I’ve been doing a lot of holiday reading and I came across the story of the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War. I want to share it because I find the actions of this one individual refueled my faith in humanity.

Mankind’s brutal history has seen us responsible for massacres like The Holocaust and the Rape of Nanking (along with more recent ones in Africa and Syria) and very often we don’t hear stories about someone standing up for innocent people being killed.

This is one of the few times where someone did stand up.

I’m going to cut and paste the key points from the Wikipedia article and summarize them since I think Wikipedia tells the story best.

For a full account you can read here and here.

How it all started

1. The My Lai massacre took place in on 16 March 1968.
2. Before engagement, Colonel (COL) Oran K. Henderson, the 11th Brigade commander, urged his officers to “go in there aggressively, close with the enemy and wipe them out for good”.^[20] In turn, LTC Barker reportedly ordered the 1st Battalion commanders to burn the houses, kill the livestock, destroy food supplies, and destroy the wells.^[21]
3. On the eve of the attack, at the Charlie Company briefing, Captain (CPT) Ernest Medina told his men that nearly all the civilian residents of the hamlets in Sơn Mỹ village would have left for the market by 07:00, and that any who remained would be NLF or NLF sympathizers.^[22] He was asked whether the order included the killing of women and children.
4. The villagers, who were getting ready for a market day, at first did not panic or run away, and they were herded into the hamlet’s commons. Harry Stanley, a machine gunner from the Charlie Company, said during the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division’s (CID) inquiry that the killings started without warning. He first observed a member of the 1st Platoon strike a Vietnamese man with a bayonet. Then, the same trooper pushed another villager into a well and threw a grenade in the well. Further, he saw fifteen or twenty people, mainly women and children, kneeling around a temple with burning incense. They were praying and crying. They were all killed by shots in the head.^[32]
5. When PFC Michael Bernhardt entered the subhamlet of Xom Lang, the massacre was underway:I walked up and saw these guys doing strange things…Setting fire to the hootches and huts and waiting for people to come out and then shooting them…going into the hootches and shooting them up…gathering people in groups and shooting them… As I walked in you could see piles of people all through the village… all over. They were gathered up into large groups. I saw them shoot an M79 [grenade launcher] into a group of people who were still alive. But it was mostly done with a machine gun. They were shooting women and children just like anybody else. We met no resistance and I only saw three captured weapons. We had no casualties. It was just like any other Vietnamese village – old papa-sans, women and kids. As a matter of fact, I don’t remember seeing one military-age male in the entire place, dead or alive.^[39]6. One group of 20-50 villagers was walked to the south of Xom Lang and killed on a dirt road. According to Ronald Haeberle’s eyewitness account of the massacre, in one instance,There were some South Vietnamese people, maybe fifteen of them, women and children included, walking on a dirt road maybe 100 yards [90 m] away. All of a sudden the GIs just opened up with M16s. Beside the M16 fire, they were shooting at the people with M79 grenade launchers… I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.^[40]

The killings went on until Warrant Officer One Hugh Thompson Jr intervened.

1. Thompson and his crew, who at first thought the artillery bombardment caused all the civilian deaths on the ground, became aware that Americans were murdering the Vietnamese villagers after a wounded civilian woman they requested medical evacuation for, Nguyễn Thị Tẩu (chín Tẩu), was murdered right in front of them by Captain Ernest Medina, the commanding officer of the operation. According to Larry Colburn,
   

   “Then we saw a young girl about twenty years old lying on the grass. We could see that she was unarmed and wounded in the chest. We marked her with smoke because we saw a squad not too far away. The smoke was green, meaning it’s safe to approach. Red would have meant the opposite. We were hovering six feet off the ground not more than twenty feet away when Captain Medina came over, kicked her, stepped back, and finished her off. He did it right in front of us. When we saw Medina do that, it clicked. It was our guys doing the killing.”^[8]

2. Immediately after the execution, Thompson discovered the irrigation ditch full of Calley’s victims. Thompson then radioed a message to accompanying gunships and Task Force Barker headquarters, “It looks to me like there’s an awful lot of unnecessary killing going on down there. Something ain’t right about this. There’s bodies everywhere. There’s a ditch full of bodies that we saw. There’s something wrong here.”^[2]:75 Thompson spotted movement in the irrigation ditch, indicating that there were civilians alive in it. He immediately landed to assist the victims. William Calley approached Thompson and the two exchanged an uneasy conversation.^[2]:77

Thompson: What’s going on here, Lieutenant?

