by Chu Chin Kwok

Created on: January 10, 2010

Reflections: Travelling in Taiwan

During the third week of December 2009, my wife and I embarked on a journey to Taiwan, the well-known, beautiful island state formerly known as Formosa, now the seat of government of the ROC (the Republic of China), historical remnant of the military and political struggle between the Kuomintang (the Nationalist Party founded by Dr Sun Yat-sen ) led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and the Communist Party of China led by Mao Zedong  immediately after the end of the Second World War. Well, unfortunately for the Kuomintang, the struggle was won by Mao, and in 1949, Chiang was exiled into this idyllic island and remained there until his death.  The rest, as the saying goes, is history.  The mainland is now known to the world as the PRC or the People’s Republic of China, with its capital at Beijing, whereas the ROC’s capital is Taipei, Taiwan. 

Today, Taiwan is world-famous for its many technological innovations:  it leads the world in many IT products – computers, modems, pen-drives etc; it is also a world-leader in Biotechnology and modern agriculture and aquaculture. It has become a vibrant free-market economy, with a mature, democratic political system to match.   

Our flight from Kuala Lumpur, capital city of Malaysia, to Taipei took slightly more than 4 hours.  We arrived at Taoyuan International Airport on the afternoon of 15th December 2009 and were met by the local (Taiwanese) tour guide, one Mr Shao, a young man in his early thirties who quickly whisked us ( we were in a tour group of Chinese Malaysians, totaling 29) onto a tour bus, thus beginning our formal tour of Taiwan.   On board the bus, Shao introduced himself and before long, was giving us a lesson on the history of geography of Taiwan, using a Taiwan map which he hung on board the bus. 

During the next 5 days or so, Shao brought us around many tourist attractions of Taiwan, concentrating on the West coast.  We were taken to important scenic spots such as the Sun Moon Lake, the National Palace Museum, the Martyrs’ Shrine, the world famous Taipei 101 ( the tallest building in the world in 2009 ), one or two eco-farms and ranches; we travelled on the MRT in Taipei, took a train ride on the HSR (High Speed Rail) with a top speed of about 300 km per hour, climbed the steep steps leading to the important Buddhist Shrine of Fouguang Shan (the Mount/Hill of Buddhist Lights ), watched

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