When Lukas Engström first arrived in Taiwan back in 2010, it was only supposed to be for a semester. He had not chosen Taiwan by himself; that decision had been made by his home university. Six months to study accounting, and then back to Sweden. That is, however, not how things turned out. Today, Lukas lives in downtown Taipei, where he runs a successful YouTube channel showcasing foreigners in Taiwan.
Initially, Taiwan brought nothing but disappointment. For a young man who grew up in the Swedish forest, the vision of a tropical Asian island nation was met instead by cold, grey cement buildings.
“It was not until I started university and was assigned a mentor to welcome me and show me around that I started to think maybe Taiwan was not so bad,” Lukas remembers.
The semester went by, and Lukas got a Taiwanese girlfriend who convinced him to move back to Taiwan after graduating in Sweden. Before he knew it, seven years had gone by, and life in Taipei had reached its breaking point. Lukas wanted to go home, so he booked a flight back to Sweden. However, by that point Lukas had become something of a wise old man in the expat community.
An old man among newcomers
“Back then, the only foreigners coming here were exchange students. Every semester I met a new group of friends, and every semester I was asked the exact same questions. How do I take the bus? Where is the best place to eat?” Lukas says.
“I decided that now that I was moving back to Sweden, it would be a shame if all the knowledge I had gathered went to waste. So I started filming my everyday life and uploading the videos to YouTube to help other foreigners navigate life in Taiwan.”
Weeks went by, and Lukas kept uploading videos, putting a lot of thought into them. A big shock came after three weeks when a friend made him aware that one video had pulled in a massive number of views.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Lukas remembers. “So many people had watched that video. And most of them were Taiwanese people who were fascinated by how a foreigner lived in their country. And they were recommending things for me to do and try out.”
The recommendations piqued Lukas’ curiosity, and he decided to check some of them out.
“It was crazy. I thought I had seen everything there was to see in Taiwan, but every day people would recommend places I had never even heard of.”
A whole new world
With all the new recommendations and the views piling up, Lukas made the decision to postpone the move and reschedule his flight ticket—only for a year.
It was like peeling back the layers of an onion. People were telling me to go to Wulei. I had been to the foodmarked there before and didn’t think much of it. However, it turns out that if you walk five minutes further down the street, you get to a tiny train station, where the train will take you up the mountains to the most amazing waterfall I had ever seen. It was a whole new world that opened up for me,” he says.
After travelling all over the island of Taiwan for a year and vlogging, Lukas decided again to postpone the move back to Sweden— just by another year. That year turned into two, and eventually he decided to cancel the move completely.
YouTube success
Lukas’ YouTube journey has been a great success. He has made between 665 videos, some of which have reached over one million views. He has built a large audience, mostly Taiwanese people, who tune in to see how foreigners view their island. His large following has caught the attention of high-profile people.
Beyond travelling around Taiwan, Lukas also makes videos where he invites foreigners from all over the world who live in Taiwan to his home studio and talks with them about their experiences living in Taiwan.
One day, he received an email from the Swedish Trade Office in Taipei. They had noticed his YouTube channel and wanted him to do a sit-down interview video with the head of the trade office.
“I couldn’t believe it. I was just a nobody travelling around with a camera. And here were legitimately important people, and they wanted to work with me. I was so nervous when I went to do that video,” Lukas remembers.
Despite his nerves, the video did well, and Lukas signed a partnership with the EU. Since then, he has interviewed the leaders of several European trade offices in Taipei.
Life is a summer camp
Although it all started with him wanting to leave Taiwan, Lukas is happy he stayed.
“My life is like a summer camp. I get to travel around and have amazing experiences and say that it is my job. It’s incredible.”
Lukas has also seen the impact his videos and practical tutorials for foreigners in Taiwan have had on his audience.
“Sometimes foreigners will come up to me on the street and tell me how one video I made taught them how to do certain things here, like get a scooter licence, or maybe introduced them to a really cool location.”
Like the mentor from his first day as an exchange student, Lukas gets to introduce people to Taiwan and share his joy for the island with newcomers.
“I am incredibly grateful. I have settled my life in Taiwan, and I am happy to bring my viewers along on my journey here.”
Great article! Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed reading this!