What's in a name

One of the things that confuses me about Taipei is why it's called Taipei. It's not just us, all the road signs and buildings have 'Taipei' on them.

So why is this a mystery? Well, take a look at the second symbol of the name (remember each symbol has a single sound, so Tai is one symbol and Pei is the other) 臺北. That second one should look familiar as it's the same one starts Beijing or 北京.

So one would think we'd be saying Taibei instead (BTW, Bei means north - Beijing being the north capital). Aparently it all stems from the different romanizations in use over time - Wade-Giles was popular originally which lead to names like Peking and Taipei. They're moving to Hanyu pinyin here now, but looks like Taipei will stay as is...

The view from here (updated)

So far the days seem to follow the same course, low cloud first thing, then the sun breaks through for a bit before the cloud returns. No rain yet during the day, just some overnight. I’m staying on the 23rd floor of the Hyatt so getting some good views of the city… and of course a 7/11 (which you can find everywhere here).

In the foyer of the Hyatt is the most amazing floral display – it took four people most of a morning to put this together. The smell of fresh flowers radiates across the space…

The outside & over the road…

But it’s Taipei 101 that dominates…

A Bob Harris moment in Taipei

First off, apologies for not posting as promised – I had my day job to worry about :)

Secondly, it’s probably apparent by now I’m a big fan of Lost in Translation. Trust me, if you ever travel like I do, you’ll get it too. Not that I do photo shoots for Whiskey adverts, but I wouldn’t mind the job if anyone is looking.

So this time, I find myself in Taipei. Arriving at the hotel about 11:30pm after a very long day (about 11hrs to Tokyo then a couple of hours wait and finally 3 and half hours to the island) I was initially too tired to sleep (not that I got any on the journey). I did manage to get about 4hrs uninterrupted sleep before giving in and heading down to breakfast as the sun was coming up.

Not a bad start, breakfast overlooking the low mountains to the South of the city and Taipei 101 right next to the hotel, well not quite overlooking…