A popular spot to change planes on the way to Taiwan is Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, where we had a five-hour layover, after a 10-hour flight from Turkey, before boarding a plane bound for Taipei for the second leg of the journey, a three-and-a-half hour flight. The official language of Taiwan, which is 10,000 kilometers from Turkey, is Mandarin Chinese. In the southern reaches of Taiwan, the languages of Taiwanese Minnan and Hakka are both spoken.
Taiwan is about the same size as the province of Konya. But Taiwan's annual exports total $250 billion. To put this into perspective and understand just how important Taiwan is on the world scale of trade, Turkey's total annual exports are around $125 billion.
A full 40 percent of Taiwan's exports are to the economic giant China, which of course lies right across the water from it. Taiwan is extremely advanced when it comes to electronics and technology. The world's second-largest computer trade fair happens here every year.
With an annual per capita income of around $15,000, the Taiwanese currency is called the New Taiwan dollar. One American dollar is equivalent to approximately 31.5 new Taiwan dollars. Despite the fact that Taiwan imports most of its fuel from outside its borders, gas here is still cheaper than $1 per liter. There are four nuclear plants in Taiwan, and the country's electricity is derived from nuclear energy.
With a population of 23 million, Taiwan is currently engaging in efforts to encourage population growth, as its population has been showing signs of decline for a while now. In fact, the government is helping families with this matter. One of the most prominent signs of how the population is dwindling is the closure of some primary and secondary schools and how some schools are now much emptier than ever before.
The capital of Taiwan, Taipei, is a modern and well-organized city. It has a population of around 7 million. It is one of the most important cities in the Far East. The nightlife here is very colorful and lively, too.
The presidential palace is located in the very center of Taipei. This presidential palace was inhabited by the Japanese when Taiwan was under Japanese occupation, which lasted from 1895 to 1945.
Taipei Grand Mosque
Until very recently, the world's tallest skyscraper was located in Taipei. Although it is no longer the world's tallest building, the 508 meter “Taipei 101” -- which opened in 2005 -- still attracts many visitors, both local and foreign. There is an entrance fee of $13 per person to get in and inspect the building up close. Be forewarned, there is generally a queue at the entrance. The elevator in this building is said to be the fastest in the world: it will take you from the fifth floor to the 89th floor in just 37 seconds, which means it travels at 17 meters per second! Looking out on the rest of the city from this enormous skyscraper, even buildings with 40 to 50 floors look tiny. Tourists come here to look out on Taipei and take photographs, and one floor of this famous skyscraper has been turned over entirely to visitors. Also interesting is that the building's balance is by a 660 ton sphere located on its top floor. This building has been reinforced to withstand earthquakes of over magnitude 7 on the Richter scale. The sphere located on the top floor is also instrumental in protecting the building from damage from the violent typhoons that tend to hit Taiwan.
Night markets are located all over Taiwan. People love to shop through the night at these markets, and you can really find everything here. These places are open well past midnight, even until 2 a.m. Perhaps part of the reason night markets are so popular is that the days can be quite hot and humid. Interestingly, these outdoor markets are extremely popular despite the presence of many new and modern shopping centers. People in Taiwan are not interested in abandoning their old ways of buying and selling. One of the visible signs of the sheer crowding and popularity of these open-air night markets is the number of motorcycles parked near the markets. Motorcycles, by the way, are plentiful and extremely popular in Taiwan. There are more than 20 million registered motorcycles in this country.
Taiwanese people have a tradition of playing host to their guests at restaurants more often than in their homes, which is why there are restaurants everywhere here and they are almost always full.
One of the few things you may have a difficultly finding is a barber. There is no separation between hairdressers and barbers here, and almost all haircuts are offered by women, not men. Even shaves are offered by women, and they are expensive, at $15 a person.
In Taiwan, the number four is disliked and is in fact seen as being quite unlucky. The reason for this is that the word for four is very close to what the word “death” sounds like in Chinese. Thus the word is very studiously avoided, and in fact, you'll even have a hard time finding an elevator here that has a button with “four” on it. So when you go to any building, from hospitals to apartment buildings, the floors run straight from the third floor to the fifth floor. Rent for apartments and businesses located on the fourth floor of buildings are generally cheaper than for places on the other floors of the building. This is good news of course for foreigners, who don't necessarily believe in the “four” superstition and want to take advantage of the cheaper prices.
The dislike for the number “four” in Taiwan extends all the way to people's identity numbers. People don't want “four” in their identity numbers, and in fact, one Taiwanese woman went to court to have her newborn baby's number changed. She won the case and people no longer get more than one “four” in their identity numbers. This was a decision made by the Taiwanese Interior Ministry.
Of course, at the other end of the numerology spectrum in Taiwan are the numbers “eight” and “nine,” which are wildly popular here, with people trying to get these two numbers on their license plates, in their telephone numbers, etc. In Taiwan, one telecommunications company was able to sell the telephone number 0988 168 168 for 780,000 new Taiwan dollars (TL 29,000), and another telephone number, 0988 888 888, for the equivalent of TL 300,000!
There were once so many Americans visiting Taiwan that these days the Taiwanese seem to view every visiting Westerner as an American. The Taiwanese refer to the US as “Meygo.” The Taiwanese love the US, and they are huge fans of Americans. There is an English language school on almost every corner in Taipei. As a result, there are a lot of English teachers here, too. Some Taiwanese know only a few words of English, while others have learned a tremendous amount. Many of the English teachers here are also Christian missionaries.
The Chiang Kai-shek memorial gate in Taipei
The effect of this love of English is reflected in many of the signs you see on the street, which are increasingly in English rather than Chinese.
The extremely advanced state of technology here is reflected even in the city buses that ply Taipei's streets. There are extremely luxurious buses; some even have television screens on the back of every seat. Passengers can watch television or play games as they wish on these screens. There are also individual massage seats available on some of these buses. Some buses also feature Internet access, which means that you can get important business done even as you travel through the city.
[QUICK FACTS]
Capital: Taipei
Major languages: Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Minnan), Hakka dialects
Government: Multiparty democracy
President: Ma Ying-jeou
Area: 35,980 square kilometers
Population: 22,974,347*
GDP (per capita): $ $31,900**
Main religions: Buddhist and Taoist (93 percent), Christian (4.5 percent), Other (2.5 percent)
*July 2009 estimate **2008 estimate
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