Made in Taiwan

The Republic of China, better known as Taiwan, is an island just off the southeast coast of China. Despite Taiwan's somewhat strained relationship with its much larger neighbour, the country is one of the most industrialized and developed in Asia with a strong economy comparable to Singapore's and Hong Kong's.

Taiwan is probably best known in the West for its export of electronic devices such as computers, games and DVD players. However, it is also famous for its many snacks and foods, a variety of creative drinks, natural hot springs and being the home of Taipei 101 - the world's tallest building.

Xi Wen, Angela and I spent four days in Taiwan. We made our way from the southern city of Kaohsiung to Taipei by high speed train, with a scenic stopover in the middle of the country. Foreigners were not a very common sight in Kaohsiung, so I got quite a few glances and curious looks. Xi Wen could tell me that one kid jumped up, pointed and excitedly exclaimed "foreigner" by the sight of me. His mother apparently told him off.


Camera street. All these shops are camera shops. This is only a small section of the street.

Taiwan had some amazing book stores. Six floors filled with books, magazines and selected shopping and dining facilities. There were also desks and comfortable chairs provided. You could go there just to read, no buying required. Oh, and did I mentioned they were open 24 hours?

Since we were all wearing pink I found it natural to ask for a photo. These kinds of shop assistants were quite a common sight. A lot of makeup and some kind of bizarre, cute outfit seemed to be the key to selling any type of beauty products.

A temple in the middle of the country.

Ornaments with names written on them hanging in a temple. You make a donation and then write the name of family members or friends on the ornament.
It is always nice to learn about indiginous culture. After rushing through some sort of indignous village in a car, we took some photos wearing the traditional custume. Our pose is very indiginous.

Food stall at the night market.

Games and fun at night market. The aim is to shoot down the ping pong balls floating on the air stream.

Have you ever thought the usual airport gates look a bit boring? Well, at the Taipei airport they have certainly addressed that particular problem. What can possibly be more fun than a Hello Kitty themed gate?