Calley: This is my business.

Thompson: What is this? Who are these people?

Calley: Just following orders.

Thompson: Orders? Whose orders?

Calley: Just following…

Thompson: But, these are human beings, unarmed civilians, sir.

Calley: Look Thompson, this is my show. I’m in charge here. It ain’t your concern.

Thompson: Yeah, great job.

Calley: You better get back in that chopper and mind your own business.

Thompson: You ain’t heard the last of this!

3. As Thompson was speaking to Calley, Calley’s subordinate, Sergeant David Mitchell, fired into the irrigation ditch, killing any civilians still moving.^[2]:78Thompson and his crew, in disbelief and shock, returned to their helicopter and began searching for civilians they could save. They spotted a group of women, children, and old men in the northeast corner of the village fleeing from advancing soldiers from the 2nd Platoon, Company C. Immediately realizing that the soldiers intended to murder the Vietnamese civilians, Thompson landed his helicopter between the advancing ground unit and the villagers.^[2]:79 He turned to Colburn and Andreotta and told them he would shoot the men in the 2nd Platoon if they attempted to kill any of the fleeing civilians.^[2]:81 While Colburn and Andreotta focused their guns on the 2nd Platoon, Thompson located as many civilians as he could, persuaded them to follow him to safer location, and ensured their evacuation with the help of two UH-1 Huey pilots he was friends with.^[4]:138-139

4. Low on fuel, Thompson was forced to return to a supply airstrip miles outside the village. Before they departed the village, Andreotta spotted movement in the irrigation ditch full of bodies. According to Trent Angers in The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story (2014),

“The helicopter looped around then set down quickly near the edge of the ditch. Andreotta had maintained visual contact with the spot where he saw the movement, and he darted out of the aircraft as soon as it touched the ground. Thompson got out and guarded one side of the chopper and Colburn guarded the other. Andreotta had to walk on several badly mangled bodies to get where he was going. He lifted a corpse with several bullet holes in the torso and there, lying under it, was a child, age five or six, covered in blood and obviously in a state of shock.”

The child, Do Ba, was pulled from the irrigation ditch and after failing to find any more survivors, Thompson’s crew transported the child to a hospital inQuang Ngai.^[2]:215

After transporting the child to the hospital, Thompson flew to the Task Force Barker headquarters (Landing Zone Dottie), and angrily reported the massacre to his superiors.^[4]:176-179 His report quickly reached Lieutenant Colonel Frank Barker, the operation’s overall commander. Barker immediately radioed ground forces to cease the “killings”. After the helicopter was refueled, Thompson’s crew returned to the village to ensure that no more civilians were being murdered and that the wounded were evacuated.^[2]:89

After the incident, Hugh Thompson Jr filed an official report.

Thompson made an official report of the killings and was interviewed by Colonel Oran Henderson, the commander of the 11th Infantry Brigade (the parent organization of the 20th Infantry).^[10] Concerned, senior Americal Division officers cancelled similar planned operations by Task Force Barker against other villages (My Lai 5, My Lai 1, etc.) in Quang Ngai Province, possibly preventing the additional massacre of further hundreds, if not thousands, of Vietnamese civilians.^[2]:219-220

US Commanders tried and almost succeeded in covering up the massacre.

Initially, commanders throughout the American chain of command were successful in covering up the My Lai massacre. Thompson quickly received theDistinguished Flying Cross for his actions at My Lai. The citation for the award fabricated events, for example praising Thompson for taking to a hospital a Vietnamese child “…caught in intense crossfire”. It also stated that his “…sound judgment had greatly enhanced Vietnamese–American relations in the operational area.” Thompson threw away the citation.^[4]:204-205

When news of the incident broke, Hugh Thompson started receiving death threats, hate mail and mutilated animals on his doorstep.

In late-1969, Thompson was summoned to Washington, DC to appear before a special closed hearing of the House Armed Services Committee. There, he was sharply criticized by congressmen, in particular Chairman Mendel Rivers (D-S.C.), who were anxious to play down allegations of a massacre by American troops.^[4]:290-291 Rivers publicly stated that he felt Thompson was the only soldier at My Lai who should be punished (for turning his weapons on fellow American troops) and unsuccessfully attempted to have him court-martialed.^[3] As word of his actions became publicly known, Thompson started receiving hate mail, death threats, and mutilated animals on his doorstep.^[5]

30 years after the incident though, Hugh Thompson found recognition in his actions.

