Taipei

I have been living in Taipei for one year and a half now. I know that the Taiwanese capital is not what you would call a “beautiful city.” I have never really found Taipei extremely ugly either, except maybe when I saw it from the top of the 1O1 tower (still the tallest building of the world), because I see Taipei as “dots’ which do not gather into a ‘whole”. Seen from afar – or from abroad – it looks like either a huge market or as a polluted bowl where the people are crowded together. It is true that Taiwanese are consumerists - but in our developed countries who is not? It is true that the traffic is especially dense here but Taiwan has also one of the highest population densities in the world (629 inhabitants per km2 in 2005). Nevertheless, I think that Taipei is well worth knowing when seen from within: take a close-up on small details of the city- narrow alleys, a decrepit house in the middle of new buildings, plants struggling (and winning!) against the concrete, lovers in a park…Taipei is a city of encounters.

Today’s favourites

Flash animations by Claire Shen, editor.

Rythmic Taipei
http://www.erenlai.com/index.php?aid=303&lan=3

Meeting Taipei
http://www.erenlai.com/index.php?aid=202&lan=3