Just heard from my editor that the fourth edition of Taiwan: The Bradt Travel Guide has gone to press and I should be receiving my author’s copies soon. Naturally I’m very excited!

Writing in Taipei Times late last year, I tried to explain that updating the book was a lot of work. In terms of word count, the new edition is almost exactly the same as the previous book, but 69 percent of the places to stay and 57 percent of the places to eat/drink didn’t appear in the previous edition. Moreover, I asked Bradt’s cartographer to make 489 changes to the book’s 32 maps.

Adding 60-odd new (or new to me) attractions meant excising some which appeared in the first, second and third editions. Among those making their debut this time around are Chan Jishan Xianfo Temple (it makes for a good detour if driving from Taichung to Sun Moon Lake), the short trail up Dashibi Hill in Hualien County, and the Railway Department Park in central Taipei. So I could expand my coverage of Xinbeitou and Tamsui, I dropped any mention of the excellent but inconveniently located museums at Academia Sinica. Another important addition was the Jing-Mei White Terror Memorial Park, even though it’s some distance from any other points of interest.

Let’s hope readers and travellers find the book useful…