Siblings’ sojourn

With travel being a status symbol among millennials, many young Filipinos dream of being selected to star on their own reality travel show.

For some time now, Taiwan has been allowing visa-free entry to Filipinos. Naturally, many of us want to go there for sightseeing and vacation. Just a few hours away from Manila, it’s on many Filipinos’ bucket list.

While waiting for that chance, or even if you’ve already fulfilled that dream, “Fun Taiwan First Timer” is a good watch on TLC every Sunday at 9 p.m. It features first time travelers venturing out of their comfort zone to visit Taiwan.

Two of the participants this season are siblings Zahra and Yusuf from Malaysia. The brother and sister duo travel through Taiwan via railroad. Along the way they get a taste of Taiwanese style cuisine as well as the richness of the culture:

Why did you join ‘Fun Taiwan First Timer?’ What was unique in your application video?

Zahra: “I found the ‘Fun Taiwan First Timer’ contest online while searching for Taiwan. I’ve been interested in Chinese culture since I was young. Taiwan has been the one country on my bucket list that I need to visit and so I decided to try my luck and join as a sibling group, which was quite different from the other participants.”

Yusuf: “Firstly, what we needed to do was create a video to promote ourselves, then fill up forms, ask family and friends to vote for us and pray hard that we get chosen. Being a sibling group makes us different from other participants, which maybe was why they chose us.”

Why did you join as a duo?

Z: “The requirements were that I was to be televised. However, I was shy and didn’t want to be on air alone! So I immediately thought of getting one of my family members to join. Many of them were busy and couldn’t ask for leaves during their work due to the long travel period that was required. In the end after much searching, I got my brother to join as my partner.”

Why do you want to see Taiwan?

Z: “They still use Traditional Chinese Characters, the air is fresher, nature is still preserved and Chinese culture is still very much a tradition. Aside from that, I am a Jay Chou fan. My inner fangirl keeps asking me to visit Jay Chou’s birth country.

“I have a dream to become a frequent traveller. Since my first destination already came to me, I’m sure future destinations will be a breeze. I want to start traveling to Asian destinations such as Thailand, Korea, and the Philippines, before getting to the other side of the world.”

Y: “Taiwan has many beautiful places. Being an arts person, I think that their architecture is beautiful. I looked forward to the trip, as I wanted inspiration for future art pieces.”

Do you recall the moment you learned you’re the chosen ones?

Z: “One of the crew members contacted me via Whatsapp, telling me that I was selected. When I read the message, I was speechless and screaming out of joy. My siblings and parents came to check on the noise I was making and I excitedly told them about the good news. They congratulated us and shared the joy with us. I thank God for this dream come true. I was overwhelmed and still couldn’t believe I was chosen for the show.”

What’s your favorite place in Taiwan?

Z: “Mei Feng Farm. This flower farm was one of the experimental farms of the National Taiwan University. I am just a typical girl who loves flowers so this place was absolutely for me. The whole crew also had a great time there. With the beautiful surroundings, everyone’s mood became livelier and cheery. We took a lot of pictures and had a lot of fun there. As we went deeper into the farm, we found the Maze Garden. That was really cool and was our first time to visit and play inside the Maze Garden.”

Y: “We found a cartoonist during our trip at Nei Wan Station. I had a chance to learn new skills with him. He is very talented and I heard that he is quite famous in Taiwan. He has a lot of masterpieces. Hopefully, I can be as good as him one day.”

What is the best Taiwanese food you’ve tasted?

Z: “Taiwan’s delicacy is Beef Noodles. As Muslims, we need to find Halal food to eat. I personally googled a Halal restaurant that served authentic Taiwan Beef Noodles and requested the crew to bring us there. The taste was very different from Malaysia’s Beef Noodles. We had it the first time on our last two days in Taiwan during lunch at Ximending. On our last day in Taiwan, we were heading to a different restaurant at the Da’an District, but still, we ordered Beef Noodles for our lunch. I want to go back to Taiwan and eat it again. Every time I see the picture that I took in the restaurant, I can’t help but crave it, I even start drooling sometimes.”

Y: “On the way to Mei Feng Farm, we stopped for lunch and afternoon prayer break. The signboard showed that the restaurant was open since 1999. The restaurant interior was decorated in a Traditional Chinese style. Among all the dishes, my favourite was the fried tofu with soy sauce. Seems simple but the taste was very good. The small pieces tofu is fried with flour and poured with soy sauce on top. I couldn’t stop eating it.”

Do you want to go back to Taiwan?

Z: “Definitely. To be honest I would like to stay in Taiwan. By joining the ‘Fun Taiwan First Timer’ show, I was able to see and understand Taiwan. Now I can say that I’m ready to go live there. I just need to wait for a suitable time. I already know the cost of living there, where to stay, what to eat and most importantly I know who I can meet there again as we have made some new friends in Taiwan.”

Y: “Why not? I’d like to explore places that we haven’t visited there yet. There are many beautiful and worthy places to explore and visit in Taiwan.”

Any interesting Taiwanese culture you observed?

Z: “The most memorable Taiwanese culture I encountered was doing Lei Cha (Hakka Tea). The ingredients consist of eight different beans and Chinese herbs. For the first time in my life I needed to grind the ingredients that ended up as tea. I thought grinding the grains was easy but it takes a lot of time and work. Of course, now with modernisation, they are now using a machine to make the grinding faster. We also learned that in Hakka culture, they will serve the Lei Cha to their guest as hospitality and to show respect.”