In 1998, exactly 30 years after the massacre, Thompson and the two other members of his crew, Glenn Andreotta and Lawrence Colburn, were awarded the Soldier’s Medal (Andreotta posthumously), the United States Army’s highest award for bravery not involving direct contact with the enemy. “It was the ability to do the right thing even at the risk of their personal safety that guided these soldiers to do what they did,” then-Major General Michael Ackerman said at the 1998 ceremony. The three “set the standard for all soldiers to follow.” Additionally on March 10, 1998, Senator Max Cleland (D-Ga.) entered a tribute to Thompson, Colburn and Andreotta into the record of the U.S. Senate. Cleland said the three men were “true examples of American patriotism at its finest.”^[22]

In the end, an estimated 347-504 civilians were killed in this massacre and that number would’ve been much more if it wasn’t for Hugh Thompson Jr’s actions. It must’ve taken tremendous courage for him to do what he did.

As I read this story, I’m reminded of a really famous quote:

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

While I pray that these massacres are never repeated again in future, I do hope that if they do, men like Hugh Thompson Jr will stand up against it.

It’s the last day of 2015 and boy has 2015 been a tough year for me. That aside I decided that I wanted to reflect and note the things that I’m grateful for that happened this year. I’ve linked each one to a relevant blog post to each thing so you can read  more about it and see pictures of those moments in the entries.

1. Penny

The biggest thing for me this year is the birth of my baby girl Penelope Rose Tiah. She’s 9 months old this month and has grown cuter and cuter by the day. Just like her brother she’s had to fight a little at a young age. She had a hernia at just a couple of months old and we had to send her for surgery.

Fortunately the surgery was a success and everything is okay with her now. I’m grateful for her.

2) A Week in London

Right after our IPO this year I took a short break to London with Shorty. Ming was kind enough to let us stay at his beautiful flat there and I feel we had a good time to get rested and explore London as a couple. We did miss our kids a lot though which meant we gave them extra kisses when we got home.

3) Netccentric IPO

This time last year I was busy working on the preparation for our IPO. It’s been a really tough process and a scary one too. In the middle of 2015 we were seeing volatile stock markets around the world and we kept wondering if the markets would get so bad we won’t be able to list the company when the time came. True enough we listed the company on what could be the worst possible day of the year.

The day the market opened after the Greek Referendum. Fortunately though we managed to find the investors we need and still listed the company. I’m grateful for that.

4) Achieving a fitness milestone

This year was the first time I went for a century ride. That means a 160KM cycling ride. Doing that kind of distance was something unthinkable just a year before so finally doing it felt really good. I’m grateful for making it through and not falling into the temptation of giving up halfway.

5) Good Health

This year is the year I discovered that I have not one but two cyst in my pancreas. I’m not sure yet if it is benign or malignant but doctors so far think it’s okay. I have to go back for a test 6 months from now but I’m grateful that it looks okay so far.

It’s also the first year that I’ve been able to break by sugar addiction. I used to take a lot of sugar drinks but now I’ve just about cut them all out.

6) Viral articles

2015 was a year that I saw more and more articles from my blog go viral. Recent ones are my story about the milk company to about KevJumba both which got over 150K shares.

All in all, 2015 was a year I had lots to be grateful for. I’m hoping 2016 will be an even better year.

Happy New Year everyone!

I am on the way back to Penang as I write this. I’m going back to Penang to finally do an MRI scan. At this point you’re probably thinking: “Why go back to Penang for an MRI Tim? KL don’t have meh?.

Well here’s the thing.

1) The first doctor I saw regarding my pancreatic cyst recommended I do a Endoscopy Ultrasound where I put this scope down my throat to look at my pancreas. The whole procedure would cost RM4K. I thought that was overkill for my tiny cyst so I went to get a second opinion.

2) This new doctor I saw at University Hospital agreed that an endoscopy was indeed overkill for the size of my cyst. He recommended I do a CT scan first and then only if it turns out to be something suspicious that I do an endoscopy ultrasound. My parents were super against the whole CT scan because of radiation and preferred that I do an MRi. So I asked the doctor if I could do an MRI too and he said I could but he prefers I do a CT Scan for no particular reason. He said I’m not doing it regularly so I don’t have to worry about radiation.

