Kaoshiung and Globalization

This weekend I took my first ever trip to the south of Taiwan. I feel bad about being here for so long but never venturing down there. Part is me being lazy and part is me knowing it is pretty comfortable here in Taipei (I do want to take it easy on the weekends).

Saturday I woke up early to catch the 8am high speed rail train from Taipei to Zuoying (Kaoshiung) station with my boss. The high speed rail (HSR) is great. It is clean, fast, on time, and easy to use.

When we showed up there we went out to meet a business contact of ours. After some initial confusion, there are two malls of the same name where he wanted to meet us, we met up and had a great lunch and business talk.

I don't want to reveal too much about what was said but it revolved around doing business in his country (he is from Africa). The whole time I was amazed. Here I am a white American working in Taiwan and meeting an African about doing business with him in his country (along with help from his Taiwanese wife).