Between 2002 and 2005 I made several trips to Taiwan, spending most of my time in and around Taipei.
2003 SARS paranoia
In early 2003, I had just graduated from college and had a scholarship opportunity to study Mandarin Chinese language in Taipei, Taiwan. It was a lucky break for me since my girlfriend at the time (now wife) lived in Taiwan. It was also the year when the SARS epidemic was spreading across Asia and everyone was getting paranoid.
Saturday night in Ximen Ding, with unusually few people out due to SARS
A notice at the subway that you can’t ride unless you’re wearing some type of mask to cover your mouth
A view of Taipei from National Taiwan Normal University where I was studying Chinese language
A view of the courtyard of National Taiwan Normal University
The Living Mall, or as I like to call it, “The Ball Mall”
Inside the Living Mall
The infamous Taiwanese media filming scare stories about SARS in front of the SOGO department store
The first time I’d ever seen Taipei Main Station empty. Everyone was afraid of coming out because of SARS, but few people realized that it was actually safer to be out when everywhere was so empty like this.
More adventures from the streets of Taipei!
Illegal street vendors operating in Hsimen. Whenever the cops stroll down the road, they would disappear.
Sun-yat Sen Memorial Hall with Taipei 101 in the background. Taipei 101 was the tallest building in the world at the time.
A view of the river from the Shin-kong Life Tower observatory.
Another view from the Shin-kong Life Tower observatory. You can barely make out Taipei 101 in a distance through the smog.
Right outside the Guting MRT station.
A nice clear night at Tamshui.
Taipei 101 from the base.
This restaurant specializes in food presented to you in toilet bowls.
American bison at the Taipei Zoo.
Gorillas at the Taipei Zoo.
Leave a Reply