Back In Time: 2006

I did 20 travel articles for the China Post. Rather than post links to all of them, here are the six of my favorites: Madou is an interesting little town not far from my home. Beimen Street in Hsinchu City is one of Taiwan's more authentic 'old streets.' I've long been interested in Taiwan's industrial and infrastructure heritage, be it sugar refineries like the one at Suantou, or Japanese-era train stations. Eco-tourists will like Shuangsi Tropical Viviparous Forest. If that's too far away, just walk over to your nearest rice field.

My column in Skyline, Far Eastern Air Transport's inflight magazine, debuted in February 2006 with an article about Taiwan's viciously hot but glorious summers. Later in the year I wrote about souvenir shopping, forest recreation areas in Taiwan, and foreign influences on Taiwanese lifestyles.

Of all the articles I've done for Taiwan Business Topics over the years, this one on butterflies is perhaps my favorite. The photos in the magazine were taken by Ariana Lindquist, who's now based in Shanghai. The picture here was taken by me in Chiayi County. The day I spent in Hsinchu was a lot of fun, and yielded this piece in Topics.

For the Taiwan Journal, I wrote about medical tourists coming to Taiwan, Taiwan's English-language media (there are three daily newspapers, several magazines, and one radio station), international schools, the 4th Taiwan Design Expo, and two major international conferences: the 1st International Summit of Waterfront Cities and Waterbirds 2005 (yes, the conference was in late 2005, the article didn't appear until February the following year). I also did a two-part article on foreign artists who live in Taiwan (Part 1 and Part 2). Most of the stories I write for the Taiwan Journal are based on suggestions I make to the editor; this topic, by contrast, was suggested by the Journal.

In addition to the weekly Taiwan Journal, the Government Information Office publishes the Taiwan Review, a 64-page full-color monthly magazine. I made my debut in the Taiwan Review in December, with this piece on telecommuting (or, rather, the lack of it) in Taiwan.

Maple Leaf, the magazine put out by the Canadian Society in Taiwan, seems to be defunct. In 2006, however, it was going strong, and I wrote two pieces for their fall issue. One was a feature about Taiwan's disappearing tobacco farms, the other was an interview with Robert Kelly, main author of Lonely Planet's Taiwan guidebook.