Book no.3 has arrived!

Yesterday I received an advance copy of my third book, Taiwan: The Bradt Travel Guide. Overall, I'm very very happy with it. Some of my choices of destinations/hotels/restaurants may not please everyone (that's inevitable with a guidebook) but on the whole it looks every bit as good as I'd dared hope. 

Now comes promotional work. The publishers will be sending out copies to media outlets in Taiwan, the UK and other places, and I'll be doing some interviews.

The ever polite Swiss

In the middle of August, the publishers of my second book sent complementary copies of the book to the chiefs of 36 trade and representative offices in Taipei, together with a covering letter. So far, just one of them has responded:

Dear Mr Crook

Thank you for sending us a complementary copy of your latest book "Dos & Dont's in Taiwan".

We shall not fail to recommend this book to Swiss community members in Taiwan and people interested in getting to know more about Taiwan's culture and customs. The practical and useful information can contribute greatly to the better understanding of the daily way of life in Taiwan.

Yours sincerely,

Jost Feer
Director, Trade Office of Swiss Industries (TOSI)

Full disclosure: I am a Swiss citizen as well as a Briton because my mother was born and raised in Switzerland. She's lived in the UK for half a century, and has been a British citizen for decades.

My 'Author Central' page on Amazon

I've put together an 'Author Central' page on Amazon, the online bookseller, linking to Keeping Up With The War God, Dos and Don'ts in Taiwan, and Taiwan: The Bradt Travel Guide.

Butterfly kingdom (Silkroad)

Taiwan's butterflies don't have the international following the island's birds have - a surprising fact given their beauty, variety and ubiquity. But butterfly watching is now a popular eco-tourism activity among Taiwanese people, and two valleys in the south of the island draw tens of thousands of butterfly lovers each year. Both are about two hours by car from Kaohsiung.

One such place is the Purple Butterfly Valley in Maolin, a district occupied largely by Taiwan's indigenous people...

This article appears in the September issue of Silkroad, Dragonair's inflight magazine. Dragonair flies between Hong Kong and both Taoyuan International Airport and Kaohsiung. The other butterfly hot spot described in the article is Meinong's Yellow Butterfly Valley.The photo here shows a Lemon Pansy in Meinong.