Thursday and Friday

Thursday I took a personal cooking class with a friend I met here. We went to a woman's house here in Taipei, and she showed us how to make about 15 different Taiwanese and Thai dishes. It was really interesting, and she made everything look so simple. I am really excited to try out some of her recipes. She spent 5 hours with us, and it was really nice. On Friday, I met with three representatives from Academia Sinica. They were very informative and offered a very balanced perspective. I also went to Chung-Hua and met with Dr. Wu. He hadn't spoken English in a while, so I really did not get much out of this interview. He did print out a lot of data for me to use, which will be useful. It is really interesting how each group I talk to has a very different perspective on Taiwan's growth, and the role of the government in preventing income inequality. I have really seen a full range of perspectives. This afternoon was another nice day, so I went back to the park. Tomorrow, I am waking up at 6 to go see people performing tai-chi in the park, and then I am hoping to take about an hour train ride to Fulong beach.

Tuesday and Wednesday

On Tuesday I went to the Ministry of Statistics which was in the Executive Yuan. This meeting was very quick, and essentially they just showed me where the specific statistics that I might find useful were online. I think it will be helpful for writing the paper, but it was not much of a perspective. Afterwards, it was raining and quite miserable, so I decided to go see Avatar at Ximen. Ximen is considered the fashion district or student district of Taipei. It was very new and modern, and it was probably the nicest place I have visited so far. The movie was also excellent. Today, I had a meeting with my contact from the American Institute of Taipei. It went extremely well, and he had a slightly different perspective than any of the other people I have spoken to. He was definitely more sympathetic to George Mason's economic views. After that I headed out to Tianmu, which is the international area of Taipei and I hiked up a mountain. The views of the city are fantastic. I actually saw baboons in the trees! It was a bit scary because one was on the ground, but there were many people on the path so I assume they don't pose much of a threat. Besides that, the weather was great and I am really enjoying my time here.

Sunday and Monday

Sunday, I spent a fantastic day at Da'an park which I think is comparable to central park. I just took my book and my blanket out, and people watched for the entire afternoon. There was actually a street performer playing Old-American style jazz on his trumpet. I was so impressed, and I thought it was really interesting how the Taiwanese have joined in on America's love for street music. I walked over to give the player some change, and he turns out to be an American! It really was a perfect afternoon. On Monday, I headed out to the Ministry of Economic Affairs. A woman there told me I needed to go a different ministry, so she spent quite a bit of time printing out a map for more, and the website information in Chinese and English. The Taiwanese are amazingly nice and willing to help. This afternoon, I went to the hot springs, which was definitely a new experience. The goods news is that I have appointments with the American Institute of Taipei, Chung-Hua Institute of Economic Research, and Academia Sinica for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Tomorrow I will go to the government ministry that will be able to answer my questions, and I will have to skip National Taipei University because I did not realize how far away it was. Besides this, I have been able to speak with all of my planned contacts. I have been meeting some really interesting people from all over the world at the hostel, and despite having traveled here alone, I have never really felt lonely. I've also realized it's nice to be able to travel and sight see, and only have to measure up to my expectations, which are basically nonexistent.

Taipei Thurs. Fri. Sat.

On Thursday I headed out to Academia Sinica. I was amazed I actually made it because the trip requires 2 metro's and 2 buses. When I got there, they told me that Academia Sinica was not on my list of my institutions, but the receptionist gave me a book of their research fellows to contact. So, I emailed two, and will hopefully be able to meet with them next week. After that I went in search of the Artist Village, but I could not find it and decided to go home. That night, the owner of the hostel suggested a quiet cozy coffee house nearby, and I went there to sort out my plans for Friday. It was the perfect end to a rainy day. The next day was far more successful. On Friday, I went to Chung-Hua Institute for Economic Research, they told me I couldn't meet with anyone yet but I left my email and a woman there is going to set up an interview, so I have to email her as well, and will hopefully have an interview next week. Then I went to Taiwan National University and met with a professor in the Economics department there. He was American, but he offered an interesting perspective on the history of Taiwan's economics. After that, I headed out to Dihua jie, which is an area where they sell all sorts of dried things and candy for Chinese New Year. There was all sorts of tea, and tree bark, and even dried shrimp and squid. It was really neat! Today (Saturday) we had our first sunny day since I arrived and that made all the difference. It was really beautiful and warm. Josh and I went to the weekend jade and flower market, and it was really amazing. It was absolutely huge, and far more expensive than I imagined! But today really made up for the past 4 rainy days we have had.

Taipei Pictures

Night Market near hostel
















Outdoor Mall near Taipei 101



















Outdoor mall near Taipei 101

















Taipei 101


























Lian Wu fruit
Wax apple















































Top: Outdoor Mall
Left: Random Taiwan Fruit (LianWu)
English: Wax Apple, or Java Apple

First Day in Taipei

Hi all,

Yesterday morning Josh and I headed out to the Taipei Institute of Economic Research. I was responsible for getting us lost, so we ended up having to ask 6-7 different people where to go before someone actually printed us out a map of where we were. The people here are really friendly and really willing to speak Chinese and try to understand my Chinese. The building was pretty obscure so I think we walked past it twice before realizing where it was. We showed the receptionist our letter and an English speaking woman came to meet us. They brought us up to the Presidents office and had a man named Gordon Sun, a deputy director in Macroeconomic Forecasting let us ask all of our questions while the woman translated. They also brought in an American, who I don't think had any purpose in meeting with us besides being American, but it turns out he is a Foreign Serivce Officer and actually studied Chinese at FSI for 10 months and is going to be Matthew O'Connor's (my contact at AIT) replacement. It is such a small world and they were shocked when they found out I new him!

They had a lot of interesting things to tell us. What I think I found most interesting, and refreshing from the GMU perspective is what Dr. Sun said about how the income gap has effected the poorer people's outlook. He basically said, before everyone was poor so there was hope for everyone, no one felt left behind. But now, he said, they feel like they've been left behind so they have lost hope and incentive to continue trying and rather just sort of accept their fate. He also said the current recession has made this worst because it has hit the exports industry, so the manufacturing and labor jobs are being cut down. He also spent quite a while talking about the relationship between China and Taiwan. He said rural areas in China are comparable to the development level of Taiwan in the 1960's. The interview was so interesting and we really got a lot of interesting information from them.

After that we had lunch at a market, and I had "stinky tofu". Mom, you would have loved it! Then we headed down to the Taipei 101 building, and the huge outdoor mall there. It was the really ritzy part of town, but it was nice. This hostel is really great, its like having a home it Taipei, and everyone is so friendly. Of course two owners speak German, so I feel like my German will probably get better with my Chinese on this trip. Two girls actually asked my to go along with them on a trip around Taiwan. They were renting a car and going to a few major places over the next two days. It's funny how in this sort of situation, what would be considered strangers in any other aspect of life, feel like close friends. They had actually just met as well, and one woman was Dutch, and 37, and the other woman was Australian. Last night, I headed out to the night market to pick up dinner. The night market is pretty neat. It's right near our house and it was so crowded.

Besides all of this, the flight went well. I took a bus from the airport for about $3, and I have been using the metro to get around which is probably the best metro system I've been on. I find I can understand quite a bit more Chinese than I thought I could, and I have been using it whenever I can. Being here really reminds me why I am learning Chinese and how much I would love to live in Asia.