As I wrote earlier, while Taiwan is striving to become a tourist destination, statist policies continue to hamper that development. A story today in The China Post chronicled the difficulties of hostel proprietors in Taipei.

According to regulations, the street in front of buildings that house hotels must be at least 8 meters wide, Hsiao said. Locations meeting such a requirement are hard to come by and are usually prohibitively expensive. In order to meet all the regulations, Hsiao and his sister had spent over a year looking at more than 100 places to find the location, and spent millions of New Taiwan dollars to build the hostel.

With some of the highest costs of housing and hotel rates in East Asia, one would think the Taipei city government would be more accommodating to budget traveling options. I mean, if you're willing to give someone free tuition and $1000 a month just because they are from a foreign country, then easing restrictions on the establishments that the under 30 demographic is likely to stay at seems like a no brainer.

With the proliferation of websites like Couchsurfing, the distinction between hotels, hostels, homestays and the like is blurring. There may have been a time when one would book a hotel room blindly, with only the 'advice' of a travel agent who in all likelihood had never traveled anywhere in Taiwan. But that time has passed. Today a cursory check online shows reviews, critiques and photos of virtually every hotel one might stay at.

Taipei Hostel

I stayed at the Taipei Hostel for a month when I first moved to Taiwan. I enjoyed my stay there and recommend it to anyone staying in Taipei. I especially loved the balcony. But the width of the alley in front of the building was irrelevant to my experience there. Instead of relying on the state to determine where hotels should be located, society as a whole should be allowed to make that decision by choosing where to stay and where not to.