Chiayi CityFood: Turkey Rice | Square Cookies

Episode 51 drives north from Tainan city into the foothills, stopping at Yujing — the mango capital of Taiwan — and the famous Water-Fire Same Source in Baihe, where a natural gas seep burns above a flowing spring, fire and water coexisting at the same spot. Over Yujing mango ice and hot spring eggs, we follow Sun Wukong into one of his most humbling episodes: fire doesn't work. Water doesn't work. Every weapon in Heaven bounces off this demon's magic circle. The only way in? Turn into a fly.Location: Yujing District | Baihe DistrictFood: Yujing Mango Ice | Water-Fire Hot Spring Eggs