Actually they still have to hike to get to those IG superspots.
So it’s actually a healthy hobby. And I’m impressed by the number of young women hiking here, I doubt you will see so many overseas. Same as I’m impressed by all the old geezers hiking too I guess.
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Wonder if i would have better luck making friend by joining some of these tai chi groups I see in the morning. Problem would be i’m not the most flexible person in the world and would probably fail miserably at it. 
Point was that if you’re looking to enjoy nature with a friend (or significant other), it’s a real drag when the other person’s motivation is to take photos of themselves. Hard to enjoy the journey when the other person wants to spend an hour at the destination doing an IG photo shoot.
And let’s not talk about the geezers who play their music and don’t know how to move to one side to let others pass.
As for other places, hiking is very popular just about everywhere. I’d say the trails here tend to be a little more crowded because of the population density and the fact that most people don’t have cars so the most accessible trails get a lot of traffic. In the US, the foot traffic is more widely distributed across tons of trails.
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Just got glasses fitted and had a nice conversation with the owner. We got on the topic of how long the store has been around - decades - and he went on a while about how the much the neighborhood has changed and how people are less friendly now, how people used to know their neighbors before but how that is rare now.
So, interactions like this make me feel that my neighborhood is friendly, though the shopkeeper himself didn’t seem to think so! 
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So what interests make a person interesting? I am trying to recall the Westerners I know, none of them have particularly outstanding interests. They are mostly equally basic, if more upfront about their basicness.
Hiking is popular only in places where it’s possible to hike. It’s not possible in very flat countries.
We already did! 
Guy
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Care to explain this point.
I could give a spiel about having a diverse array of interests, but in reality, you don’t need to be a Renaissance man or woman to be interesting.
I’m increasingly coming to believe that the Taiwanese appear more boring than people I’ve met in other places around the world not because there’s something different about what’s happening in their gray matter but because so many of them have un(der)developed social skills.
There’s a saying, “to be interesting, be interested.” Dale Carnegie elaborated:
You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.
Since so many Taiwanese people seek out screens and avoid people, and are often awkward when they do socialize, they fail the “to be interesting, be interested” test.
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That Dale Carnegie knew a thing or two about people , I must read his book.
Where are you gonna hike in the Netherlands?
Except you were saying that what Taiwanese people do, like hiking, cycling, watching tv, karaoke etc., were boring.
To be fair, that would make the majority of people rather interesting. A lot just say they watched TV all weekend every weekend. Boring!!!
I’m pretty boring myself but I like going to mountains to hike, eating at various restaurants, going to hot springs, movies, walking around the city. Relatively boring things to many but I like it.
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After about 5 minutes of ‘hiking’, they say “I’m so sweaty” and head back down. Haha
No, I didn’t. I said:
But even many of the locals I’ve met who like things like hiking, cycling and photography come off as posers who are into buying the highest end equipment so they can show off for the Gram.
In other words, I find that many peoples’ interest in these things comes off as superficial and motivated not by genuine interest in and enjoyment of the activity itself but rather a desire to show off.
Also, I didn’t say anything about TV and karaoke. Netflix has some good content and karaoke can be fun, but staring at your phone from the minute you get off work to the minute you go to sleep or spending every Saturday night drinking and singing at the local KTV does not an interesting person make.
Like I said, ultimately, I think the lack of social skills is a big part of what makes people here seem boring. If more people knew how to engage with others, they’d seem less boring even if they aren’t well rounded or particularly active.
Yeah this is particularly common at Elephant Mountain. A lot of them stop at the first viewing platform.
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I never said what they do was boring. The original topic was are they friendly, and my opinion is I don’t think so. What people find interesting is different from person to person. But even if you know you have similar interest as others, it’s hard to get invited into their circle because they are not “friendly”. When you join their conversation, it doesn’t lead to “we should go do that together sometimes.”
I would consider my self boring. My hobbies are eating, playing games and mahjong. Would think I should fit right in here… not the case.
I find many locals very very reticent about sharing details about their personal lives and opinions on certain things.
Yet many people think nothing of asking me the most personal questions . Part of it is to do with face (dont want people to know certain things people might l’ook down on’ ), wariness of others , another big part is just forgetting that they need to make conversation a two way thing and not being well practised at the art of conversation.
Because conversation is an art and skill that is practised.
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Taiwan’s White Terror period may be over, but in some ways it still lives on. I think this is one of its afterlives.
Guy
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Good point. Never ever raise a controversial subject at the dinner table. How many times do you hear “we don’t talk politics, it’s a dark subject”.
I find this to be very true. Whenever I meet new people, most of them just want to ask my opinions on stuff such as what I think of Taiwan and if I like it better than the states. They really don’t want to share anything about them self. When you ask question about them it’s usually a very vague responce.