Taiwan is a modern industrialized megalopolis clinging to the fringes of an ancient culture; a string of teeming cities at the feet of a glorious mountain range. It has traditional noodles from a 7-Eleven, aboriginal tribes in mini-skirts and a day of temple rituals followed by waterslide rides. (from Lonely Planet)
Go visit Taiwan.
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I had a [...]
The question of whether the authorities in China have something against Lonely Planet, or any other western publishing acknowledging any kind of independence for Taiwan, is far more sensitive than I ever imagined. I’ve been getting some weird emails and comments lately regarding this issue, since it seems that I ‘started it’ and that I’ve [...]
Foreigners living in Taiwan love to joke about the mess Taiwan has with how to romanize Chinese. Travel guides make jokes about how a single street in Taiwan can offer three completely different looking names, from the three different methods used to romanize Chinese. While I was in Bangkok, trying to adjust to the fact [...]
Up there on the top list of questions people ask me about my Taiwan visit is the question of - “what’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen while you were in Taiwan?”.
I’ll have to be honest with you, I don’t like questions like that, questions that sound like “so what was your favorite place?” “what was [...]
"Thai what?" was the question I usually got from the Bangkokians when I told them where I want to go. Trying out "Republic of China" or "you know… that small island next to China" didn’t seem to provide better responses. I think there aren’t too many English speaking foreigners going from Bangkok to Taiwan since [...]
