Pilot letter · Pilot
Heat, the HSR, and a cloudy mountain
Friday, August 28, 2026 · From the Taipei desk
This was the trial run: a short Friday note to see whether a letter from Taiwan, in English, was something people would actually open. The basin was still in high summer. We wrote about the thunderstorm, the train, and the mountain at the top of the city.
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01 · culture
The 3pm thunderstorm as a civic institution
It is not a canceled afternoon. It is a pause. Learn to stand under the arcade like everyone else.
Continue reading02 · travel
The HSR as a habit, not a holiday
Tainan for dinner and back is a real evening if you book the right train. Treating the west coast as far is a Taipei superstition.
03 · travel
Yangmingshan when the city is too much
You do not need a clear view of the north coast. You need a bus, a trail, and an hour in the silvergrass.
04 · culture
The night market after you live here
Tourists line up for the famous stall. Residents have a second map: the stall that is good on Tuesdays, the one that closed, the one that moved two streets over.
05 · living
English-friendly clinics, without flying to Hong Kong
Taipei has a real medical system. You do not need a medical tourist corridor. You need an NHI card, a number ticket, and a short list.
This week in Taiwan History
August 23, 1958 — the week they still call 823
Five days before this letter, in 1958, the guns opened on Kinmen. The odd-even shelling that followed is why a museum on the island still treats earplugs as a joke with a date on it.
Continue readingUntil Friday.
If someone sent you this letter, stay. If you live here and we missed something, suggest a story. The desk reads everything.