Bao Island Storyteller: Journey to the West

One hundred episodes. One hundred locations across Taiwan. One hundred chapters of Journey to the West. We end where we began — back in Taipei, under Taipei 101, the building that started it all. In the finale episode, we watch the entire team arrive home, receive their destinies, and become what they were always meant to be. Sun Wukong's golden headband — placed on his head in Chapter 14, a source of pain and control for the entire journey — quietly disappears. We eat the full Taipei classics: Din Tai Fung xiaolongbao, Yongkang beef noodles, and a Shilin night market send-off. And Bridge, Bao, and Captain say goodbye to the most extraordinary road trip in history.
Location: Xinyi District | Dadaocheng
Food: Din Tai Fung Xiaolongbao | Yongkang Beef Noodles | Shilin Night Market

Episode 99 brings us to Songshan District in Taipei — home of Raohe Night Market, one of Taipei's oldest and most beloved night markets, and the Rainbow Bridge that arches over the Keelung River in a graceful curve of coloured light. Raohe is the night market that locals argue is the best in the city — a single long lane packed with food stalls, the entrance guarded by the ornate Ciyou Temple. We eat two of the market's most iconic foods: Pepper Buns — baked in a clay tandoor-style oven until the crust shatters and the peppery pork filling bursts with juice; and Herbal Stewed Pork Ribs — a medicinal herb broth that's been simmering for hours with fall-off-the-bone ribs, the ultimate Taipei night market comfort food. And we find out what happens when Tang Monk forgets a very important promise — and meets the most justified obstacle of the entire journey.
Location: Songshan District
Food: Pepper Buns | Herbal Stewed Pork Ribs

Episode 98 takes us to Taipei's Wenshan District — home of the Maokong Gondola, the Taipei Zoo, and the hillside tea plantations where Muzha Tieguanyin tea has been grown for over a century. The gondola rises from the zoo at the valley floor up to Maokong, where tea houses dot the mountain and the city skyline glitters below. We eat Tieguanyin tea cuisine — dishes where the locally grown tea is used as an ingredient, infusing everything from chicken to noodles with its distinctive roasted flavour — and Muzha Goose, the neighbourhood's beloved simple specialty: tender poached goose served cold with a ginger-scallion dip. Over these homey Taipei flavours, we witness the most extraordinary moment in the whole journey — the team finally arrives at India, sheds their mortal bodies, and meets the Buddha. Then things get complicated.
Location: Wenshan District
Food: Tieguanyin Tea Cuisine | Muzha Goose

Episode 97 takes us to the mountains just southeast of Taipei — Shenkeng and Shiding, two neighbouring old towns in New Taipei City connected by winding mountain roads. Shenkeng Old Street is Taiwan's undisputed capital of stinky tofu, where an entire lane of shops each offers their own take on this pungent, crispy, irresistible delicacy. Nearby, Shiding's Crooked Lane (不見天街) is a covered alley built over a stream, and the viewpoint at Thousand Island Lake reveals a reservoir studded with green islets that looks like it belongs in a fantasy film. Over fiery, crispy Shenkeng stinky tofu and a refined Shiding tofu meal, we follow Sun Wukong as he goes from hero to prisoner to underworld investigator — all to prove they didn't do something they didn't do.
Location: Shenkeng District
Food: Shenkeng Stinky Tofu | Shiding Tofu Meal

Episode 96 takes us to Dongyin — the most remote, most northerly island of Matsu, sitting at the edge of Taiwan's sovereign territory. A white lighthouse stands at the island's northern tip — the northernmost lighthouse in Taiwan — and the old military fortification Guozhi Beige keeps watch over the sea from its granite cliffs. This is 國之北疆 — the Northern Frontier of the Nation. We eat the freshest seafood of the trip: cold-current sea urchin, fat steamed oysters, and clean-broth fish soup from waters where the Kuroshio and cold currents collide. And we take a small, ceremonial shot of Dongyin Gaoliang — the local sorghum spirit that clocks in at 58 degrees. Over these most remote flavours, we follow Tang Monk as the wealthiest man in the land tries to give him everything — and he says no to all of it.
Location: Dongyin, Matsu
Food: Dongyin Seafood | Gaoliang Spirit

