An Asian traveller's perceptions of Taiwan

[bhchao]

Came across this story. It is not the most perceptive travelling experience from a reader's point of view, but informative enough to be slightly entertaining.

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/culture/200603/kt2006030217264811700.htm

The city still remains the most advanced in terms of culture and education throughout Taiwan.

Ang Lee's hometown.

[owshawng]

I always enjoy my trips to Taiwan. I want to visit in the next year or so.

If you get to Tainan, the food there is incredible. I would get so fat if I lived there instead of visiting every few years.

[adrianlondon]

I've been to Taibei twice, and I think it has the best food in the world. I've not been to Japan yet, though, but Taipei seemed to be full of Japanese tourists eating Japanese food at prices they could afford :-)

I've also visited Taroko (Tai Lu Ge) Gorge. Fantastic.

Don't want to visit Gaoxiong. Seems like Birmingham (England) from what I've heard.

Definitely want to visit Tainan.

[Ferno]

the japanese tourists in taiwan use english, right?

[Ian_Lee]

I visited both Korea and Taiwan twice. And I have the same feeling as this Korean traveler do -- South Korea and Taiwan -- are really identical.

But Taipei and Seoul also share many bad attributes -- messy traffic, i.e. car can park wherever they want to park, lousy urban design, i.e. 6-storey residential building accessible only via a one lane narrow path...etc.

Anyhow, I feel that cities in Taiwan, are more "Chinese" than many cities in Mainland.

The town I like most is Hualin.

[pandaxiongmao]

A lot of Japanese tourists in Taiwan can use Japanese. Elderly people often speak Japanese better than Chinese, or prefer to speak Japanese since they grew up under Japanese occupation. I noticed that in a lot of shops with Japanese products, like sushi shops, the staff often understand Japanese even if they don't speak it very well.

There is still alot of Japanese influence on the culture. The first time I went to Taipei, it felt just like Osaka (except the language on signs). There are lots of Japanese products like natto that are widely available in Taipei, but hard to come by in any mainland Chinese city. There are many alleys that remind me of alleys in Japan.

Seoul feels too hilly and doesn't have enough mopeds to compare to Taipei, but maybe that is just me...