For some, it's a terrible idea.

For others, it's one of their favorite ways to travel.

One of those people is me.

And in this video, we are putting Taiwan to the test.

This island is known for its friendly, welcoming people, as well as its incredible landscape.

So, on paper, it should be a perfect place for hitchhiking, and seeing some beautiful places along the way, too.

Or, is it?

No, no, no, no, no, no.

That's okay.

Maybe we should find another place?

Yeah.

Is it a guy?

I have no idea what's going on right now, but I have a mandarin, I guess.

Patience.

Cut.

Cut.

Hello.

So, the plan is to hitchhike across the west coast of Taiwan, starting right here in Taichung and going all the way south towards Kenting.

But, of course, we're not just going to go there in a straight line.

We also plan on making some cool stops along the way, including the infamous Sun Moon Lake, as well as a national park named Alishan.

But let's begin with the place that we're starting this journey.

Taichung.

In my opinion, a highly underrated city.

Although many travelers treat it like just a pit stop on the way to somewhere else, we spend a couple days here, exploring the city and eating way too many breakfast pancakes.

All while still trying to master the fine art of using chopsticks.

Right there.

And honestly, this place has kind of grown on me.

It's cheaper than Taipei, the weather is better, and it's got a lot of character.

But as much as I loved Taichung, the venture was calling.

Okay, let's do this.

And like every good hitchhiking story, this one starts with absolutely no idea how it's going to end.

It's one of those stops, obviously.

Which, if you ask me, is exactly what makes it exciting.

I have absolutely no idea how this is going to go.

Like, a part of me thinks that hitchhiking is actually not that common here.

Because public transport here is just so good and so comfortable.

It basically goes everywhere through the entire country.

So I guess there's no real need for hitchhiking that much.

First things first, though.

One cappuccino, please.

So another thing that we kind of noticed that might make hitchhiking here a little bit more difficult is the fact that although people here are super friendly and helpful, they also seem to be a little bit more reserved and shy, and bigger on personal space and safety.

So yeah, they might actually not pick up hitchhikers that easily.

Like, I really don't know.

I don't know how this is going to go.

So, I guess we're going to find out.

The goal of today is to get to a place called the Sun Moon Lake, a name that sounds as dreamy as the place looks on the pictures.

Okay, so I think we found a pretty good place to start hitchhiking from.

This road basically goes out of Seychelles, and also cars have a decent place to stop here.

So, yeah, we're going to hitchhike.

The plan was to first try to hitchhike towards Pouly, a big town on the way, and from there find our way to the lake.

It always feels a bit awkward when you're having to hitchhike for a long time and then you start doing it in a new country.

Unfortunately, we didn't have the easiest start.

Maybe we should find another place.

Yeah.

Okay, little update.

That spot didn't really work that well because there was a scooter lane right in front of us, which made it difficult for cars to stop.

So now we are going to try to go to a bus stop and actually try hitchhiking from there because most likely there's going to be a place where cars can actually stop there.

So that was actually an Uber, which is not what we're doing right here.

I think we have to walk further.

Okay, so bus stop idea didn't really work.

The bus stop turned out to be kind of in a corner and there was a truck blocking the view so the cars couldn't really see us.

So, yeah, I guess in search of place number three now.

And then there is possibly the biggest challenge of them all.

Well, that came out of nowhere.

This man just stopped and started running.

I think he wants to give us oranges.

I think so.

You see, my Mandarin skills are, well, non-existent.

I'm sorry, we now speak only English.

But hey, luckily there is such a thing as Google Translate.

We tried to explain that we were trying to hitchhike to Puli.

Puli, yeah.

Puli, Puli.

No, car.

Hitchhiking.

Thank you so much.

I have no idea what is happening.

I have no idea what's going on right now, but I have Mandarin, I guess.

But somewhere along the way, I think the message got lost in translation.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

It took us a moment to realize that he probably thought we were broke and couldn't afford transportation.

It's okay, we have money.

We quickly tried to explain that this was just a fun experiment and not a cry for help.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Bye.

After which he proceeded to give us a bag full of mandarins.

You see the irony?

I think that this confirms that Taiwanese people are very, very friendly.

Makes me more confident that we're probably going to find a hitch at some point.

Okay, maybe right there.

And just as we were about to start hitchhiking again, guess who showed up?

Is it the guy?

Really?

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

This time in his car, ready to give us a ride to Puli.

So far, we're in a crazy first hitchhiking experience.

Very, very tiring.

He literally got in the car for us.

He wasn't even driving.

I feel a little bit guilty.

Puli!

Once we arrived, we wanted to thank him properly, so we invited him to lunch.

