Beautiful Formosa (10 - 17 December 2005)

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It was love at first sight during my first visit in July 2005 to this beautiful island about 55 times the size of Singapore. This December trip reaffirmed my love for this island, home to some 23.5 million people.

There was much to acclaim about regardless of her small size.

From having the tallest building in the world to having the highest mountain in Northeast Asia and the 2nd tallest Ferris wheel in Asia. The Taiwanese are in this frantic race to become world leaders in infrastructure. And a new high speed railway aka bullet train is slated to open in 2006 to link Taipei and Kaoshiung together under 2.5 hours.

Anyway before I digress too much from the usual fare that is available from Lonely Planet, we reached Taipei in the evening of 10 Dec 2005 to kick off a week long trip. Ximenting was going to be our home for the next few days as we slowly made our way to Goodground Hotel. It was 11 degrees that wintry night & we were having fruit ice in one of the stalls in Ximenting…

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