There are so many places in the world that it’s impossible to properly see them all in a single lifetime. How, in a world of great cities and historically important sites, natural wonders and gorgeous landscapes, do you decide where to go? Well, you say fuck all of that other stuff and make a little Taiwanese town filled with cats the top priority.
Journalist Kirsten Han recently shared photos of this location, an idyllic place outside of Taipei called Houtong Cat Village where many, many cats hang around just sort of doing cat things. Han’s first crop of photos were soon followed by a request for more, which, luckily, she obliged. There are cats lying in bushes, cats playing with toy fish, wall drawings and statues celebrating cats, cats sitting on motorcycles, and one cat mysteriously wearing a puffy vest.
In the spirit of generosity, Han shared directions to the village (which other photos show is really quite pretty, even when no cats are in sight) alongside information on the cats’ vaccination programs and Houtong visitor guidelines.
There’s a whole lot more in Han’s thread and some interesting background to read on Houtong’s transformation from mining town in decline to cat-based tourist destination. But, really, it’s probably better to just book a flight now rather than waste more of your finite time on this earth not visiting the cat village. If travel isn’t an option, we can at least hope that Werner Herzog will one day go and make a documentary about Houtong. After all, as a recent interview shows, he still needs to discover exactly what it is that’s so “utterly, profoundly mysterious and hilarious about cats.” What better place to start?
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