And between Google Translate and scribbled notes, we managed to kind of have a conversation.

But then we had to say our goodbyes.

Bye.

And continue our journey to the lake.

Okay, so thanks to that lovely, lovely man, we made it to Puli.

And from here, it should be about an hour more to the Sun Moon Lake, so it's not that far.

Humming And surprisingly, from here, things seem to be going upwards.

Oh, okay.

Hi.

We're trying to hitchhike to the Sun Moon Lake.

Oh, really?

Oh, thank you so much.

And we managed to find a hitch all the way to the lake within about 10 minutes.

Okay, it seems like they are actually going in that direction.

We tried to make very sure that they're not just driving there for us.

We're just switching cars now, because that one apparently wasn't comfortable enough.

Guess we're on our way.

It's a very strange way of hitchhiking.

Like, again, I've hitchhiked a lot, but this is, like, the most strange type of hitchhike.

Because not everyone stops.

No, but when they stop, they go, like, out of their way.

They are, like, extremely friendly and helpful.

Compared to Pakistan, like, everyone stops, but it's usually they choose to drive, they usually go in that direction.

Here, it's just, like, not everyone stops, but when they stop, they...

Yeah.

Yeah, guess we can't really complain.

Comfortable car.

Strange.

I think hitchhiking has always been about the unexpected, but so far, Taiwan has surprised me in ways I didn't really see coming.

Oh, yeah.

Is this it?

Yeah.

Oh, wow.

So, this is going to be a good place to be.

For you, for you.

No, no, no.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

Time to find a place to sleep.

Luckily, we stumbled upon a hostel that turned out to be perfect.

Pot-style beds.

It's nice.

A little bit strange.

It's nice.

Yeah.

A fully equipped kitchen with free coffee.

And a beautiful terrace with stunning views over the lake.

So, we are currently in Itatau, which is kind of in the southeastern part of the Sun Moon Lake.

And this place, as compared to the other big town, Santau, I think it's called, is supposed to be a little bit more laid-back, a little bit more, like, authentic as well.

And thus far, I am loving it.

Itatau also happens to be famous for its night market.

So, naturally, we had to go and explore.

I can't talk.

It's very slow. It's very slow.

Okay.

Mmm.

Mmm.

Yeah.

It's a bit challenging to eat.

Yum.

This night market is especially known for its local aboriginal specialties, as this area has deep ties to the Taos, one of Taiwan's indigenous peoples.

Although I opted to skip that one, I did want to try the millet wine, another specialty here.

Cheers.

Cheers.

This is, like, the cutest glass I've ever seen.

It's pretty good.

It doesn't taste whiny.

Thank you.

Oh, I like that one.

It's very good.

And let's just say that I liked both.

Okay, let's stay a little bit stronger.

The rest of the evening was spent sampling foodstall after foodstall, until we were in a full-on food coma.

I don't know what it is.

I don't know whether I have to eat it.

Me neither.

I have sauce all over me already.

And honestly, that's how every good night should end.

So it is a beautiful new day, and we are going to explore the lake.

And we heard the best way to do that is by bicycle.

So we actually ended up going for two electrical bikes, because we were feeling lazy, and it was not that much more expensive.

So I think we're going to have a really good time.

Like, you get all the benefits without the actual struggle.

This is going to be great.

The plan for today was to make a full loop around the lake, which is about 30 kilometers.

We have no idea where we're going to cycle or where we have to go, but we can at least head towards the lake.

I'm driving on the wrong side of the road.

Let's see how fast this thing can go.

I think I made a new friend.

Okay, a bit of backstory here.

That morning, I saw this really cute dog on the streets, and I started petting him for like two seconds.

And somehow he pops up again.

Aw, buddy, go back.

Go back.

You're not supposed to follow us.

Should I talk to you?

See ya.

We're too fast for you.

We have electric bikes.

We'll be back.

Say bye.

We thought we said our goodbyes, but nope.

Oh my god, he's still here.

Hey, doggo.

Doggo, you're so fast.

Hey, buddy.

What are you doing?

It is way too exhausting for you.

You have to stop and stay here.

I have like two head scratches to my leg.

I need you to stop.

Look at you drooling.

All over me.

Nice.

For some reason, he just would not leave us alone.

And as exhausting as it must have been for him to keep up, he did.

And so he became our new adventure bike, running alongside us like he'd been part of the plan all along.

Literally all it took was like two pets and a little bit of water.

That's it.

Now I have a new dog.

Calm down.

There's enough.

It's enough?

Woof.

So this lake is literally named Foragetape.

Apparently, the eastern side of the lake kind of looks like a sun, and the western side resembles a moon.