To my parent’s disapproval I went ahead for my CT Scan appointment and when I got there the radiologist told me that since I’m asthmatic they need to first give me some medication before I can take the contrasting dye they want to give me. So I couldn’t do the CT scan that they and my parents told me to just do an MRI.
Problem was that i can’t do an MRI without going back to the doctor, paying him a consultation fee just so he can write me a piece of paper to refer me to the radiologist for an MRI. My Dad however knows a radiologist in Penang who can do it for me.

So tadaa here I am in Penang.

I hope my cyst isn’t anything serious but I like how it has changed my lifestyle. Because of my previous health test I have significantly cut my sugar and snacking. I just realized that my weight also has dropped from 73-74 to 69.5. I don’t think I have been this light in a long time.

I also notice my belly has come down significantly. You know the typical middle age Asian man belly. So I feel fitter.

My Dad used to say that the best motivation you can have to change your lifestyle would be to find out you have a problem. If my cyst comes out to be nothing, I guess amid all the trouble I’ve had to go for all these tests and doctors… it did motivate me to change my lifestyle.

Fighter has this purple toy dinosaur. My first thought was that it was a really good educational toy. It has a button on its head that would make some sounds if you press it.  Sometimes it plays a tune and sometimes a kid’s voice from inside the dinosaur would greet you with a “HELLO!”.

Then of course there are all the colourful buttons along its back. Each button represented an alphabet and each time you pressed one of them the same kid voice would say the alphabet.

Great right? I’m quite convinced that it has helped Fighter learn his alphabets. This dinosaur toy and I had a really good relationship until something started happening.

It first started with my helper saying that sometimes they’re walking past the living room and they hear the dinosaur play music on its own. They look over only to see nothing but the dinosaur. Nobody around to activate it.

Initially I brushed it off. I thought they were being paranoid but then some nights I would be in bed upstairs when I hear the dinosaur playing tunes on its own downstairs. Almost like somebody was downstairs pressing its buttons.

I open my door and look downstairs only to see nobody around. This one time I walked downstairs and there it was. All alone on the play mat was the purple dinosaur, staring at me in the darkness.

I waited a while to see if it made any noise on its own but no. Nothing. It’s as if it knew I was around and didn’t want to give itself away. So I turned it off and then went back to sleep.

Then the next morning I would hear the kid say “HELLO!”. To my knowledge that only happen when somebody presses a button. I rush out of my door and look and see nobody around. The dinosaur was where I left it the night before and as I stared at it, it remained quiet. Not a tune. Not a word. Not a sound.

And that’s the funny thing right. I thought that maybe the toy has a motion sensor that activates it but there can’t be. There’s nobody around. Windows are closed so no movement from wind hitting curtains or anything like that.

So I have only one theory left. I think Fighter’s purple alphabet dinosaur might be haunted. Does anyone else have this toy? Does your purple dinosaur make sounds on its own?

One of my friends Fred is the founder and owner of a restaurant in Singapore called Pince & Pints.

He just opened the KL branch this October and he invited us over to try it out. I don’t eat lobster but because it was Fred’s opening I decided to get out of my comfort zone and give it a shot.

Fred is the guy here on the left. Next to Fighter.

And this is the lobster Pince & Pints grew famous for.

And their only in Malaysia Pince & Pines special dish: Lobster noodles.

Over dinner we talked about how Fred ended up in the restaurant business and he told us his story. Fred and his wife Velda were part of a very successful online fashion retailer called Love Bonito. After building up the company over the years they exited and took an 8 month long break.

Velda went to London to study fashion and Fred spent those months relaxing and thinking about what to do next. In London he discovered the popular lobster chain Burger & Lobster. He really liked it and thought of bringing it back to Singapore. He did the math and realized that the only way to do it was if he were to import his own lobsters. Until that point he knew nothing about lobsters.

Fred spent the next few months becoming an expert in lobsters and learning about the processes in an F&B outlet. To get that experience he took a job as a kitchen staff at Fish & Co earning S$3.50 an hour. On his first few days he realized that the money he earned for the day was barely enough to cover his parking fees at Paragon. Eventually he learned to cycle to work instead.

