Living in Taiwan making $24,000 a year, I was fabulously wealthy. I made enough to pay off my student loans and live high on the hog. It was a dreamy time when a girl with a 50cc scooter and a willingness to work 20 hours a week could make something of herself.

To the untrained eye, Taiwan can seem quite...well, quite ugly. Ragtag, towering buildings loom over urban areas littered with McDonald's, 7-11s, and just plain regular litter. Thousands of scooters belch out exhaust, scrawny dogs run past at regular intervals and it's not uncommon to see old men peeing in the street.

And yet, thousands of westerners deluge Taiwan every day, and they stay. They stay for years and years, if not permanently. When I first moved, I was terrified by the unreadable language and slapdash architecture. I told myself if I still couldn't stand it I would leave after three months. Two years later, I was extremely reluctant to leave (I only did so because I was determined to get my Master's degree before I turned thirty).

A Chinese customer of mind recently said to me, "they say if you want to see the real China, go to Taiwan." If you look a little closer, there is a lush and raw beauty to Taiwan and the Taiwanese way of life that you can't find anywhere else.

Even though I regularly mangled the Mandarin language, people were unfailingly kind and helpful to me. It is very intimidating to get around China speaking only English, but in Taiwan it's pretty easy.

So, I know that simply being easier to get around in than China as well as being wicked affordable is not enough to recommend Taiwan--especially since I just wrote about how dirty it is. Well, having traveled through a lot of Asia, I can say on authority that a lot of Asian cities are a bit "careworn," shall we say. A lot of Asian cultures, and Chinese in particular, love to live in the city, near the hustle and bustle of daily life. At all hours of the day, neon signs will be blazing, kareoke singers will be warbling, and someone somewhere will find a reason to set of firecrackers. The city is considered to have "renao," which translates to something like "noisy warm." The more noisy warm a place is, the more the Taiwanese want to be there. There are so many people it would be difficult to keep the place in a pristine state (unless you are Japan, but that's a special case). And it makes it all more interesting--you literally can't go anywhere without encountering a riot of sights, sounds, smells and tastes. Every walk down the street is an adventure.

In any Taiwanese city, you'll find a bevy of night markets. These are outdoor markets, open until very late at night, selling all manner of items and foods. Going for a stroll (and maybe picking up a very cute purse for only $3) in the night markets is a weekly if not almost nightly activity in Taiwan. You can buy anything for very low prices (bags, CDs, contact lens solution--whatever you need!) and eat everything from the delicious (BBQ squid) to the heinous (chicken butt, alas!).

It's also not difficult to stumble upon a lavishly and elaborately decorated temple, which will assuredly be home to those practicing a hodgepodge of Tao, Buddhist, and ancient Chinese ancestor worship. There are fabulous museums too--Taipei is home to one of the most extensive collections of Chinese art in the world.

When I lived in Taiwan, it was shortly after a massive earthquake that had devastated a lot of infrastructure. However, you are in luck--there is a new high speed train from on end of the island to the other (which makes one stop in the city I lived in--Taichung--along the way), and the road bisecting the island is in tip-top shape.

What I would recommend for a trip to Taiwan is to, naturally, start in Taipei. It's a good old-fashioned Asian powerhouse city with towering skyscrapers, extravagant temples, and lush and striking public parks and monuments. Then make your way down the west side of the island to Lukang--this "small" city is chock-a-block with beautiful, contemplative temples and charming, storied lanes that wind through the backstreets. If you have time, cut into the island and hike up Alishan (Mt Ali, a mountain resort and natural preserve located in the mountains of Chiayi County). Camp out so you can wake up to some spectacular views of the sun rising.

Go all the way down to the southernmost tip of the island and spend a few relaxing days in the cheerfully gorgeous beach town of Kenting. Then go halfway up the east coast, and spend a day or two exploring the natural wonder of Taroko Gorge, near the city of Hualien. Here, you should cut across the island and stop at Sun Moon Lake. Make your way back up to Taipei--I would recommend making a day trip to the small town of Yeliu, with some crazy shoreline rock formations made all the more colorful by the dozens of kite flyers wending their way through the giant natural sculptures.

Taiwan has something for everyone--modern cities with wicked art, culture, nightlife, and shopping; transcendent natural beauty; exotic temples and food; and the chance of adventure at every turn. Whether it's corn on your pizza or space-age looking mannequins randomly advertising wares in a auto parts store, there's never a dearth of the wacky and wonderful in Taiwan.