WITH LEGACIES AS VARIED AS ITS ADVENTURE LANDSCAPE AND SPIRITED TRADITIONS THRIVING ALONGSIDE THE CREAM OF ASIAN SOPHISTICATION, TAIWAN IS A CONTINENT ON ONE GREEN ISLAND.

WITH LEGACIES AS VARIED AS ITS ADVENTURE LANDSCAPE AND SPIRITED TRADITIONS THRIVING ALONGSIDE THE CREAM OF ASIAN SOPHISTICATION, TAIWAN IS A CONTINENT ON ONE GREEN ISLAND.

The Tao of Today

Taiwan is heir to the entire Chinese tradition of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and that amorphous collection of deities and demons worshipped as folk faith. Over the centuries the people have blended their way into a unique and tolerant religious culture that's often as ritual heavy as Catholicism and as wild as Santeria.

Taiwanese temples (all 15,000) combine worship hall, festival venue and art house under one roof. Watch a plague boat burn at Donglong Temple, go on a pilgrimage with the Empress of Heaven, study a rooftop three-dimensional mosaic, and learn why a flag and ball have come to represent prayer.

Have You Eaten?

'Have you eaten?' The words are used as a greeting here, and the answer is always 'yes', as there's just too much nibbling to do. Taiwan offers the gamut of Chinese cuisines, some of the best Japanese outside Japan, and a full house of local specialities from Tainan milkfish and Taipei beef noodles to indigenous barbecued wild boar. Night markets around the island serve endless feasts of snacks including stinky tofu, steamed dumplings, oyster omelettes, shrimp rolls and shaved ice. And when you're thirsty you can look forward to juices from the freshest local fruits, local craft beer, aromatic teas and, in a surprising twist, Asia's best gourmet coffee.