Like myself, most of my expat friends really love Taiwan. But every love affair has its tiffs. And since this is a culture blog, the focus today is the common complaints about ‘negative cultural traits’ of the Taiwanese. To wit, these are being closed-minded about new ideas, suspicious of outsiders, fatalistic, unsure of their identity, and with no grand vision of the future. My point is that these traits, however inappropriate they may seem in 2016, have evolved for a reason

This article is dedicated to Andrew Lunman, friend to me and many others, and a smart traveler rat who not only stayed out of the swamp, but also made life on the beach better for all! Hope you’re enjoying life back in Canada! Anyone living in Taipei today – or much of Taiwan, for that matter – would not feel that it was difficult to get their hands on a good hamburger, at a reasonable price, with a nice side order of proper fries. But there was a time, back in the day, when