{Requisite knowledge: For those unaware, Erik loves tall buildings. And bridges. Call it an obsession.]
Taipei - capital of Taiwan and biggest city - is a nice place. It isn't overly crowded like many asian cities, but spread out. As you may expect, it is very modern. Huge LED screens are everywhere, and the markets sell plenty of high-end phones and PDAs. We visited a shopping center called the K-Mall where the large manufacturers (Asus, Benq, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Sony) have their own stands demoing new releases and prototypes. Lots of cool stuff. It seems the future is in small all-in-one gadgets with big, high-res screens (like the iPhone, but with features and not gimics).
Taipei 101 is absolutely incredible. There aren't actually many tall buildings in Taipei, so it really stands out. You can see it from just about anywhere in the city. It looks much better in real life than in the pictures. The architecture takes some getting used to; it is quite a unique building. And absolutely huge. Impossible to comprehend until you stand beside it and can't even see the top. We visited the observation deck at night, and the view is amazing. There is a bit of pollution in Taipei, so at night you can see much further. One level up there is an outside observation deck right on the top of the building. It was incredibly windy and cold, but definitely worth it. The building also has the worlds fastest lifts, made by Otis. Over 1km/min at their max speed. And you don't even feel it.
Taichung is the third biggest city. Much smaller place, and very spread out. Feels a lot like Brisbane. They grow a lot of palms there for the nuts (called Betel nuts). These are sold by young women sitting in glass booths on the side of the road - in their underwear. Turns out that attracts the truck drivers.
Down in the south is the agricultural and industrial area. Kaoshiung is the second biggest city, and is basically just a huge port. The city is quite clean, they force the (very) heavy industry out of town. This is where all of our electronics is shipped from. Even if its made in China, it comes back to Taiwan for the final assembly and testing. There is lots of military bases around. Every hill has a satellite dish or radar dome on it. And the locals say there are missiles at the base of all of them. I saw my first nuckear power station down there too. Most of Taiwans power is from nuclear, wind and hydro.
The politics and history is very complicated. Taiwan was occupied by the Japanese for 50 years. Unlike the Chinese, who absolutely hate the japanese and would happily rid the world of them, the Taiwanese have a lot fo respect for them. Although they were only using Taiwan as a military base, they built most of the current infrastructure and made Taiwan the modern place it is now. The US is still a strong ally. But the big problem is China. Taiwan is torn between being Independent, Japanese-owned or Chinese-owned. And its not just a cultural thing. China likes to test their missiles by flying them over Taiwan. There is a constant tension between the countries, and full-scale war is a real possibility. Down in the south, train lines run through concrete tunnels designed to act as missile bunkers. The mountains are used to shield both the military and civilians. China is only 300km away, and the water between them is full of submarines. Kind of scary to stand on the beach and know there is an enemy submarine with nuclear missiles right in front of you.
The US is probably the only thing keeping them alive. They have made some exceptionally good diplomatic moves (pre-Bush, obviously). When war seemed likely, and China started deploying its navy, Clinton sent a huge number of US war ships and parked them between China and Taiwan. They werent there to attack anyone, they just fomed a blockade. If China wanted to attack Taiwan, they had to fire on US warships first. Luckily, it worked.
Most of their airforce is based on the remote eastern side of Taiwan. In Hualien, seeing a 6-foot high concrete and razor wire fence, I wondered what was on the other side. So I climbed a rock and just over the fence were fighter jets lined up under grass-covered bunkers, invisible to satellites. The jets scream overhead regularly.
Hualien is famous for a beautiful gorge through the mountains. Taiwan has mountains of marble. Literally, entire mountains are made of brilliant white marble. They export huge amounts worldwide, especially to Italy. So this gorge is formed where a river has cut through the soft marble, leaving kilometer-high walls of sheer, white marble. The highway is cut right into the side of the mountain. Given the number of earthquakes Taiwan gets (about 1 every 3 days), it is a very dangerous place.
Ok, now some assorted stuff:
There are three main Chinese religions - Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. Once you see a few temples (and I have now seen dozens), you get good at picking the religion just from the outside. Taoism is probably the most interesting. They have incredibly ornate and colourful temples. They believe there are many levels of hell. Which one you go to depends on how much you sinned. However, unlike christianity, they liek to adorn their temples with pictures of the different ways you are puished in each level. Imagine wall-sized murals realistically showing people being drowned, eaten, beheaded, cut into small pieces, hanged, tortured, boiled and sawn in half - lengthways. On the lasy holiday to China, I visited the Taoist "Temple of Hell", the actual place spirits go and their fate (heaven vs hell) is decided. That place is probably 2000 years old and it STILL freaks you out. It doesnt matter how historic it might be, it is a scary, scary place.
The taiwanese people are some of the nicest on the planet. Almost everyone knows one or two words of english, very few are fluent. But you would be surprised how little language is needed to carry out a sophisticated business transaction involving a $3 Roxy shirt. Once you get good at bargaining its quite fun. Those that know some english are quick to help two lost Australians. Transport is fast end efficient everywhere, Taipei has an excellent subway (MRT). Traffic is becoming a problem, but its not at the "totally insane" level like in China. They have just completed a 300km/hr train line all the way down the western coast (where most people live). In a place with an earthquake every 3 days and some of Asia's most rugged terrain, it is an incredible feat. I don't think the train was running at full speed yet, they are testing it at reduced speed for a while.