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Taipei Travel Blogs

Background: In 1895, military defeat forced China to cede Taiwan to Japan. Taiwan reverted to Chinese control after World War II. Following the Communist victory on the mainland in 1949, 2 million Nationalists fled to Taiwan and established a government using the 1946 constitution drawn up for all of China. Over the next five decades, the ruling authorities gradually democratized and incorporated the native population within the governing structure. In 2000, Taiwan underwent its first peaceful transfer of power from the Nationalist to the Democratic Progressive Party. Throughout this period, the island prospered and became one of East Asia's economic "Tigers." The dominant political issues continue to be the relationship between Taiwan and China - specifically the question of eventual unification - as well as domestic political and economic reform.

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By Megasaurus
August 2nd 2009

Too Much, Too Much Asia » Taiwan » Taipei

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Wow; there is so much to tell about these last four days that I don't even know where to start. I want to talk about my awesome experiences, my incredible frustrations, and the overall culture of Taiwan. Hopefully I will have time to write it all down, but if not, maybe I can finish it tomorrow. Quick Rundown: 1) The day after we went surfing we took it really easy because I injured the inside of my legs and it hurt to walk. Theresa works at a small sandwich shop next to the Sun-Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, so we sat in the [View Full Entry]

By Megasaurus
July 29th 2009

ESL Lesson #2 Asia » Taiwan » Taipei

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I think I wrote about the conversation lesson with Payshun last time. Kennon also tutors a 12 year old boy, so I accompanied him again. I even did half of the teaching. The lesson was both a lot easier and a lot harder than I expected. See, Kevin (the student) can read at an amazing rate; he can pronounce words very well, and he reads very fast, so that part was very easy. Kevin struggles with understanding what he reads though, and trying to get him to understand it takes a lot of effort on Kennon's and my part. I would [View Full Entry]

By rickmoore
July 29th 2009

Tale of Two Cities Asia » Taiwan » Taipei

Beijing - tourists like me.

Welcome to Beijing and then stand in those lineups looking for swine flu! After that, things changed for the better - Beijing is a surprisingly clean city - you could eat off of the floor of the airport parking garage. Visited Ri Tan park where they fly kites (with LEDs in the evenings) where sacrifices to the sun gods used to be - unverified rumour. I went for a walk down to the Forbidden City via shady tree lined streats. The Forbidden City is impressive - quiet courtyards, huge squares, scrolls, and it seems like each museum attendant was talking on [View Full Entry]

By Megasaurus
July 27th 2009

Cultural Barriers Asia » Taiwan » Taipei

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Alright, I'm going to start out with a quick rundown of what all I've been doing this time. Saturday: 1. I went to Kennon's English tutoring session. His tutee wants to know conversational English, so Payshun, Kenneth, and I just talked about a variety of topics. It was very enjoyable because Payshun in very friendly, funny, and he has good English skills. He even knew words such as embryo and atomic bomb! Kennon usually meets him at a coffee shop or somewhere Payshun wants to take him, so it's all very casual; Kennon also assigns homework, but it's not your average [View Full Entry]

By Megasaurus
July 25th 2009

First Few Days in Review Asia » Taiwan » Taipei

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I just realized I should write a little background information. At a first glance, my living environment might seem unusual for a foreign country because everyone in the apartment is fairly westernized. See, I met Han-Pei (a.k.a. Theresa) when she was a foreign exchange student in Ohio. Since then Theresa has floated between Seattle and Taiwan. She met someone in Seattle named Kennon, and he moved to Taiwan with her last Christmas, so here I am now, living with Theresa, her parents, and Kennon. Theresa's dad speaks English fairly well, and of course Kenneth's and Theresa's English is perfect, [View Full Entry]

By csilvers
July 21st 2009

Better late than never, right? Asia » Taiwan » Taipei

I'm already about a month into the trip so I've decided to post my journal entry. Although, me being me, I only had one entry.... Yesterday I arrived in Taipei. I have decided to spend two months at the Mandarin Training Center at NTNU studying, of all things, Mandarin. I flew out of SFO on Monday at 1:35 AM and got in on Tuesday at 5:30 AM. Pretty crazy, right? I managed to find my way into Taipei and to Aunt Sue’s best friend’s house without too much trouble. The only slip up I made was letting the taxi driver leave [View Full Entry]

By csilvers
July 21st 2009

Weekend fun Asia » Taiwan » Taipei » LongShan Temple

I didn't do too much this past weekend, but I was able to get some of the places crossed off my sightseeing to-do list. On friday, after class, a couple classmates and I went to Ximending (think the Taipei equivalent of Times Square of Picadilly Circus, except with more teenage girls) to a Shisha bar. Going at about 5:30PM ensured that we were the only customers, which was kind of cool. After the bar, we hit up a McDonalds, which over here is a popular hang out spot, and then went back to the dorms to get ready for a night [View Full Entry]

By Kpolizotto
July 9th 2009

Living in Taipei Asia » Taiwan » Taipei » LongShan Temple

India

Hey All, This is my first entry on this new website. I am still learning how to use it so if things appear slowly that may be a reason. I should first enter some pictures from recent travels like India, Lijiang and Tiger Leaping Gorge, then on to Taiwan. I am staying in a rental right now and have lots of time to sit and relax. In between John Wayne movies I am studying Chinese and enjoying Taiwanese cuisine. Yesterday I met with a Chinese tutor and will begin to take classes with him twice a week. Hopefully when I meet [View Full Entry]

By Budokan
July 8th 2009

A Tribute to Taipei's Maokong 猫空 Gondola (4th July 2007 - 1st October 2008) Asia » Taiwan » Taipei

I'm high in the sky.

While the world is mourning for the loss of yet another pop legend MJ these days, mourning took on a different meaning for me ..... From a traveller's point of view, the greatest loss would be the closure of Taipei's Maokong Gondola for an indefinite period of time. Never mind if my tribute came 9 months late. It was only while dishing out information from the tripadvisor forums that it occured to me that the system had been closed since October 2008. I first rode on the gondola during my last visit in August 2008. The challenge of even boarding it [View Full Entry]

By lostLauralou
July 2nd 2009

Adventures in Taipei with a gammy leg... Asia » Taiwan » Taipei

Coral is bad!!

Soooooooo ...... apologies all, have been completely rubbish, and to be frank was having far too much fun in Taipei to dedicate sufficient time to Travelblog i'm afraid so again i find myself very very behind! in an effort to catch up quickly i have decided to let this entry be more of a story by pictures... i.e. a lot less text (... i hear some of you exhaling a sigh of releif!!...) Sooooo, TAIPEI, TAIWAN!! It all started off very well, had booked my flight with KLM and was so excited about 4 fun packed days in Taipei with Jo [View Full Entry]

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