Welcome to my homepage dedicated to Taiwan. I have two main goals; one to introduce some of the less publicized aspects of Taiwan, the other to give some useful links to people who might want to visit Taiwan for the purpose of teaching and/or studying. I hope you will find my letters on Taiwan warmhearted, but not insulting. I also hope you find the links useful. The essays are separated into letters, as my original plan was to post them back home to family and friends. Each letter has been written about an aspect of Taiwan that I either find interesting or horrifying. There is no rhythm or reason to their order. At the moment, I am back in England where I plan to work for the next two to three years. Now that I am married to a Taiwanese national it is easy to see that Taiwan is part of my life. Being away from Taiwan does not mean that I will stop writing about it. I have lived there for over four years and expect to live there more in the future. In the next few months I hope to finish my tenth letter to complete my trilogy of letters about the food in Taiwan, plus conclude my journal about my trip to Laos. I also hope to start work on some of the "Letters in the Pipeline", in particular the ones about television in Taiwan and getting married in Taiwan. To add more to my homepage, I have started a sub-page dedicated to my travelling experiences (Limited as they are.) On the new sub-page I will publish my travelling journals. At the moment, I have completed about three quarters of my journal for my vacation to Thailand and Laos 2000 (Frames Version, or non-framed Part One, Part Two and Part Three.) With time I hope to complete the last third and arrange the entries into pages for each day. I also plan to publish my journal for my five-week tour of China 1994. I also hope to write a few off-the-cuff pieces about travel in general, on topics such as airplanes, airports, hostels, buses, and much less. Please read if you are interested, it is all a bit of practice for me, but I am happy to share.

DAVID'S LETTERS FROM TAIWAN Letter One Betel Nut; Taiwan's chewing gum. Updated Letter Two Hair cuts the Taiwanese way; Taiwanese sex industry. Updated Letter Three Taiwanese Road Roulette; driving on Taiwan's roads. Updated Letter Four The Taiwanese Riders of the Apocalypse; Taiwan on two wheels. Letter Five Bai Tou, Bai Tou; electioneering in Taiwan. Updated Letter Six Taiwn's Stray Dogs; aka Cerberus's Ugly Cousins. Letter Seven Keep Taiwan Tidy. Not! Letter Eight Food in Taiwan: It's the best bit! Trust me. PART ONE. Letter Nine Food in Taiwan: It's the best bit! Trust me. PART TWO. Letters in the Pipeline Fun in Taiwan: Shooting fish in a barrel and singing the night away. Marriage in Taiwan: The sound of Titanic. Television in Taiwan: I have the Mic. Music in Taiwan: Only a pretty face. Fashion in Taiwan: The cute killers.

An engagement photo of Marrion and David. A wedding invitation photo of Marrion and David. A photo taken at Marrion and David's wedding banquet. David's CV in full. Just in case you want to offer me a job.

ICRT Taiwan's Premiere and only English language radio station. Dave's ESL Cafe A handy site of information on ESL teaching around the world. The site has a jobs page amonst other useful things. New to the site is Dave's ESL Cafe's Job International Journal, with information on Asia, and Taiwan in particular. Lonely Plant The backpacker's bible to the world, check out the letter's page for Taiwan. Central Intelligence Agency The CIA's factsheet on Taiwan. Virtual Tourist A web site of travel articles submitted by members of the public. All of the world's continents are featured and nearly every country has pages of personal experience, pictures, and information on where to go and what to do. There is of course a wealth of material on Asia and some material on Taiwan. All in all it is worth checking out and seems favored by aspiring travel writers. Travel in Taiwan A tourist site with regional information on Taiwan, info on all the major holidays, info in visas, and much more. Discover Taiwan A very good Web page detailing many of the attractions in Taiwan. From the page counter it is easy to see that it is popular. It includes an extensive Taipei pub and club guide. Taiwan Teacher A reference to teaching in Taiwan. Includes: a Faq on Taiwan, and people's impressions of Taiwan. Mondo Taiwan! An expiates Web Page about the Good and Bad of Taiwan. Includes pages on Betel Nut and Traffic in Taiwan. The pages have lots of photographs with lots of information in bite size chunks. Updated regularly. David Stig Hansen An ex-teacher's Web Page about his impressions of Taiwan. I briefly worked with this guy and he is madder than he looks. Alexander's Eclectic Home Page Futher experiences of living in Taiwan. Seen through the eyes of a foreigner, a husband to a Taiwanese wife and a father. EFL in Asia by Hall Houston. A comprehensive guide to teaching in Asia. For Taiwan he has an extensive list of links to all the major schools. Seamania by Ieuan Dolby. For Taiwan. David's Guide to Taiwan by David Reid, which includes lots of info on living and teaching in Taiwan. ESL TAIWAN! by Jack Blake. Lots of useful information about teaching in Taiwan, visas, schools, employees, etc. Teaching English in Taiwan Web Pages by Michael Turton. Lots of pictures of life and scenery in Taiwan, plus loads of info on teaching and finding teaching jobs in Taiwan. Taipei Hostel Boasts being the first and best hostel in Taipei. Or why not try the Taipei Amigo Hostel. For those looking for another cheap place to stay. (Sorry I cannot give you a review of either of these establishments.) Mandarin Hostel Taipei New to the scene, this small group of hostels is run by three expats. Their goal is to provide a first introduction to Taipei for new arrivals who are looking to work and stay in Taiwan. Taiwan Railway Administration This government web site offers information on train schedules, advanced ticket purchasing and much more for those wishing to explore Taiwan. Taiwanfun.com Lots of information about things to do, places to eat and shops to visit. Individual sites for Taipei, Taichung, Tainan & Chiayi, and Kaohsiung & Pingtung. Taiwan Expatriate and Travel Information. This site is mainly written for the US expat in mind. Taipei Life. Looking for a school to teach at, here are a few. Please note I have no information on how good they are as employers, but if you browse some of the links I have given on teaching in Taiwan you might find a review or two. KOJEN English Language Schools EZ English School Taiwan's main English language radio station ICRT's news service Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan. English News of the Central News Agency Taiwan Headlines Offers a daily collection of english news articles from many media sources in Taiwan. Includes stories on business, politics and society. Taiwan News English page. Taiwan Globe. Taipei Times The newest of the three nationally published English newspapers in Taiwan. The China Post An established English language paper in Taiwan. The format of the web page is good, but construction of the page has not been finished, so some of the menu selections are not available. Inside China Today - Mainland Chinese news service in English. CNN's International - The homepage for CNN's daily news dedicated to life outside North America. With a sub-page for Talk Asia.

This home page last updated 9th May 2005.