Three friends, one car, 100 episodes around Taiwan. Street food meets the Monkey King — an epic road trip retelling of Journey to the West.
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Welcome to Local Guys in Taiwan: Journey to the West — where three friends road-trip Taiwan, eating street food while listening to the story of the Monkey King. In our very first stop, we park near Sisi Nancun, a 70-year-old veterans' village that sits in the shadow of Taipei 101. Over bowls of rice noodle soup and crispy stinky tofu from the nearby Tonghua night market, we hear how a stone monkey was born from a rock, became king of all monkeys, and sailed across the sea to find his name. Location: Xinyi District Food: Rice Noodle Soup | Stinky Tofu
In episode two we park near Longshan Temple in Wanhua — the oldest neighbourhood in Taipei, and home to a three-hundred-year-old temple that has survived earthquakes, bombs, and everything history could throw at it. Over a bowl of oyster vermicelli and a stick of pig blood cake, we follow Sun Wukong through seven years of sweeping floors, one night of secret lessons, and the day the master finally says: "Go home." Location: Wanhua District Food: Oyster Vermicelli | Pig Blood Cake
Episode three takes us north to Beitou, where volcanic hot springs bubble up from the earth at the foot of Yangmingshan volcano. Over a crispy scallion pancake and silky hot spring tofu, we follow Sun Wukong on his most exciting shopping trip yet — into the Dragon King's underwater palace, where he picks up a glowing iron pillar that has been waiting on the ocean floor for ten thousand years. The Magic Staff: it grows, it shrinks, it fits in his ear. Location: Beitou District Food: Scallion Pancake | Hot Spring Tofu
Episode four finds us in Da'an Forest Park — Taipei's biggest green space, right in the middle of the city. Over crispy salt-and-pepper chicken from a nearby night market stall and a bowl of purple taro ice cream, we follow Sun Wukong on his first visit to Heaven, where the Jade Emperor gives him a job so embarrassingly unimportant that it starts a war. Location: Da'an District Food: Salt-and-Pepper Chicken | Taro Ice Cream
Episode five takes us to Zhuzihu on Yangmingshan — a high valley famous for its calla lily fields, where in spring thousands of white flowers cover the hillside. Over a spectacularly layered big pancake sandwich and more hot spring tofu, we follow Sun Wukong as he discovers the Peach Garden — eats all the sacred peaches — crashes the Queen Mother's banquet — and steals Laozi's immortality pills. Then the Jade Emperor sends a hundred thousand soldiers. Sun Wukong beats them all. Location: Shilin District Food: Big Pancake Sandwich | Hot Spring Tofu
Sun Wukong has beaten every army Heaven has sent — but now the Jade Emperor's nephew arrives: Erlang Shen, the Three-Eyed God of Guankou. In this episode we soak in the mineral waters of Beitou Hot Spring Park, eat silky hot spring tofu and crispy scallion pancake fresh off the griddle, and watch the most spectacular shape-shifting duel in the whole of Journey to the West — hawk versus sparrow, fish versus heron, snake versus eagle — until Guanyin tips the balance with a single drop from her vase. Location: Beitou District Food: Hot Spring Tofu | Scallion Pancake
Sun Wukong has been locked in Laozi's Eight-Trigram Furnace for forty-nine days. Heaven is holding its breath. In this episode we walk the century-old trading street of Dihua, eat sticky tube rice pudding from a shop that's been there for generations, taste sweet preserved plums from an old spice merchant — and watch as the monkey walks out of the furnace, smashes the Jade Emperor's throne room, and then meets the one being in all of creation he cannot defeat. Location: Datong District Food: Tube Rice Pudding | Preserved Snacks
The great battle is over. Sun Wukong is under the mountain. Now the story shifts — and something much bigger begins. In this episode we explore Shilin's famous official residence and its rose gardens, eat a golden oyster omelette from Shilin Night Market and a towering big pancake sandwich, and discover why the Buddha decided the scriptures of the west needed to travel all the way to China — and who would carry them. Location: Shilin District Food: Oyster Omelette | Big Pancake Sandwich
