Maybe it’s all a coincidence, but in the past two weeks I received alot of Taiwan-Israel related news from various sources, showing that there’s actually a lot more going on between Taiwan and Israel than one would naturally expect. Here are a few news bits that might be interesting for you to check out : The new Israeli OECD membership means a few changes in regulations, and so it was recently announced that the will be no more double tax for Israel and Taiwan. Great news for the Israeli businessmen. [Hebrew article from NFC] The Israeli theater makes a first appearance in Taiwan… in Hebrew! Antigona, by the Habima and Hakameri, will perform next …

Hidden in the back of the fast developing area of Kaohsiung’s Zuoying - where the Taiwan High Speed Rail reaches Kaohsiung and where the newly opened Kaohsiung underground MRT now runs - is a mysterious world of gorgeous temples and pagodas. Kaohsiung is preparing for the World Games 2009 and so the Lotus pond-lake is now being renovated. When the renovations are over, the lake and the surrounding temples would be a world class attraction, I would expect. The tour began with me noticing some old city walls by accident while riding down to the Lotus pond. Turns out those walls were with the east gate of the old city of FengShan with an history going …

We were planning to stay two nights at Rishikesh. Actually, we were planning to stay two nights at quite a few places along the way, but we haven’t really followed those plans anywhere, the main reason being thinking we already “get” where we are and wanting to see something else somewhere else. Only problem is, moving around India is both time/energy consuming and it requires a lot of planning in advance, and we weren’t really well prepared for that. We wondered around holy Rishikesh that day, enjoying the Ganges river gorgeous views…    …

Varanasi in north-eastern India, we were told, is very crowded and far-off our Rajasthan track, but wanting to experience the holy Ganges ceremony, my dad was suggested that we head up to the holy city of Rishikesh and see it there. Luckily, the Shatabdi train ride was so much better than my train experience in Mumbai, and we were both impressed with the service offered. On the way, we got to discuss a long in-depth analysis of our perception of India and how that compares to our traveling experiences we had - a topic that has, in a way, turned into our main hobby and pass time during the trip. We arrived at Haridwar, and my dad had …

I had a few hours to kill before my dad’s arrival to the Delhi Paharganj hell-hole. Same bullshit with that main bazaar road every time I step outside. I pick up a rickshaw, an English speaking guy comes up quickly and shoots out all the English speaking countries he ever heard of, and when I insist of telling the driver my destination he yells at me that it’s closed on a Sunday and that the rickshaw can take me for a day-tour. I refuse to believe, so another guy comes, around the age of 17-18 and confirms - “Sunday, how can you expect things to be open?”. I tell the rickshaw to just go, but he won’t budge. I reply …

Although Delhi’s Paharganj area was testing my backpacking travel skills in ways I wasn’t expecting, I sucked it all up and made my way to visit the Delhi main tourist attraction sites. There are some magnificent historical monuments in Delhi and I had about 2 days to explore those. First day, I started up with the National Museum, which - if only for the artifacts held there - could be world class but does less than an okay job. I walked out and make my way on foot to the India Gate.   A 5 …