After a month of doing everything from deep frying french fries to cutting up prawns for 8 hours straight, he finally left. Armed with the knowledge of how to run an F&B outlet and kitchen he started out Pince & Pints.

The first Pince & Pints in Singapore was a huge success with lines at the door even up till today. In the process, Fred also became the largest importer of lobsters in Singapore supplying other hotels and restaurants.

His KL outlet is his second outlet and trying his food for the first time I can see why people line up for it in Singapore. Everything at Pince & Pints is made with their unique recipe that Fred came up with. They import almost everything on their own from the lobsters, to the wines.

Try Pince and Pints. They open for booking in KL next Monday.

I often get asked the question “How did you get the idea to start your business?”. I think that’s an interesting question because every entrepreneur gets inspired to start their businesses in their own way. That’s something I also happen to often ask entrepreneurs whenever I see them. How did you end up starting this?

Here are the common answers I got:

1) I first invested in this business, but it wasn’t doing too well so I took it over in the end and turned it around.

A well known example of this is Tony Hsieh. He was first an investor in Zappos and was investing in a number of other ventures. Zappos was a promising startup but they had their fair share of issues and they needed capital.

One day Tony Hsieh saw an opportunity to acquire enough of the company and appointed himself CEO, moving from an investor to CEO. Zappos eventually got acquired by Amazon for over $800 mil.

I know of a well-known film company here in Malaysia that has a similar story. The owner was first an investor but it wasn’t doing so well so he eventually bought it over and turned the business around.

2) I was working for somebody when…

Sometimes sitting under a tree no matter how inspirational it looks doesn’t necessarily give you the best business ideas. You need to go out there and explore the world.

Working for another company sometimes gives you that opportunity because you get to see the inside of whatever industry you’re in. From there you can see problems or inefficiencies and with any problem lies a solution and hence an opportunity.

One of my Dad’s friend started out just like that. He was an engineer and he was out in the field one day when somebody he met told him about a problem that needed to be solved. Oil tankers all over the world were transporting oil but the problem is theft. Somewhere midway in the ocean someone in the crew could very well syphon out some of the oil and you’ll never really be able to know for sure because the tanker is so large. This was costing companies millions  every year.

He came out with the idea to do a tamper proof seal on the oil tanker. So if somebody ever opened it before it reached its destination, the people on the other side will know for sure. The company did really well and listed on the Malaysian stock exchange.

3) I heard about this company from overseas that does the same thing I do….

Many entrepreneurs I know don’t bother reinventing the wheel. They just look at business models that work elsewhere overseas and bring it back to Malaysia. The benefit of that is that someone else has already done it somewhere else so you can learn from their mistakes and figure out how to improve from there.

For examples of companies like this you have to look no further than the group buying site craze that happened a few years ago. Groupon in the US started out with the first successful group buying site and it spawned a whole new bunch of clones everywhere else in the world.

4) I was at a trade show when I saw this…

Every industry generally has a trade show or conference that displays all the relevant products in its category. So if you’re looking for a franchise to bring into Malaysia, you can go for one of the many trade shows that exhibit all the different franchisors and connect them with potential franchisees.

A friend of mine went to a trade show for distributing oil and gas equipment. He learned about the industry there and managed to win the rights to distribute it in Malaysia.

5) I was at a conference and I saw this…

Conferences are excellent places to learn about an industry and explore opportunities. If you’re interested in hotels you can go for a hospitality conference or if you’re interested in technology you can go for one of the many tech conferences out there.

Sponsored conference:

One of the conferences you can check out is KL Converge where you’ll find The Internet of Things (IoT) related topics, apps, workshops and technology showcases to living a digital lifestyle and becoming a smart digital nation.

The focus is on  ‘see’, ‘touch’, ‘feel’, ‘hear’, ‘show’, ‘speak’ and ‘cheer’, bringing together leading industry executives from multimedia, applications, Internet and creative content to discuss, showcase and celebrate the issues, opportunities and successes in digital space.

There’s going to be:Speakers

i) A list of great speakers there that you can view here.

ii) Exhibitions that aim to demonstrate inventions in robotics, programming, apps development and much more

iii)  Malaysia Developer’s Day, which will see innovators and entrepreneurs building mobile apps over the course of 24 hours.

It’s taking place on the 27-29th of August 2015 at the KLCC Convention Center.  For more information click here.

