oh yes, taiwan. the nice thing about taiwan is that it's so overwhelmingly naturally chinese that you don't even notice it. you don't stop to think about how you have to be any more chinese than whatever you are. oh yes, sometimes you even think that you are THE chinese :P but that's what it's like... a chinese country, rooted in itself. strange isn't it? that scattered throughout the rest of the world, are overseas chinese, cut off from their land - and some of them clenching on so hard to whatever their long dead forefathers had taught them about being chinese that their brains become just a little more than antiques. but over here, people club, drink, dance, work, karaoke, eat, shop, surf the web, and everything, and when their mouths open - it just so happens to be mandarin. yes, it's the blood in their bodies, connected to the land. yes, over here, culture is alive. common', get connected. don't let the word culture fit awkwardly in your mouth like some ancient mantra that you have to recite day after day. let go. then as it flows in your blood, you'll start to realise that it's really just the way you live.