Tuesday 30 August 2011

Chang Kai Shek Memorial

Another place worth a visit is the Chang Kai Shek Memorial, the most famous chinese soldier who became a military leader and president of China. In 1950 he moved to Taiwan after the civil war and was largely responsible for the Americans establishing a base in Taiwan for their huge naval fleet in the pacific, and consequently Taiwan became more prosperous away from the influence of the communist mainland.

Taipei 101

after a couple of days hanging around Nankan, we went to
Taipei 101 which was apparently the tallest building in the world for a while. The views from the top were just amazing, fortunately it was a sunny day so i could get a birds eye view of this impressive city and for 400TWD for a ticket pretty good value for money.  It only takes a few minutes to reach the top in the high speed escalator, then you can walk all the way round and even go outside a couple of levels down.

Arrival

I arrived in Taiwan on october 8 around 615pm my friend met me at the airport, we took a taxi to Nankan where i was staying , i had rented an apartment from a friend of my friend Selina for a month even though i was only staying 2 weeks, a bargain at £180. This would be my base for the next 13 nights.

Sunday 28 August 2011

Introduction

My first visit to Taiwan was In October 2010, i had never been to Asia before so this was a real culture shock. I was visiting a long time online friend who had visited me in England the year before so now it was my turn. Taiwan reminded me a little of spain and greece in its terrain, but when you look down the street see all the bright lights and the signs all in chinese, its then the reality hits you are in Taiwan over 6000 miles from home, on the other side of the world.