Sanitary products vary hugely depending on which country you’re in, and for us ladies they are fairly crucial. So where is all the information about what’s available in Asia?  Apparently, male travel writers don’t think this kind of thing is important…

We did some initial research into this (thanks Sam for asking his housemates and colleagues!) and we were told that if we like tampons we should bring our own. Further research seems to back this up. There seems to be a cultural aversion to tampons in Asian countries, something which might be seen as a stark difference to Western ideologies. However, let’s not forget that the tampon tax in the UK was only just abolished in 2016, it seems that feminine hygiene rights are certainly a recognised battle for women globally. In fact, while tampons across Asia are harder to find, pads appear to be much cheaper, with more varied brands and significantly advanced technology due to more business competition than can be found here.

We’ll update you on the sanitary product situation when we get there, and it seems to depend on your preferences whether you will be happy with what they have to offer. We are all about the tampons with applicators, so these girls will stock up before we go.

With all things, if you’re travelling for a long time, you might want to look at changing your preferences to more long-term sustainable solutions. For example, menstrual cups instead of pads/tampons (one of us has heard good reviews but just isn’t brave enough to try it yet. The other has heard terrible reviews and won’t be trying it anytime soon. It’s really all to play for still.)

A really useful list of countries and the sanitary products available can be seen here.

Let us know what you know about sanitary products in Taiwan, if you have any experience on it!