Taiwan | Jan Trabandt Travel Blog

Dr Sun Yat-Sen in Vancouver

A classical Chinese garden in Vancouver BC. Entry fee. I didn’t make it there but ran across it in a top20 list.

Dr Sun Yat Sen – he’s everywhere!

Well, just about everywhere there are significant Chinese population, it would seem (recall he is the founder of “modern China” who overthrew the last Chinese emperor).

There are monuments/memorials/roads/historical sites in honour of Dr Sun Yat Sen in Taipei (Taiwan), Maui (Hawaii, USA), Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Penang (Malaysia)!

Given the large Chinese community in Toronto, I just googled it and found this memorial statue in Riverside Park.

Singapore vs Taipei street food

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/singapore/travel-tips-and-articles/77041

“Though without question a festival for nose and tastebuds, visually speaking most of Singapore’s centrally planned communal eateries have only slightly more charm than your average parking garage.”

Hmm. Well, I was a little disappointed with Taipei street food, but in a few weeks I’ll be able to compare Singapore (and Hong Kong) street food.

Update: having returned from Singapore now, I definitely give Singapore the win over Hong Kong, which in turn wins over Taipei, for street food.

Maui: Sun Yat-Sen park (father of Taiwan)

Apparently Sun Yat-Sen went to school in Hawaii, and his relatives lived in upcountry Maui (near Kula). He even planned some of the Chinese revolution from here.
There is a park with a new statue of him, with a great view of the ocean.

San Francisco: a “rebuttal” to some of my Taiwan comments

It turns out San Francisco has some of the things I found “advanced” in Taipei:

Some dedicated motorcycle parking
Intelligent transit video screens with arrival times (also, many bus stops have an LED screen that shows the next bus arrival time)
Multi-lingual announcements on some transit systems (English, Mandarin and Spanish)

That's a lot of bicycles! Parked for the bluegrass festival in Golden Gate Park — That’s a lot of bicycles! Parked for the bluegrass festival in Golden Gate Park

Dedicated little motorcycle/scooter parking, with its own meter (behind the blue motorcycle) at $0.60/hr

Muni streetcar real time train map showing not just the arrival time of the various cars, but their location at other stations.

Misc Taipei notes (last ones!)

Some final misc notes on Taipei.
This should be the last Taipei note. See www.jantrabandt.com/wordpress/ if you missed the earlier posts.

Some stores (like 7-11 and Family Mart) had a little machine that would heat-seal (in a few seconds) a plastic film on the top of a drink (e.g. coffee), making it spill-proof, at least until you push a straw into it when you are ready to drink it.
You could use your EasyCard at some retailers, like 7-11

Map of Taipei with my points of interest

To put my Taiwan trip into a little perspective, see this google map of Taipei with places I went:

my Taipei map

Bicycling routes in Taipei

There are almost 100km of bicycle trails along 5 river banks in the city, including out to the coast just past Danshui/Tamshui.
Unfortunately I didn’t get to do any bicycling in my limited time; the one day I tried, I found out I couldn’t rent a bicycle at one location and return it at another (as I had been misinformed at the tourist office).

For a detailed bicyling map see www.taipeitravel.net/download.do?fileName=/d_upload_ttn/att/files/10002736.pdf. (5 MB).

There is also a free short-term bicycle hire system called U-bike. Currently it’s only in Xinyi district (i.e. between Taipei City Hall/Sun Ya-sen Memorial Hall and Taipei 101). However, you have to have a smart chip credit card.

See www.taipeitravel.net/en/ for general Taipei visitor info.