I travelled to the land of bubble tea during circuit breaker, without moving an inch from my couch

Given that Singaporeans are currently still fretting about not having readily available BBT, I think it was serendipitous I was invited for a trip to the homeland of bubble tea itself, Taiwan, this past weekend.

My hand-delivered invitation even came with a mason jar filled with cooked tapioca pearls and instructions to make a cocktail-inspired bubble tea concoction. It certainly was a most welcome treat as I didn't get to have that one last cup before tightened circuit breaker measures.

But I digress.

Experiencing Taiwan through quite literally a different lens

So how do I get to Taiwan while still staying at home like a law-abiding Singaporean? The power of technology and RandomDots.

For a fee, the start-up company creates unique experiences for guests, such as cocktail-themed evenings, learning local games from a different country and even creating a unique song.

The premise that founders Marc Astbury and Anna Guo have created for RandomDots is simple — new, unexpected experiences. And you should expect to be well-fed, as food and drinks are included in your fees.

While the company usually conducts surprise weekend adventures around Singapore, they started their #StayHome experiences, limited to 50 guests each time, with the same element of adventure and discovery when people start going out less because of the coronavirus situation. 

This past weekend, I was on board their fourth #StayHome experience that sent me and 40 odd others to Taipei.

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Prices vary from experience to experience, but for the Taipei experience, tickets were priced at $130 for a single person and $190 for a pair, with slightly cheaper, no-alcohol tickets available.

Prior to the start of the scheduled Zoom meeting, I was sent a hearty meal of lu rou fan (braised pork rice) prepared by the folks at The Salted Plum, with a can of Taiwanese beer thrown in for good measure.

For the evening's adventure, a native guide would take us to roam the evening streets of Taipei via livestreaming as shared with us in an email leading up to the actual experience.

Maybe it's because I've been cooped up at home and the need to travel has been forcibly repressed (yes, I'm a millennial), but it was really nice to see the familiar, still-bustling streets of Taipei and escape to a world outside of the four walls of my home, even if it were just for a few hours.

Of bustling night markets and never being able to see BBT in the same way

Starting off at the city hall district, we catch a glimpse of the famous Taipei 101 tower, before being led into a cinema that charges a day rate for just NT$160 (S$7.60) for 24 hours worth of movies.

The cinema we are told is a passion project of an avid film lover who simply wants to share the love of movies with everyone. And unlike the usual cinemas that have a no outside food policy, you are welcome to walk out in the middle of a show to buy takeaway food from any nearby store and bring it back to munch on while continuing your movie marathon.

We soon arrive at the main attraction of the evening — the district's night market, weaving through the crowd to take in the numerous food stores and random shops it comprises.

Our guide Agnes leads the way showing us the views through her mobile phone and sharing nuggets of information about the sights and sounds we experience.

Every once in awhile she flips her camera to address any questions my fellow travellers and I have about Taiwanese culture or even just what her personal picks in the market are.

It's a good thing I have been properly satiated with my rice bowl and am working through my red jelly and black pearl dessert as dish after dish of familiar Taiwanese street snacks tantalisingly fill my laptop screen.

I'm glad to also discover that my lack of claw machine aptitude is not exclusive to me as Agnes fails spectacularly at her attempts while showing us the numerous machines that line every usable inch of space inside one of the market's claw machine parlours.

My biggest takeaway of the night is not about local Taiwanese culture though; it is learning that boba is Taiwanese slang for big breasts.

Also that when BBT was first invented, locals referred to it as opium because of how addictive it was.

I'm never looking at my cup of BBT the same way again after that revelation.

An untraditional end to the night

Our night tour ends at a local temple and we are swiftly informed that it's time for a Taiwan quiz, and sent into private rooms in random groupings.

Here's the part of the experience that perhaps more work is needed. Throwing people who went on the same tour and expecting them to talk and work together well, perhaps feasible in real life, translates to awkward silence over Zoom without a facilitator.

Novel as the idea was, I didn't feel it necessarily added to the experience, and could have done without it.

Making new friends on a walking tour is par for course when I travel, but that's because we talk to one another while walking from place to place. For example, I became friends with the former number two at Singapore's US embassy and his wife in Latvia as we bonded over our common love for Singaporean food.

Expecting the same thing to happen for this experience might have been too ambitious, given that guests were not interacting with one another throughout the hour, instead primarily fielding questions to our guide.

That said, it was a good deviation from the norms of a typical circuit breaker weekend and a welcomed reminder of the joy of experiencing other cultures.

Now, excuse me as I work out the dynamics of my relationship with what is now forever etched in my mind as big breast tea.

AsiaOne was invited to participate in the experience, but all views and opinions are the writer's own.

Information about RandomDots upcoming #StayHome experiences can be found  on their Facebook page.

kailun@asiaone.com