Taiwan small group vacation

Environment

Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, boasts one of the most efficient recycling systems in the world, and our leaders will explain how it works during our travelers’ initial welcome meeting. They will then understand best practise when it comes to waste disposal throughout the trip.

In a lot of the accommodation we stay in there are kettles available to use if passengers want to fill up their bottles with tea, coffee or water for the day. This dissuades them from buying bottled water in an attempt to decrease plastic waste.

Our leaders will also encourage travelers to purchase their own chopsticks to avoid using instant ones. Instant chopsticks are very common in lots of Taiwanese eateries and the plastic consumption and waste they create is substantial. As part of learning and adapting to Taiwanese food culture, it’s a great idea to carry a pair with you. Plus, they make a great souvenir to take back home!

Community

On this trip, travelers will take part in the fun yet purposeful activity of selling sweet potatoes to locals on the street. The initiative is called the Sweet Potato Mama Project and helps single mothers live independently by allowing them to become vendors of these traditional Taiwanese root vegetables.
This project is supported by the Genesis Social Welfare Foundation (GSWF), which has long been helping women to earn an independent living. We will help the mamas to sell their produce, get to know them and learn about their lives as they teach us how to roast sweet potatoes.

There are plenty more hands-on experiences included on this tour such as a visit to a local farm, a noodle making class and tea picking. In Taiwan’s smaller towns and cities, they face issues of labour loss because young people prefer to move to the bigger cities for a taste of modern life and better job opportunities.

Tourism definitely alleviates this issue somewhat and our group’s visit helps to support the local economy, retain their workforce and preserve the local traditions and culture too.