In May 2019, self-ruled Taiwan, which China regards as a breakaway province, became the first Asian nation to recognise same-sex marriage. We bumped into Taiwan’s LGBT Parade. Its not like Brighton’s - very proud, restrained, quiet and orderly. This will strengthen their economy even more, as more visitors will be flooding to the capital.
Since we are in the worlds biggest manufacturers of semi-conductors (that’s John’s excuse!) we had to visit Fuxing where they happened to have a digital market - 6 floors crammed with nerds, manuals, DVDs, computers and components. I met my first robot and saw more technological stuff than an Argos catalogue. It’s what the Taiwanese do best and the prices, well, they were so cheap. On that note, the government MUST be subsidising the broadband over here, we bought a sim card for 2 weeks and we have unlimited broadband. It is first class, so fast, so available, so reliable and so cheap. It makes us look quite backwards.
Techi manuels
DVDs
Neon
Components
Zero conversation
We then went to Tower 101, one of the tallest buildings in the world. the lift took a mere 34 seconds to get to floor 101. We saw night fall over Taipei, as we felt the slight sway in the building. There is a giant pendulum down the centre that moves to centre the building during earthquake tremors.
Views from Tower 101
Driving in Taiwan is different. In India, they always expect the unexpected on their crazy roads with no driving rules but here everyone drives slowly, carefully and considerately. I have not heard the revving of an engine or a beep of a horn since we were in India. One would think that all the cars were electric by their silence. I miss the TukTuks, I thought they were such a fun, crazy way to travel.
Our next stop is Tainan, the historic capital of Taiwan and is rich in culture and history. The city has developed through several periods of foreign rule borrowing bits and pieces of culture, cuisine and architecture blending it all together. We will miss Taipei very much.
We caught the Bullet Train down to Tainan - it’s very fast - 300 kmh fast.