Found this website, Taipics.com which shares a large archive of old Taiwan photos. Sharing a few of my favourites here; check the site for more if it’s of your interest…
If you heard Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” coming from a mini-truck in western countries, you would probably relate it to an ice cream van. But in Taiwan, it’s something different; the music belongs to the garbage trucks instead…
CowParade is an international public art exhibition which featured in major cities worldwide, where fibreglass sculptures of cows decorated by local artists would be distributed over the city centre. The cows are normally auctioned off after the exhibition at each city with proceeds donated to charity.
Taipei City is the 65th venue for the parade; the exhibition has just ended in early February… a pretty fitting event to welcome the Chinese New Year of Ox.
Taiwanese government is spending NT$83 billion (USD2.47 billion) on their shopping voucher program to boost domestic consumption and stimulate the economy.
Taiwan’s citizens and eligible residents (foreign spouses etc.) are receiving shopping vouchers worth NT$3,600 (USD107) from the government, regardless of age and financial capability (wealthy people are encouraged to donate the vouchers though).
The distribution has started on January 18th, just soon enough for Chinese New Year spending spree. The vouchers are valid until September 2009 and not exchangeable to cash… so the people are ‘forced’ to spend on it.
USD107 might not seem much, but for a small family of four… it added up to USD428, which should be quite useful during the current economic situation.
Interesting culture and places in Taipei, Taiwan; as featured in the 4th and 5th episode of The Amazing Race Asia (TARA) season 3.
Ximending, Taipei
Ximending is one of the most bustling areas in Taipei with a mixture of new and old culture.
You can find the latest trends and hype in Ximending… fashion, books, entertainment, cosplay, games etc; and on contrary also home to some of the oldest shops and restaurants in Taipei.
Ximending is also a popular place for celebrities to hold fans meeting or small concerts.
2016 participants (1008 reflexologists and 1008 tourists) have set a new Guinness World Record in Taiwan on July 1 for having “most people receiving foot massage (reflexology) simultaneously.”
Tourists who volunteered for the event came from various countries, including Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong etc.
The attempt was organised by Taiwan Tourism Bureau to promote health tourism Reflexology is a popular practice in Taiwan for relaxation and improving general health; the activity is gaining popularity among foreign tourists in recent years.
There were no previous attempts made on this category; Guinness have set the requirement to have at least 400 participants with treatment for at least five minutes on each foot… which were met by the folks without much sweat.
It has become a habit of mine to visit franchises like 7-Eleven or McDonald’s when I visit to different countries. Although they are similar in every countries, normally each places would have their own unique stuff that are not available elsewhere.
It has also become a habit of mine to taste different (local) beer and instant noodles when I visit different countries…
Taiwan beer, at a 7-Eleven store in Hualian… very mild
An aboriginal dance performance (video) in Hualian, during my Taiwan visit in late April. The video quality is rather poor because I was recording using a digital camera and not a viewcam, but it should be pretty cool if you have not witnessed similar stuff before…
There are about a dozen aboriginal tribes recognised in Taiwan, not sure which particular tribal dance it was.
The Taiwanese aborigines’ culture actually shares similarities with the aborigines in South East Asia, including my homeland Malaysia. They are all considered as Austronesian people who shared the same ancestors some thousands of years ago.
In fact, the bamboo-stick-dance in the video can be seen in Philippines and Malaysia-Borneo as well. It’s a small world after all :)