Episode 50 visits one of Taiwan's most surprising institutions — the Chimei Museum in Tainan's Rende District, a world-class collection of European fine art, musical instruments, natural history, and armour, housed in a Neoclassical building surrounded by reflecting pools and greenery — entirely free to enter. Over coffin bread (thick-fried toast hollowed into a box and filled with creamy seafood stew) and Tainan shrimp rolls, we reach a pivotal chapter: a new demon appears who is unlike anything the pilgrims have faced before. It steals Sun Wukong's staff. And without it, he can't win.
Location: Rende District
Food: Coffin Bread | Shrimp Rolls

Episode 49 heads to Tainan's North District and the Flower Garden Night Market — the biggest and most beloved night market in the city, with over three hundred stalls running on select nights of the week. Tainan is called the 'Temple Capital' with more than 1,600 temples packed into the city. Over a warm bowl of Tainan salty porridge and loach noodles stir-fried in sweet-vinegar sauce, we watch Sun Wukong make the journey to ask Guanyin for help — and discover that the solution was in Guanyin's hands the whole time.
Location: North District
Food: Tainan Salty Porridge | Loach Noodles

Episode 48 heads out to Anping — the old port district of Tainan, where the first permanent Chinese settlement in Taiwan was established. Anping Old Street is the oldest street in Taiwan, running through what was once the heart of a harbour city, and nearby Yuguang Island offers sunsets over the coastal lagoon. Over golden shrimp crackers and plump Anping shrimp rolls, we follow the pilgrims to one of their most helpless moments: the carp demon freezes the river, Tang Monk crosses on the ice, falls through, and is dragged to the bottom — and for once, Sun Wukong genuinely can't help him.
Location: Anping District
Food: Anping Shrimp Crackers | Anping Shrimp Rolls

Episode 47 rolls into Tainan — Taiwan's oldest city and its food capital. We park at Chihkan Tower, a Dutch fort built in 1653 that now sits quietly among noodle stalls and temples in the old city centre. Over beef soup ladled at six in the morning, chewy bowl cake, and a bowl of danzai noodles that has been made the same way for over a hundred years, we follow the pilgrims to a river eight hundred miles across, a monster that demands a child every year, and Sun Wukong and Pigsy pretending to be the sacrifice.
Location: Zhongxi District
Food: Beef Soup | Bowl Cake | Danzai Noodles

Episode 46 comes down from the mountain pass into Liugui District — a quiet valley where the Laonong River runs between steep green walls and a giant white Buddha watches over everything from a ridge above. Nearby, Bulao Hot Springs offers mineral-rich water that local tradition says keeps you young. Over creamy hot spring eggs with deep amber yolks and hearty mountain cuisine — wild boar with mountain garlic, fern shoots, and arrow bamboo soup — we follow Sun Wukong as he takes on three arrogant Taoist monks in a guessing-box contest, transforms what's inside to cheat, then exposes each one as a disguised animal before finally defeating them and freeing hundreds of enslaved Buddhist monks.
Location: Liugui District
Food: Hot Spring Eggs | Mountain Cuisine

Episode 45 takes us up the dramatic southern cross-island highway — one of Taiwan's most spectacular mountain roads — to Tianchi Lake at over 2,300 metres, where mist drifts across the water like something out of a scroll painting. The Taoyuan area is Bunun indigenous territory, and the mountain farms here grow wild greens and millet that have sustained communities for thousands of years. Over stir-fried mountain vegetables and nutty, earthy millet rice, we return to the Car-Slow Kingdom to watch Sun Wukong run the table on Tiger Strength, Deer Strength, and Ram Strength — controlling the rain from above with his divine contacts, then winning the meditation contest in the most undignified way imaginable.
Location: Taoyuan District | Liugui District | Tianchi Lake
Food: Mountain Vegetables | Millet Rice

Episode 44 heads into the mountains northeast of Kaohsiung — first to Qishan, the old banana capital of Taiwan, with its Japanese-era old street and famous banana-flavoured everything, then to Meinong, a Hakka farming town where colourful paper umbrellas are made by hand and the traditional ban tiao noodles are the thing to eat. Over banana ice cream and a steaming bowl of Hakka flat noodles, we arrive at the Car-Slow Kingdom — a place where power has been badly abused, monks are enslaved, and three Taoist lords challenge Tang Monk's group to a series of competitions that start with calling rain and get increasingly stranger.
Location: Qishan District | Meinong District
Food: Qishan Banana Ice Cream | Meinong Ban Tiao

Episode 43 takes us across the harbour to Qijin — Kaohsiung's narrow sandbar island, reachable only by ferry or an undersea tunnel. The ferry ride from Gushan is only ten minutes, but stepping off the boat puts you in a completely different world: salty sea air, grilled seafood smoke rising from every stall, and an old street that stretches from the dock all the way to the beach. Over freshly grilled squid charred on the spot and plump oyster omelettes sizzling on hot iron plates, we follow the pilgrims to the Black Water River — where a lizard demon uses a disguise and flattery to sink Tang Monk, and Sun Wukong has to ask a dragon prince for help underwater.
Location: Qijin District
Food: Qijin Grilled Squid | Qijin Oyster Omelette

Episode 42 brings us to Zuoying's Lotus Pond — one of Taiwan's most photographed landmarks. The Dragon and Tiger Pagodas stand in the middle of the water, connected by zigzag bridges. You enter through the dragon's mouth, walk through its body, and exit through the tiger's mouth — according to tradition, washing away bad luck. Over veterans' village noodles and cool sesame-paste cold noodles, we follow Sun Wukong as he does the most remarkable thing he has done in the entire story: bows nine times to Guanyin and asks for help. Then we watch Guanyin catch Red Boy — not with force, but with a trap made of lotus flowers and golden headbands.
Location: Zuoying District
Food: Veterans' Village Noodles | Cold Noodles

Episode 41 brings us into Kaohsiung — Taiwan's great harbour city. We park at Pier 2 Arts District, the enormous old warehouse complex right on the port where cranes and container ships backdrop murals and galleries. Up on Shoushan — Monkey Mountain — Taiwanese macaques watch tourists from the treetops. Over dry-tossed noodles from the legendary Yancheng stall and a plate of crispy oyster omelette, we follow Sun Wukong into the most dangerous battle yet — one where he makes a terrible mistake, loses his best partner, and has to swallow his pride and ask for help.
Location: Pier 2 Arts District
Food: Yancheng Noodle Stall | Oyster Omelette