Episode forty takes us to the edge of Taiwan — Mudan Township and the Xuhai coast, where the Alangyi Ancient Trail follows the last stretch of completely undeveloped coastline on the island. No road, no electricity, just cobblestone beach, raw Pacific waves, and forest running down to the sea. Over Checheng mung bean soup carried in a thermos and smoky wild boar sausage grilled on the trail, we meet Red Boy — the ferocious three-hundred-year-old child of the Bull Demon King, who kidnaps Tang Monk and lights Sun Wukong on fire. And the fire isn't ordinary fire. Three Samadhi Fire burns hotter than anything in existence — water makes it worse.
Location: Mudan / Xuhai
Food: Checheng Mung Bean Soup | Wild Boar Sausage

Episode thirty-nine takes us into the Pingtung mountains — to Sandimen and Wutai, where Rukai and Paiwan indigenous communities have lived for centuries along the Ailiao River. We cross the Shanchuan Glass Suspension Bridge sixty metres above the jade-green river, visit the famous Shenshan aiyu jelly stall, and taste millet wine and qinafu — the traditional glutinous rice roll wrapped in leaves. The story reaches the conclusion of the Wuji Kingdom arc: the true king walks back into his throne room, Sun Wukong forces the demon to reveal itself before the full court, and a celestial figure intervenes to end the deception once and for all.
Location: Sandimen
Food: Millet Wine | Qinafu

Episode thirty-eight brings us to Pingtung City — home of Shengli Star Village, one of Taiwan's most complete veterans' village communities where Japanese-era military housing became home to Nationalist soldiers and their families after 1949. The quiet lanes, old trees, and single-storey houses hold seventy years of stories. At the Pingtung Night Market, black sugar mochi and savoury meat rice cake fuel us through Chapter 38 of Journey to the West: Sun Wukong turns himself into the murdered king, walks into the demon's throne room, and exposes the impostor in front of the entire court. Then comes the harder part: the real king has been dead for three years at the bottom of a well.
Location: Pingtung City
Food: Black Sugar Mochi | Meat Rice Cake

Episode thirty-seven takes us offshore to Little Liuqiu — Taiwan's only purely coral island, floating in the waters off Pingtung's Donggang. The whole island is just twelve square kilometres, but it holds Vase Rock, the Wuguidong sea caves, and one of the highest sea turtle populations in Taiwan. Over black sugar mochi dessert and the chewy, savoury meat rice cake, we enter Chapter 37 of Journey to the West: a ghostly king appears to Tang Monk in the middle of the night, explains that he was drowned in a well by a demon who took his shape and stole his throne — and Sun Wukong, needing to get a message through, conjures a magical baby out of thin air to carry it.
Location: Little Liuqiu
Food: Black Sugar Mochi | Meat Rice Cake

Episode thirty-six brings us to Checheng Township — a quiet town on the Hengchun Peninsula famous for two things: Fuan Temple, the largest Earth God temple in all of Taiwan, and Sichongxi Hot Springs hidden in the hills. While we eat fresh squid balls and seafood grilled by the roadside, we soak in the warm alkaline springs and listen to Chapter 36 of Journey to the West — one of its quietest, most beautiful chapters. Tang Monk sits under the full moon and cries from homesickness — until Sun Wukong teaches him something surprising: the moon is always changing, but there's something inside you that never changes at all.
Location: Checheng Township
Food: Squid Balls | Seafood Barbecue

Welcome to Local Guys in Taiwan: Journey to the West — where three friends road-trip Taiwan, eating street food while listening to the story of the Monkey King. Today we've driven to the very tip of Taiwan — Eluanbi, the southernmost point, where the Bashi Channel begins and the Philippines lie just across the water. The lighthouse here has been guiding ships since the Qing dynasty. Heading east into Manjhou Township, the Jialeshuei coastline offers wind-sculpted rock formations shaped by centuries of Pacific waves. Over Hengchun onion pancake and a bowl of Checheng mung bean soup, we hear the most surprising twist in the whole arc: Laozi — the great celestial sage himself — descends from Heaven to reveal that both demon kings were his own servant boys who stole his legendary treasures and caused all this chaos. And Sun Wukong has to sit with a very uncomfortable question.
Location: Eluanbi / Southernmost Point
Food: Hengchun Onion Pancake | Checheng Mung Bean Soup

Welcome to Local Guys in Taiwan: Journey to the West — where three friends road-trip Taiwan, eating street food while listening to the story of the Monkey King. Today we've reached Kenting National Park — Taiwan's first national park, at the southern tip of the Hengchun Peninsula where three oceans converge: the Pacific, the Taiwan Strait, and the South China Sea. Coral reefs thrive offshore, grey-faced buzzards pass through each autumn, and the whole peninsula feels like a living ecological museum. Over braised Wanluang pig knuckles and the freshest catch from Houwanbi village, we watch Sun Wukong pull off his most outrageous trick of the entire journey — disguising as the demon's own mother to steal back the gourd, then using that same gourd to swallow the Golden Horn King and the Silver Horn King one by one.
Location: Kenting National Park
Food: Wanluang Pig Knuckles | Houwanbi Seafood

Welcome to Local Guys in Taiwan: Journey to the West — where three friends road-trip Taiwan, eating street food while listening to the story of the Monkey King. Today we've taken a boat from Taitung's Fugang Harbour and sailed two hours across the Pacific to reach Lanyu — Orchid Island — a volcanic island home to the Tao people, Taiwan's only oceanic indigenous group. They build tatala canoes by hand, live in semi-underground houses, and follow the rhythm of the flying fish season. We're eating Hengchun onion pancake (bought before we sailed) and sipping fresh clam soup while Sun Wukong makes one of his most embarrassing mistakes: ending up trapped inside the very gourd he was trying to steal.
Location: Lanyu (Orchid Island)
Food: Hengchun Onion Pancake | Clam Soup

Welcome to Local Guys in Taiwan: Journey to the West — where three friends road-trip Taiwan, eating street food while listening to the story of the Monkey King. Today we've taken the ferry out to Green Island — a small volcanic island off the east coast of Taitung, ringed with some of the healthiest coral reefs in Taiwan. The lighthouse here is one of the most photographed in Taiwan, and the Xiaochangcheng trail gives you a 360-degree view of the Pacific. We're eating freshly grilled seafood while we hear about two of the most dangerous demons in the whole Journey to the West — the Golden Horn King and the Silver Horn King, who have five legendary treasures and a gourd that can swallow anyone alive.
Location: Green Island
Food: Grilled Seafood | Taro Sweet Potato Cake

Welcome to Local Guys in Taiwan: Journey to the West — where three friends road-trip Taiwan, eating street food while listening to the story of the Monkey King. Today we've arrived in Taimali — the final stretch of the Taitung coast before the mountains close in, home to fields of golden daylilies on hillside slopes and the most breathtakingly placed train station in Taiwan. Duoliang Station is a small, unstaffed platform perched on a clifftop, with nothing below it but the Pacific Ocean. Over a sizzling plate of stone-grilled fish fresh from the sea, we follow Pigsy on the most ridiculous rescue mission in the whole story — where he deliberately says the wrong thing to get the right result.
Location: Taimali Township
Food: Stone-grilled Fish | Fresh Seafood