Episode 95 takes us to Beigan — Matsu's other main island — and to Qinbi Village, one of the most beautiful preserved settlements in all of Taiwan. Stone houses built from local granite cascade down a hillside facing the sea, their tile roofs and narrow lanes unchanged for over a century. The whole village looks like it belongs in a Mediterranean painting, except the architecture is pure Fujian. We eat two Matsu specialties: Fish Noodles — noodles made from actual fish paste, chewy and oceanic and unlike anything you've had elsewhere; and Red Lees Dishes — the signature fermented red rice lees of Matsu used in everything from braised meats to fried fish. And the story delivers the revelation: the Moon Rabbit, escaped from the Moon Palace, finally unmasked — Chang'e arriving from the sky — and the real princess, alive and waiting in a locked room for twelve years, finally free.
Location: Beigan, Matsu
Food: Fish Noodles | Red Lees Dishes

Episode 94 keeps us on Nangan, Matsu — standing at the foot of the towering Mazu Giant Statue, the 28.8-metre goddess who watches over the sea from the island's highest point. From here, you can see the entire strait, the harbour below, and on clear days, the mainland coast. Nearby is the Matsu Tianhou Temple, the oldest Mazu temple in the archipelago, where fishermen have been praying for safe passage for centuries. We eat two of Matsu's most essential comfort foods: Old Wine Noodles — thin misua noodles tossed in the island's aged rice wine with egg and sesame oil, a dish that warms you from the inside out; and Jiguang Bing — savoury sesame-crusted biscuits with a chewy centre, originally baked for soldiers and still a beloved staple. And the story reaches its dramatic tension point: a garden party where everything looks perfect, Sun Wukong is the only one who can see through the disguise, and he has to find a way to prove the "princess" is a demon — while everyone else is enjoying the party and wishes he would stop.
Location: Nangan, Matsu
Food: Old Wine Noodles | Jiguang Bing

Episode 93 takes us to Nangan — the main island of Matsu, Lienchiang County. This is Taiwan's closest territory to mainland China, a windswept archipelago where Fujian stone villages cling to hillsides and old military tunnels are carved into granite. We walk the old streets of Nangan Village, explore the Beihai Tunnel — a Cold War-era boat tunnel carved through solid rock — and stroll the Tieban coastal path. We eat two of Matsu's most iconic dishes: Red Lees Pork, braised in the island's distinctive red rice wine lees until fork-tender and deeply savoury; and crispy Oyster Cakes, golden-fried pockets of batter stuffed with fresh local oysters. And the story marks a turning point: after fourteen years of travel, the team is nearly at India. And then a mysterious woman appears on the road, claiming to be a lost princess — and throws a ball straight at Tang Monk.
Location: Matsu Nangan
Food: Red Lees Pork | Oyster Cakes

Episode 92 takes us to Little Kinmen — Lieyu Island, just a short ferry from the main Kinmen island, only five or six kilometres from Xiamen, China. The island's history is heavy — underground bunkers, anti-tank obstacles still lining the beaches, artillery shell casings turned into the famous Kinmen kitchen knives — but its life force is undeniable. We eat continuation bread stuffed with a fried egg and taro ice cream made from local taro. And the story delivers the satisfying counterattack: four divine officials arrive in animal form, each one the natural predator of a rhinoceros spirit, and the thousand years of stolen moonlight is finally returned to the sky.
Location: Lieyu Township, Kinmen
Food: Continuation Bread with Egg | Taro Ice Cream

Episode 91 keeps us in Kinmen, heading east to Jinsha Township. Shami Old Street has crumbling yellow walls that locals call "the Morocco of Kinmen," and the Lion Mountain Artillery Fortification still holds the howitzers from the 1958 bombardment, with live artillery drill demonstrations. Over a warming bowl of Kinmen Cantonese congee — rice cooked until the grains completely dissolve — and another round of crispy oyster fritters, the story this week is about a lantern festival gone very, very wrong: three ancient rhinoceros spirits have been stealing the moonlight for a thousand years, and tonight they've decided to steal Tang Monk too.
Location: Jinsha Township, Kinmen
Food: Cantonese Congee | Oyster Fritter