The first time you went to Taiwan, you went to Jiufen, the night markets, Taipei 101. You took photos, bought pineapple cakes, and walked a long way through the crowds.
The second time, you walked through Dadaocheng and spent a night in Tainan. You started to think you understood the place.
The third time, you stop insisting on every tourist queue. You stop chasing every landmark. You stop rushing from one itinerary stop to the next.
You wander through neighborhoods that never made it into any travel show. You walk into small restaurants with no English menu. You slow down enough to see what everyday life actually looks like here.
Sannkai —— sann kái in Taiwanese, さんかい in Japanese. Both mean "three times."
Because it's on the third visit that you start to truly know a place. The scenes tourists miss. The outlines of lives actually being lived.
Sannkai writes about the things that only come into view on your third visit.