Amazing Race, a popular US reality television show that sends contestants racing around the world, featured Taiwan in its season premiere episode entitled “Kindness of Strangers,” which aired in the US on Sunday.
Now in its 19th season, the show sent 11 teams of contestants from Los Angeles to Taiwan, the first stop of their journey, where they advance from one challenge to another with the help of clues on their way to “pit stops,” where they get a chance to rest.
After landing at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the contestants found their way to bustling Ximending (西門町) in Taipei. They were then directed by a clue flashing on an advertising billboard to Taipei Confucius Temple in the Dalongdong (大龍峒) area.
They then tried their hands at rowing dragon boats, before heading to the pit stop at the Martyrs’ Shrine in the north of the city.
One team had to bungee jump off Core Pacific City Living Mall as a penalty for finishing last in a challenge at the beginning of the race.
During the show, which showcased the sights and sounds of everyday life in Taipei and its suburbs, Taiwanese were seen eagerly helping or offering advice to the participants.
The Tourism Bureau hoped the country’s exposure on the show, which averaged more than 9 million viewers an episode in the US during its last season, would complement the bureau’s intensive publicity campaign to lure Americans to vacation in Taiwan.
The visit to Taiwan earlier this year by the hit reality show The Bachelorette also had a positive impact, the Tourism Bureau’s office in Los Angeles said.
After the airing of the episode, which featured many tourist spots such as Pingxi, Taroko Gorge, Taipei 101 and the National Palace Museum, the bureau’s Los Angeles office received numerous phone calls asking for information about wedding photo services, the Tourism Bureau 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
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COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai
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