Taipei’s culture history, beautiful scenery and gourmet food were highlighted in an article earlier this month published in Gulf News, the Middle East’s best-selling English-language newspaper.
“The city offers a heady mix of curated history, views to die for and, of course, endless shopping and food,” deputy opinion editor Omar Shariff wrote in the special report called “Exploring Taipei, the city that never sleeps.”
Shariff said that in the 1980s and 1990s, the word Taiwan conjured images of factories producing quality electronic goods and toys, and that the nation was not known as a leisure destination.
“But standing at the balcony of the Lalu Hotel, sipping delicious plum tea and staring at the mist-laden waters of Sun Moon Lake, I could see why the early European settlers called the country Formosa, meaning ‘beautiful’ in Portuguese,” Shariff wrote in the Dubai-based daily.
“It is a sort of mini-Tokyo, with neon lights, an ultra-efficient public transport system, colossal pedestrian crossings near metro stations and unusually busy people preoccupied with their smartphones,” he said.
The article also listed several must-see sites, such as Taipei 101 and the National Palace Museum.
“This treasure trove houses the world’s largest collection of Chinese art — about 796,000 artifacts, spanning 8,000 years of Chinese history,” Shariff said.
In a bid to draw travelers from the Middle East and India, the Tourism Bureau and the Chinese Muslim Association are working to increase the number of halal outlets in the country, he wrote.
Hsieh Chang-ming (謝長明), director of the Tourism Bureau’s Singapore office, is responsible for promoting tourism in the Middle East and said that it is a market with great potential for Taiwan to expand its tourism.
The bureau is to take part next month in the Arabian Travel Market Exhibition, the region’s leading travel trade show dedicated to unlocking business potential in the Middle East, Hsieh said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
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