Hello Taipei!
by Joel Martin ~ February 19th, 2007. Filed under: Cultural.I entered Taipei at 6AM of the Chinese New Year Holiday after a wonderful 13-hour flight. The airport was quiet, and passing through customs was an uncomplicated walk. Free luggage trolleys made it that much easier. Mike Birtwistle met me at the gate. Mike is a big hearted guy and savvy international corporate trainer who has worked with many Fortune 500 firms. He is the director of trainings and has, along with the principals of InVision (my client), a passion for bringing the best of the best in education in training to Taiwan and China.
Among the many questions that I asked about business, the culture, and the assignment I had was, “What is the favorite sport here?†Martin household TV fare is determined by one sport or another so I was surprised to learn that the favorite “sport†is art and culture. 
There are 6 museums here.
The day was overcast and the landscape (Taiwan is an island) dominated by lush green trees. We passed an old Buddhist temple with neon lights, the Chiang Kei-shek hotel, industrial buildings that reminded me of Russia, through clean city neighborhoods, by familiar sites like Starbucks and 7-11s, by office buildings to my hotel. Sit in the lobby and you will be asked if you’d like complimentary water, tea, or coffee.
During the day, the city was quiet with the exception of the tallest building in the world – Taipei 101 – which was filled with shoppers. Taipei, a city of 23,000,000, from what I can see so far is a very modern sophisticated city.
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