Blogs from Taiwan, Asia - page 2

After four years of dating Emily and living with her family in Taipei, my time has finally come to participate in what some call the largest annual migration of people in the world: the Chinese custom of 返鄉 (returning to one’s hometown) to celebrate Chinese New Year. With New Year’s Eve falling on a Saturday this year, the highways are bound to be clogged, but getting a pre-dawn head start we effectively avoid a the standstill traffic jams that the holiday is famous for across the Chinese-speaking world. Emily’s paternal ancestors are likely descendants of an early migration from China to Taiwan in the 1600s. These settlers from the mainland, most of who were fishermen and pilgrims looking for new land, first arrived on the coastal areas of Tainan and Chiayi, the latter being the location ... read more

Roughly halfway between Hualien and Taitung lies the small town of Yuli. The main reason for us to go there is to do some hiking in adjacent Yushan National Park, explore the surrounding area, and spend Chinese New Year's Eve in relative peace and quiet. The southbound local train takes only little more than an hour. We arranged to get picked up from the train station, as our homestay is located a few kilometres outside of Yuli. A friendly bald man in his sixties approaches us, waving and smiling, and we proceed to introduce ourselves. After a few minutes' drive, we arrive at a big country house with a beautiful garden overlooking the Central Mountain Range. The lady of the house comes out to greet us. Inside, we are sat back and offered some tea. It ... read more

The first few days in Taipei are full of new sights, tastes and smells. We visit the city at a relatively easy pace, no need to go hardcore sightseeing when you're here for a longer while anyway. Most of our daily activities centre around finding good places to eat. We check out some vegetarian eateries, which you can find in pretty much any district. Some of them are the traditional Buddhist vegetarian type of soup kitchen, others offer buffet food, and yet others are more proper restaurants. One of the latter we try out is The Loving Hut. The food there is not bad, although it centres a bit too heavily on fake meat, in my opinion. What really gets to me, though, is the cultish propaganda by the owner of the Loving Hut restaurants and ... read more

So wurde dieses Land im 16. Jahrhundert von portugiesischen Seefahrern genannt und bedeutet übersetzt: „Die schöne Insel“. Nach der Besatzungszeit der Japaner bis 1945 wurde sie anschließend wieder an die damalige Republik China zurück gegeben, bis Chiang Kai-shek mit seiner Kuomintang Regierung den Bürgerkrieg gegen Mao Zedongs Partei verlor und auf die Insel flüchtete. Wie nicht anders zu erwarten betrachtet man in Mainland China Taiwan heute noch als eine abtrünnige Provinz – ganz im Gegensatz zu den Taiwanern. Diese nutzen, wie mir auch schon während meines Praktikums in Peking aufgefallen ist, China hauptsächlich als Wirtschaftspartner. Als ich am 20. Januar in Taipei ankam verabredete ich mich am selben Abend noch mit meinem taiwanesischen Freund, den ich vor zwei Jahren in London kennengelernt hatte – Facebook hat demnach auch was Gutes. Das erste was mir in di ... read more

Wed Jan 2 2013 Taipei very clean and orderly. People very correct, polite, and helpful. In restaurant, packaged hand wipe at place. When we didn't use them, waiter handed them to us to use. People pass items (paper, documents,food etc) using 2 hands. Pedestrians crossing street are respected. Traffic lights indicate countdown times (green lights as well as red lights) as high as 70 seconds. Nice to know how long you have to cross or to wait. Masks: it seems as if about 5% of Taiwanese wear masks, young and old. We were told that it is a courtesy to wear a mask if you are contagious to protect others, or if you are concerned about pollution to protect yourself. Metro (MRT) efficient and cheap (20-30 NT$) depending on distance. Trains very long - 10 cars? ... read more

Thur Jan 3 2013 Breakfast: I have been enjoying some unusual items in our hotel's all-you-can-eat buffet. I have decided to not eat wheat for awhile, so appreciate some interesting alternatives: Congee (rice porridge), sweet bean soups, dried fruits, peanuts and pumpkin seeds. Took HSR (High Speed Rail) to Zuoying at south end of Taiwan. Lucked out at ticket kiosk when I asked for seniors rate--50% off! Moral of the story: do ask! Reserved seats cost about an additional $1.50CAD. State of the art train with cleanest restroom I've ever seen on a train or plane! Speed went as high as 295 kph-- very smooth ride. Took MRT to Kaohsiung where we walked around and had simple lunch at outdoor food place. No English, but another customer helped to translate. On return trip, got an even ... read more