A group of Bollywood stars was deeply impressed with beauty of Taiwan during a recent 12-day visit at the invitation of the Tourism Bureau.
Six movie and television actors arrived on June 12 to film a TV travel program promoting Taiwan as a tourist destination for Indians, a senior bureau official said.
The visitors completed their work on Thursday last week, filming in various locations around the nation, including Zihnan Temple (紫南宮); Sun Moon Lake and the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village in Nantou County; Taroko National Park and Farglory Ocean Park in Hualien County; Bunun Aboriginal communities in Taitung County; the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium and Kenting National Park in Pingtung County; E-DA World in Kaohsiung; Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Taipei City Mall and the Guang Hua Digital Plaza in Taipei; and Pingxi District (平溪) in New Taipei City.
Photo: CNA, provided by Taiwan Visitors Association, Singapore Office
The program is scheduled to be released first on YouTube in the middle of this month and will then be aired by the top three TV stations in India, including the TV Today Group, said Hsieh Chang-ming (謝長明), director of the bureau’s Singapore office, who organized the visit.
Hsieh said the group was impressed by the hospitality and kindness they received, adding that one of the photographers suffered a kidney stone attack while shooting in Pingtung and was taken to a local clinic for treatment, where the doctor decided to treat him for free after learning of the group’s reason for visiting Taiwan.
The photographer was sent to a hospital for further treatment, which cost only NT$2,000, compared with a possible cost of more than NT$5,000 in India, Hsieh said.
The incident left the Bollywood group deeply impressed with the quality of Taiwan’s medical services, he added.
It was the second time the bureau invited Indian celebrities to visit Taiwan to promote the nation’s tourist attractions.
Fifteen Bollywood stars visited last year to take photographs for calendars featuring Taiwan’s tourist attractions, which were published in Mumbai, Hsieh said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it