It’s been 4 days now in Taiwan. I started with the capital city, Taipei where most people first land. A big city of some 3 million. Incredibly fast and efficient transportation system, everyone gets around on the metro, not many but the super rich and taxis are using cars. (Slight exaggeration, but you get my point) Food being cooked not only at every corner but along the street too. Literally so much variety in prepared food, most people eat their meals out!
Let me catch up. First it’s about the people. So polite, quiet non-pushy, not particularly friendly to strangers except when you engage them and BAM, are they helpful! If they struggle to answer your questions where or what, they w:ill drop everything and show you or walk you to the place you want. Wow what a change. On a Chinese speaking bus tour several participants took me under their wings and translated key things. The same was true on a museum visit.9lll
Taiwan is an island country about 236 miles long and off the coast of mainland China. It has jungle covered mountains along its backbone some in the range of 12,000 feet created millions of years ago by the collision of regional tectonic plates. Beautiful river valleys and nice beach’s lie along these mountains. In history the Dutch and Spanish ruled in the exploration years; the Chinese peopled and ruled for many years giving Taiwan its principal culture; the Japanese occupied the island for a hundred years just after the 1900’s; Chiang Kai-shek fled China to the island with his followers losing the civil war from Mao after WW II and lead the nation for awhile. Today it’s a parliamentary democracy with a woman president with China jealously looking down upon it.
Observations: They are not into tattoos; very few dogs; polite and not pushy
The cities are very clean. Phones and motor scooters are the thing!; MRT (metro) system fast and efficient, runs every 6 minutes. There are more motor scooters than anywhere else in Asia.
Taipei has been a fun city. I’m working my way clockwise around the island, on to the city of Hualien.
