Taiwan

Well I must say I am presently surprised with Taipei, I had no real plans to come here, I needed somewhere to go while Tan was in Europe, and this was one of the cheapest places to get to from Bangkok, and I thought I would be able to get my phone repaired here since it was from a Taiwan company.

Taipei is a clean organized city, with very friendly people, who seem much different than the Chinese in Hong Kong or Singapore. They aren't pushy, they don't try to force there way on to the train as soon as the doors open, they all neatly line up a get in an orderly manner. Traffic seems nice and organized.

Getting around Taipei is pretty easy, they have the most efficient metro system in the world for 3 years running, however not many people speak English here, so sometimes ordering food is a little difficult, more the point and hope system, like last night I went to a burger joint, and pointed at a picture of a burger with fries combo, and happened to get a squid burger, it was not bad, but not quite what I was looking for.

I thought Taipei would be filled with electronic shops all over the place, but for the most part they seem to be all located in various little areas, most retail space here is taken up with clothing stores and restaurants, there are 100's of little restaurants everywhere, donuts seem to be quite popular. Oddly enough even though my phone is from a company here, no one seems to sell it, and I can't find a place to repair the GPS chip on it, although the language barrier might be a problem as well. Oh well I should be able to fix it in Singapore once we get there again.

Went up to Taipei 101, which is the tallest completed building in the world, not as impressive looking as Petronas towers in KL, but very high, and you can take the super fast elevator to the 89th floor for a great view of the city. The elevator, which is the fastest in the world, travels at 1000 meters a minute, it takes like 45seconds to get to the 89th floor, and you hardly feel that you are moving, except for the pressure in your ears.

Oddly it seems Taipei is a very popular place for people to learn Chinese, the place I am staying at is full of people staying here for a couple months going to school.

Today I am going to check out some of the country side around Taipei, and decide if I am going to head south or get to Korea instead, as that is where I will be flying to Vancouver from to meet up with Tan again at the end of the month.

Posted by Jason Willock