So the latest thing I’ve been spending some time on recently apart from Snapchat is Periscope. It’s this LIVE broadcast app where you can broadcast video LIVE on your mobile phone to all your followers. Your followers can then interact with you by asking you questions, leaving comments or giving you hearts. Lots and lots of hearts.

I read a lot about social media trends so I’ve been on Periscope for a while now but I hardly see anyone in Malaysia or Singapore using it. So just this past week I decided to give it a shot and I must say it’s really fun interacting live with all the people who follow me.

So far my videos have been of a tour of a Taiwan night market when I was there, and lots and lots of Fighter videos. So far I’m getting positive comments from you guys that you like the videos so I’m encouraged to continue with more broadcasts.

If you want to join these live broadcasts, download the Periscope app and follow me timothytiah.

You can also follow me on Snapchat. @timothytiah. You can also follow Shorty on Snapchat and Periscope. @fourfeetnine.

I’m in Taiwan this week on business. I’ve been having full days of meeting so the only time I really get to experience Taipei is after work. I make it a point to go out for a good dinner and tonight I took a bit of a walk. If you want to see my updates on my day you can read it from my Dayre here.

In this limited time I’ve had to experience Taiwan there are some things I’ve really grown to like about it. here’s a list:

1) The people here are super friendly

In restaurants or shops the staff are always really friendly. In my business meetings so far I’ve met very friendly people who are always keen to share things about their industry and their business even though I may not be in a position to give them any personal or corporate gain. Still, they take time out of their really busy days to sit down with me and give me insights into the Taiwanese market.

I believe the most valuable thing you can give anybody is time. So for them to give a perfect stranger from Malaysia time to teach… that is something I don’t take for granted.

2) The Food is awesome!

I’ve had all sorts of food. Last night I had toast, today for lunch I had xiao long bao and tonight for dinner I had one of the best steamboats in a long time. You can see the pictures from my Dayre.

What’s just as fun is shopping at the 7-11 or Family Mart that is full of the widest selection of food, snacks, drinks and even really misc stuff. Today I broke my USB 2.0 charger cable and was able to buy another one from a nearby 7-11.

I don’t really like the “smelly tofu” though. Can’t get past the smell. Took a bite once to give it a shot but had to spit it out.

3) Taipei isn’t very congested for a really big city

I’m really surprised at how empty the roads in Taipei are. In my two days of being here I got caught in heavy traffic for the first time today and only during peak hours. The traffic in Taipei though is nothing compared to the traffic we see back in KL.

On a regular weekday afternoon the roads around Taipei have really light traffic. The pedestrian walkways also quite empty. I can’t help but wonder where all the people are or how is it that this city is so well planned such that it doesn’t feel at all congested.

4) Mobile Data is Cheap 

I paid about RM60 for a week of unlimited mobile data and 300 minutes of talk time. That’s cheap to me especially considering it’s unlimited. From my understanding it’s properly unlimited. Not unlimited in the sense where I get throttled after 500MB.

The LTE network here is great too. In my hotel I’m working off my phone hotspot to check my emails and even to post this blog entry. It feels fast enough for me to not even need to subscribe for the hotel wifi.

5) Taxis are awesome

You know how in some cities you flag down a taxi but you don’t dare get in until the driver tells you he’s okay to take you where you want to go ?

Well in Taiwan the taxi drivers here take you basically anywhere. Or at least so far in my experience, I’ve never had a driver turn down a destination. They’re all really friendly too and helpful. Everywhere else like KL, Bangkok, Philippines and other countries we have had to deal with some difficult taxis. Heck even in Beijing I found taxis unpleasant or often picky about where they want to go.

No such problem in Taipei. Taxis here are awesome and affordable too.

6) Bicycle Lanes

I notice bicycle lanes all over the city and I hear from my cycling friends that cycling in Taiwan is awesome especially in the countryside. In the city, many other cities that have the bicycle lanes as part of the road, the bicycle lanes in Taipei seem to be on the pavement instead. Feels a lot safer.

Perhaps that’s why cycling seems pretty big here in Taiwan. I see a lot of bicycles parked everywhere. If I lived here I would probably try cycling to work.

All in all I can’t help but feel that Taiwan feels like a little Japan. It’s certainly just as clean, organized and the people here are just as polite. It’s no wonder my colleague who came with me for this business trip loves it so much she almost wants to stay here to work.