With a reported 338 million internet users, China undoubtedly has a massive online presence to be reckoned with. Like everything else of value in China though the internet population is treated as a commodity and the government does everything it can to control it. Google made headlines earlier this week when they announced they’d had [...]
Food in Taiwan is a continuous tug of war for me. On one end of the scales is the crazy Asian food that terrifies me but on the other are the familiar tastes I simply love. I haven’t had too many experiences on the weird food meter yet, although someone told me the other day [...]
I’ve been blogging remotely with my Asus Eee PC for a few months now and out of the box the Eee PC’s are capable of catering to most travellers needs. Having said that however there are several things you can do to make relying on an Eee PC that much easier. Today I thought I’d [...]
I’ve never really been an art person. I can tell you when I like something but take me to a gallery or get me to look at an art book and I’ll probably get bored pretty quickly. Since coming to Taiwan I’ve been forced to re-evaluate my stance on art and how I perceive it.
Just days after the Australian arm of KFC was accused of being racially insensitive in a market the content was never intended to be aired in, an Indian newspaper has pushed the race boundaries between Australia and India. On one hand there’s the annoyance over US basket case political correctness dictating what is and isn’t [...]
When I arrived in Taiwan in the back of my mind was the acknowledgement that, should push come to shove I could very easily find myself in a culinary situation I wasn’t comfortable with. Whether it being someone’s guest, ordering food I didn’t quite understand or sheer peer pressure of eating a local delicacy I [...]
It’s the end of the work day. All around the country kids are getting home hoping to catch a few cartoons before they make a start on their homework. Flicking on the tv, you’d expect to see Chinese dubbed versions of Barney the Dinosaur, Pokemon or even the Wiggles. …then you remember you’re in Taiwan.
Simply put, the week after I lost my phrasebook was hell. I’d been using my Lonely Planet mandarin phrasebook long enough that I was familiar with where to flip to for certain things, but I was far from memorising anything yet. As such as my confidence when out in public plummeted. I dreaded ordering food [...]
As much as we want to pretend Australia is the hub of racial harmony and rainbows, the fact of the matter is not everyone shares this ideology. I’m not saying that as you get off a plane from Delhi there’s mobs of Australians ready to bash the living daylights out of you, far from it. [...]
On my first Sunday off from teaching I decided to reward myself after working six days straight with a day long bicycle ride through Taiwan. A few towns over from where I was staying is the township of Jhushan. Surrounded by mountains, lots of greenery and not nearly as much traffic as the major cities, [...]