Before Tang Monk takes his first step west, we need to understand where he came from. In this episode the Bao Island bus heads north to Keelung — a port city carved between steep green hills and the sea. Over Keelung tempura eaten standing at the famous Miaokou Night Market, a generously stacked nutritious sandwich, and a scoop of colourful bubble ice, we discover the remarkable origin of Tang Monk: a scholar father, a treacherous boatman, a mother who floated her baby to safety on a wooden board, and a son who waited twenty years to set things right. Location: Keelung City Food: Keelung Tempu
The monkey is under the mountain. The Tang Monk has been chosen. Now a new story begins — one about a powerful emperor, a proud Dragon King, and the dangerous consequences of cheating fate. In this episode we visit the colourful painted houses of Zhengbin Fishing Harbor and the ocean museum on Keelung's coast, eat sizzling one-bite sausages from the harbour side, and discover how Emperor Taizong of Tang ends up needing something only a Western scripture can provide. Location: Keelung Marine Museum Food: One-Bite Sausage | Bubble Ice
Welcome to Local Guys in Taiwan: Journey to the West — where three friends road-trip Taiwan, eating street food while listening to the story of the Monkey King. Today we wind up a narrow mountain road to Jiufen Old Street — lanterns glowing in the mist, old stone steps dropping into the sea fog — and hear one of the strangest chapters in the book: the Emperor of China dies, takes a tour of the underworld, borrows twenty more years from the judges of the dead, and comes back to life owing a very large favour. Location: Jiufen Food: Taro Balls | Grass Jelly Cake
Welcome to Local Guys in Taiwan: Journey to the West — where three friends road-trip Taiwan, eating street food while listening to the story of the Monkey King. Today we follow the old railway tracks to Shifen in Pingxi, where sky lanterns rise into the dark mountain air like wishes taking flight — and we hear the chapter where the great journey finally begins: Tang Monk is chosen, Guanyin gives him his mission, and the most famous road trip in Chinese literature sets off. Location: Pingxi District Food: Charcoal-Grilled Sausage | Handmade Mochi
Welcome to Local Guys in Taiwan: Journey to the West — where three friends road-trip Taiwan, eating street food while listening to the story of the Monkey King. Today we take the MRT all the way to the end of the line and arrive at Danshui — old red-brick streets along the river, a ferry crossing to Bali, the smell of the ocean. And we follow Tang Monk as he sets off on the greatest journey in Chinese literature — and immediately gets captured by a monster. Location: Danshui District Food: Agei | Fish Ball Soup | Iron Eggs
Welcome to Local Guys in Taiwan: Journey to the West — where three friends road-trip Taiwan, eating street food while listening to the story of the Monkey King. Today we roll through two neighbours of New Taipei — the baroque grandeur of Sanxia Old Street and the clay-and-glaze world of Yingge Ceramics Street — and hear the chapter everyone has been waiting for: Sun Wukong and Tang Monk finally meet. It goes about as well as you'd expect. Location: Sanxia District | Yingge District Food: Sanxia Golden Croissant | Yingge Ceramics
Welcome to Local Guys in Taiwan: Journey to the West — where three friends road-trip Taiwan, eating street food while listening to the story of the Monkey King. Today we wind deep into the mountains south of Taipei, following the Xindian River into Atayal indigenous territory, arriving at Wulai — hot springs, waterfalls, mountain food. And we hear about the companion who never gets enough credit: the white dragon horse, who carries Tang Monk every step of the way. Location: Wulai District | Bitan Food: Wulai Mountain Cuisine | Millet Cake
Episode sixteen takes us over the mountains to Yilan — specifically to Jiaoxi, where natural hot spring water flows right up through the town's streets and into a free public foot-soaking park. Over crispy Jiaoxi scallion pancakes and the town's beloved bou-meat — golden deep-fried pork strips — we follow Tang Monk and Sun Wukong into the most dangerous guest room in the history of overnight travel. An old abbot's jealousy, a borrowed wind, a catastrophic fire, and a very opportunistic bear. Location: Jiaoxi, Yilan Food: Scallion Pancake | Bou-meat
Episode seventeen heads further down the Yilan coast to Toucheng — a sleepy old township where the mountains meet the Pacific, home to one of Taiwan's most famous surf beaches at Wai'ao. Over fresh local seafood and thin-sliced Yilan pressed duck, we follow Sun Wukong as he does something he rarely does: admits he needs help. He travels to the South Sea to find Guanyin — and the plan she comes up with involves Sun Wukong disguising himself as a pill and getting swallowed by a bear. Location: Toucheng, Yilan Food: Yilan Pressed Duck | Seafood
