A lot more fun in 'Fun Taiwan'

Having trav-eled across 30 countries throughout the world, 28-year-old Janet Hsieh is now coming home to travel some more. For Janet, traveling is always a whole lot of fun. But what’s even more fun is exploring her hometown… in Fun Taiwan.

Fun Taiwan is the latest, craziest travel show on Discovery Travel and Living. In each hour-long episode of this 12-part series, show host Janet Hsieh takes viewers around her hometown of Taiwan, giving everyone a glimpse of local culture, life, delights and scenic sights.

Covering an area of just 36,000 square kilometers, Taiwan is really quite a small island. In fact, as Janet would say, Taiwan is “a tiny speck on the map.” But Fun Taiwan shows you that, in this tiny speck, there’s much to see, experience and explore.

In the show’s pilot episode entitled “Most Fun Taiwan,” Janet goes from north to south, east to west, communing with Taiwan’s nature, culture, people and food.

Sometimes she’s driving. Other times she’s walking and even hiking. There are also a lot of times when she’s swimming. But most of the time, Janet is simply eating. Well, if there are two things this Texas-born model-turned- television host can’t resist, it’s water springs and food. And luckily for Janet, Taiwan’s got a lot of both!

The “Most Fun Taiwan” episode begins with a hike around the lush La-La Mountain with local ecological observer Chen Shen-Shou guiding the way. The trek takes them to La-La Mountain’s sacred trees, only 24 of which are open for the public to see. These trees are the oldest in the forest; many say they have been around for thousands of years.

During the hike, Janet also discovers that Mother Nature has her own brand of soap — a fruit called soapberry which bubbles with just a bit of water. Chen Shen-Shou also shows Janet two of Taiwan’s indigenous flowers, the Taiwan rhododendron and the rhododendron latoucheae. The whole trek is serene and majestic. Along the way, Janet discovers that, in this forest, there are also earthworms so huge that Janet calls them “Amazonian worms.”

After a leisurely trek through the forest, Janet heads for a dip in some of Taiwan’s famous springs. Taiwan, as it turns out, is actually home to a lot of water springs. There are reportedly at least 100 of them, several hot and one cold.

Braving the winter weather, Janet takes to Taiwan’s ultimate cold spring first. With doctor-turned-hot spring explorer and expert Lin Yi-Kuei, Janet plunges into the 22-degree mineral spring pool of Su-ao Cold Spring, perhaps trying to see how long they can both last in really cold water.

When the two have had enough time “chilling out,” they head over to Yeh-Shi Hot Springs, situated in the middle of the mountains. The water here is so hot it turns the rocks in the water orange.

After being rejuvenated, water springs-style, Janet gets into some serious fishing, both the natural and most communal methods.

First, Janet meets with the local Amis to take part in a fishing method that requires permission and blessings from the gods. The men here always begin their fishing activity with a ceremonial spitting of water into the lake. Only after this do they start their actual fishing using leaves wrapped around entwined sticks of bamboo. After some time, the men and Janet manage to catch some fish, which is then cooked and served with soup and vegetables for lunch.

Later, Janet joins another local fishing community as they collectively haul in the daily catch with one giant net in the sea. And then she heads to Grannie’s Kitchen to discover how to make short rice noodles, and later, try some.

Later on, when Janet strolls around Taiwan’s night market, it is not because she’s up for some shopping; actually, it’s for more eating. Along with Taiwan chef and restaurateur Michael Ou, Janet tries pearl shake, chicken feet, and other Taiwanese favorites that have been influenced by Chinese cooking.

After all the eating, swimming and sightseeing, Janet seems ready to fall in love. And what better place for this to happen than in Central Taiwan, where wedding photo shoots happen all day, almost every day.

Janet hangs out with wedding photographer A-Fu who spends the day shooting an about-to-get-married couple throughout various parts of Central Taiwan. And guess what? Janet actually gets to become his assistant.

The shoot continues on through some parks, a train station and a motel, with various costume changes throughout the day. And in the end, Janet also gets to portray the couple on camera, her way!

For Janet, few locations seem as fun as Fun Taiwan.

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Fun Taiwan airs on Discovery Travel & Living Channel Saturday nights, from 11 p.m. to 12 midnight, with repeat showings every Sunday at 3 p.m.