Taiwan

This weekend I made my first trip to Taiwan, unfortunately not for fun but for work but still worth it.  Taiwan is considered by China to be essentially property of China and by Taiwan standards they consider themselves a free and independent democracy.  It wasn't until just a year or two ago that direct flights were allowed between the two countries.  Before that if you went between the two you had to fly to Hong Kong.

In any event we went to see our partner supplier there who handles predominantly outdoor fabrics, for patio furniture, umbrellas, etc. 

My first impression was how clean it all was.  Organized without millions of folks pushing, arguing and getting in my way.  Driving on the roads (no I personally didn't drive) was pleasant.  If not for the Chinese characters on road signs and store signs you would think you were in any other western country.

After two long days of work, on Saturday night we visited a night market near a University.  The market was very much a local one with very few tourists.  We checked it out, did some shopping and tried some local street food.  The worst was chodo fu.  Basically that means "stinky tofu."  I've had it once before in Nanjing and it was awful.  As the name states the chodo fu smells awful.  The first bite isn't so bad.  But after it sits in your mouth the aftertaste just gets worse and worse.  The version in Taiwan was also spicy so I think that eliminated some of the taste.  All in all not terrible.  A few from the night market...

One of the best parts of Taiwan was how peaceful and organized it was.  The sign below is one that is NOT followed here in China.  Might be a good idea if they put some of this up all around China...

A great couple days, for sure need to go back and spend some downtime there...