Episode eighteen takes us inland from the Yilan coast to Sanxing township — home to what many consider the finest scallions in Taiwan. The soil, the mountain water, and the cool air of the river valley produce scallions of legendary sweetness. At Qingshui Geothermal Park you can cook eggs in natural hot spring water on the ground — one of the strangest and most delightful picnics in Taiwan. And at this episode's heart, a pig monster with an unexpectedly complicated past joins the journey west. Location: Sanxing, Yilan Food: Sanxing Scallion Pancake
Episode nineteen reaches the southern end of Yilan at Su'ao — a town famous for something genuinely rare: a natural cold carbonated spring, one of only two such springs in the world open to the public. The water bubbles like soda water, stays cool even in summer, and has been used since the Japanese colonial era. At Qili Bay, there's a Pearl Milk Tea Museum dedicated to the history of bubble tea. And in the story, the final administrative details of Pigsy's joining are sorted, an all-night fight ends in unexpected friendship, and Tang Monk receives the Heart Sutra — the guiding text for the wh
Episode twenty crosses into Hualien — Taiwan's largest county and home to Taroko National Park, one of the most spectacular landscapes in Asia. The Liwu River has spent millions of years cutting through pure white marble, creating sheer gorge walls, rushing emerald water, and the famous marble highways. In Tianxiang at the heart of the gorge, we eat the legendary Gongzheng Street pork buns and a fried egg scallion pancake. And in the story, the team meets their most dangerous obstacle yet: a wind so powerful it blinds. For the first time, even Sun Wukong is in serious trouble. Location: Taroko
Episode twenty-one brings us to one of Taiwan's most beautiful beaches — Qixingtan, a crescent bay of smooth grey stones on Hualien's Pacific coast. Over steaming bowls of wonton soup from the East Gate Night Market and juicy Gongzheng Street pork buns, we follow Sun Wukong as he faces his toughest enemy yet: the Yellow Wind Monster, whose magic wind can blind anyone who breathes it. The solution? A tiny pill and a very convincing disguise. Location: Hualien City Food: Wonton Soup | Pork Buns
Episode twenty-two takes us a little south of Hualien City to Ji'an Township — a quiet place that hides two treasures: a stunning Japanese-colonial-era temple and a farm where you can dig your own clams straight from the mud. Over a crispy Hualien fried egg scallion pancake and slippery Ji'an rice noodles, we reach the Flowing Sands River — the most dramatic obstacle yet — and watch as a monster who has been living in shame at the bottom of the river finally finds a way to come home. Location: Ji'an Township Food: Hualien Egg Scallion Pancake | Rice Noodles
Episode twenty-three takes us to Shoufeng Township in Hualien County — home to the tranquil Liyu Lake, the largest landlocked lake in eastern Taiwan, and the colourful Farglory Ocean Park perched on a hillside overlooking the Pacific. Over a plate of Shoufeng's famous golden clams and a sizzling dish of Liyu Lake dancing shrimp, we watch four Bodhisattvas set an elaborate trap — and see which of the four pilgrims has the least self-control. Location: Shoufeng Township Food: Shoufeng Golden Clams | Liyu Lake Dancing Shrimp
Episode twenty-four heads south to the Ruisui and Fengbin area — where the East Rift Valley meets the Pacific coast. Ruisui is famous for its dairy farms, its hot springs, and the Tropic of Cancer running right through it. We eat Ruisui fresh milk ice cream so clean it tastes like the mountain grass the cows grazed on, and a hot spring egg custard — silky and warm from the naturally heated mineral water. And we follow Sun Wukong as he discovers the most extraordinary fruit in the universe... and immediately decides to steal it. Location: Ruisui Township Food: Ruisui Fresh Milk Ice Cream | Hot
Episode twenty-five takes us to Fuli Township in southern Hualien — the heart of daylily country, where the hillsides of Liushidan Mountain turn completely golden every summer with hundreds of thousands of blooming flowers. We eat a fresh daylily stir-fry from a farmer's stall on the mountain and the legendary Chishang lunchbox on a bench beside the rice paddies, while Sun Wukong attempts three escapes, visits three celestial sages looking for help, fails spectacularly every time, and finally learns that cleaning up a mess requires more than strength. Location: Fuli Township Food: Daylily Stir
