KKday, a Taiwanese travel e-commerce platform, launched a bus tour around Taipei for Pokemon Go fans yesterday to help them hunt for the small fictional characters.
LUCKY NUMBER 14
A total of 940 people registered for the five-hour bus tour during the application period from Thursday to Saturday, but only 14 were accepted on the bus after drawing lots, KKday sales representative Chen Yi-chien (陳以健) said.
The bus was equipped with free Wi-Fi and USB chargers so players could charge their smartphones as they traveled around the city searching for Pokemon, Chen said, adding that the vehicle was also equipped with lure modules, a type of chip in Pokemon Go that players can use at a Pokestop to increase Pokemon spawn rates.
The 14 passengers who were selected to ride the bus departed from Taipei Railway Station and traveled through Xinyi District (信義), the Taipei Songshan Tobacco Plant, Dalongdong (大龍峒) in Datong District (大同), Machangding Memorial Park (馬場町紀念公園) in Wanhua District (萬華) and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.
During the tour, travel author and Pokemon Go player Hsu Chieh (許傑) served as a guide explaining the highlights of various tourist destinations in the city and gave a briefing on the history of the Pokemon world.
NATION’S SCENERY TOUTED
In separate news, Canada’s Metro News daily on Friday introduced several bike routes in Taiwan in an article on its Web site, touting the nation’s scenic views.
The article said that Taiwan exports millions of bicycles each year and is home to Giant, the world’s biggest bicycle producer, which supplies a thriving local market.
It listed popular cycling routes in Taiwan, rated by differing degrees of difficulty.
VARIOUS CHALLENGES
For an easy challenge, Metro News recommended riding a bicycle from Taipei’s bike sharing service Youbike to places such as the Taipei 101 skyscraper and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.
It also suggested riding a bicycle around the scenic Sun Moon Lake in central Taiwan to enjoy the beautiful lake and its surrounding temples and lush forests.
For medium-level riders, it recommended cycling along the Coastal Mountain Range route or in the Hualien-Taitung Valley to get a view of beautiful rice paddies.
Finally, for a difficult challenge, the article suggested a 105km road in the mountains of Hualien’s scenic Taroko National Park, which takes cyclists from sea level to an altitude of 3,275m.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
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The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
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