The Renegade Province

I had no plans to do any extensive traveling this winter vacation, but Ctrip (a Chinese travel service) "made us an offer we couldn't refuse"--Katie and I are leaving tomorrow for a 5 day trip to Taiwan! I've wanted to make a trip to Taiwan for quite a while now because I'm interested to see how it compares to Mainland China. I think it will also be interesting to get the Taiwanese viewpoint on their status as a "renegade province" after being bombarded with the mainland partyline stance for so many years. Since I think I'll be back in the States next year, I figure this really might be my one and only chance to make it to Taiwan, so I'm not going to miss the chance. And I'm sure this is a necessary trip since I'm going to be studying China and International Relations in grad school! :) I mean, what kind of China expert will I be if I haven't seen both China and Taiwan?! I'm hoping that Taiwan is like Hong Kong and Singapore--Chinese yet western and modern at the same time. One thing I do know . . . they have Starbucks! One grande mocha frappiccino please!

Will post pictures when I get back . . .