Useful tip: Booking office for Taiwan High speed Rail is located on the North-East corner of this building.
Archive for May, 2012
Rainbow marble vases were stunning. Prices not remembered, probably US $3000 – (part of the day trip to Taroko Gorge involved a stop at a shop while on the return part of the trip).
The picturesque small temple via the running stream is often featured on advertising for tourism in Taiwan.
Czech speaker YouTube video <CLICK
Some Taiwan visits ago I took my then new video camera to a short speech on democracy by a visiting and very famous Czech politician.
Petr Pithart’s entourage were interesting looking guys. We spoke briefly afterwards.
A very tall and slim gentleman had been a diplomat stationed in Australia – we spoke on Australian politicians (he’d met Bob Carr – the current Foreign Minister in Julia Gillard’s government) and for something different, how tall men make excellent free divers due to their increased lung capacity. Surprise, his Czech best friend was a/the world champion free diver!
Another gentleman who looked the part of a very effective bodyguard was in fact a famous actor in the Czech Republic.
I’ll post his picture and others when these next show-up on the computer or hard drive where they live.
It was a memorable and interesting afternoon. An opportunity like this would not exist for me in Australia.
Australian visitors in Taiwan (and other ‘westerners’) are well-looked after. It’s a humbling experience we appreciate and enjoy.
MORE INFORMATION
from http://en.wikipedia.org (Extract below)
Petr Pithart (born January 2, 1941 in Kladno) is a Czech politician, lawyer and political scientist.
He served as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (then part of Czechoslovakia) from February 6, 1990 to July 2, 1992. He has sat in Senate of the Czech Republic since its inception in autumn 1996, serving as its chairman from December 18, 1996 to December 16, 1998 and from December 19, 2000 to December 15, 2004.
Political career
Pithart was member of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia since 1960, was active in the Prague Spring and left the party after the Soviet invasion; later he was one of the most prominent dissidents against the communist regime. He was imprisoned for this activity including being one of the first signatories of Charter 77. In 1989 he was one of the prominent leaders of the Civic Forum founded at the start of the overthrow of the regime. Having participated in the negotiations which led to the change of the federal, Czech and Slovak governments, he was appointed Prime Minister of the then Czech Socialist Republic.
1. Rainbow marble vases or jars are not cheap. I priced one in a shop near Hyatt Fortune Hotel recently at NT$100 thousand.
2. It took me a couple of years to figure out the poster message. A phone within a camera. Unknown back in Australia in 2003.
3. The nicest view at Green Island, offshore from Taitung.
4. Ink impression of a large fish caught at Green Island, displayed in restaurant.
5. Night market in Kaohsiung is now very popular with tourists from the mainland. Prices have fallen, value is good. Chinese pay in yuan currency using 100 notes – a clever way to get a 10% discount for themselves. This picture was in 2003.
6. I arrived in Taipei at the tail-end of SARS problem in 2002. My first view of the city from front and rear windows (which in fact are digital shots taken the following year replicating the original view caught on film).
THE VIDEO (above) is a tribute to an Australian journalist William H. Donald who would have promoted Chiang Kai-shek and Madame Chiang to the USA media. William H. Donald also played a part in Chinese history (so says his website) with an important negotiation in Xian plus he saved the life of Madame Chiang. Today he’s almost forgotten. Unknown in CKS Memorial Hall apart from his picture with Chiang and a group of reporters in 1937 yet at the time of death he was given a state funeral in Beijing – memory of that erased by the later cultural revolution.
The international awards shown in the video are no longer all on display at CKS Memorial Hall.
Click to enlarge this copy of a rare document. Main picture, Shigemitsu signs the above document.,
IN CHINA NEWS FOOTAGE FROM THE FOLLOWING DAYS: You Tube clip <Click here
