Chapter 1 Beijing and Taiwan
This is my report of my September 2017 visit to China and to Taiwan. I arrived in Beijing on September 3 and spent a week there. I then went to Taipei, Taiwan for a week and am writing this piece from Taipei. I must admit that I do not have the same enthusiasm I had in previous years which explains that I am only getting to start this report 10 after my arrival. I think that a number of factors have caused me to be enjoying my 2017 less than in previous years. Pictures I took in this first week can be seen at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/mb17BiXwZaJJUcYm1 The first factor is that last year I traveled through China with my wife Monique which was a lot of fun. Being alone here this year is somewhat of a letdown. Perhaps it is time for me to change my travel pattern from being the lone wolf traveler, total immersion concentrated on learning Mandarin, living with the locals and eating the local food to being more of a tourist getting to know different parts of this huge country in