The miles between Taiwan and mainland China are not many. But, in history the distance across the Taiwan Strait has been huge.

When I lived in Taiwan in the late 1990s, travel to cities in mainland China from Taiwan meant heading to another country or through Hong Kong first. There weren't any direct flights otherwise. This meant a vacation that might have been an inexpensive and easy trip involved more time and money. As a result, we traveled in Taiwan or headed to Thailand instead.

Today the tides have changed. According to this article, the first direct passenger plane between the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China (China) happened early this morning. The last such flight was in 1949 after China's civil war when Chiang Kai-shek headed to Taiwan to set up another government. Along with this first flight will be 16 others over the course of today and several more throughout the week. Recently, there have been special tourist charter flights, but today air traffic has been normalized for the regular traveler who is not part of a special group.

This is big news indeed. It does indicate a more normalized relationship between Taiwan and the mainland, for one thing, and points to the power of the tourist dollar. Tourism between these two countries will economically benefit both. It's estimated that by 2010 the number of Chinese tourists to Taiwan could triple, according to the president of Taiwan's China Airlines.

I'm wondering where they will all fit on a weekend? Seriously, there are some places in Taiwan that are already absolutely packed on a holiday.

In his recent Wallet Pop post on 7-Eleven's move to provide more 7-Eleven private-brand products, Geoff Williams mentioned the U.S. and Canada as two 7-Eleven countries. There are more than that. There are so many that it can make your head spin. With so many companies struggling, here's one that continues to make its mark. The company started up in Dallas, Texas in 1927, and as far as I know, is still going strong more than 80 years later.

I have never seen as many 7-Elevens in my life as I did when we lived in Taiwan. If you were in need of a 7-Eleven in Hsinchu where I lived, there was one just up the street or around the corner. At some 7-Elevens you could see another 7-Eleven just a block away--or across the street. The products were Taiwan products besides a mix of others. With the 7-Eleven brand coming onto the scene, it might be a hard choice to pick between the shrimp crackers or 7-Eleven potato chips.

7-Elevens can be found in 17 countries outside the U.S. Along with Taiwan and Canada, the other countries include: Japan, Australia, Mexico, Singapore, the Philippines, Sweden, Denmark, South Korea, Thailand, Norway, Malaysia , China, Macau, and Hong Kong. There are approximately 27,250 of them. [from 7-Eleven profile page] Of these, almost 4,500 (or more) are in Taiwan.

When 7-Eleven started in Dallas, it was the first convenience store ever. The first products were ice, milk, bread and eggs.

The father of a family friend of mine recently passed away in Taiwan. He was a well-respected Taiwanese dignitary, and mourning his death will continue until his burial next week. In the meantime, family members leave the front door of their home open and people stop by to express their condolences.

There's a lot of crying going on in Taiwan these days. Former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian ended his two-week hunger strike that was an effort in protesting his recent arrest. He has been accused of bribing and money-laundering - the proof of which has been uncovered in three Swiss bank accounts. Despite this proof, he wrote a poem that was published in the Liberty Times on November 25th, saying he would die for Taiwan's independence from China. He continues to accuse Taiwan's current administration of pandering to its communist neighbor.

I haven't been to the Hong Kong bird market, but I've been to bird markets in Taiwan-- and the bird market in Singapore.

When Taj Reid over at www.wejetset.com sent us a link to this lush post on song bird love in Hong Kong, and the delights to be found at the bird market, I was reminded of my own pleasures when I sat in a courtyard sipping on coffee, listening to birds sing on a Sunday morning.

Owning song birds is just not a matter of heading to the local pet store and picking up a canary, you see. In Hong Kong, as with my experience in Taiwan and Singapore, picking out the right bird and the right cage is an art that depends on personal taste.

When I lived in Taiwan, I normally didn't have a clue where I was going. The signage was not particularly helpful. I didn't read Chinese, and, outside of Taipei, that's mostly what you saw. Even when there were signs in English, there was an inconsistency with how street names were spelled.

Ask people to spell a word phonetically, and you'll see variation. In Taiwan, up until recently, there were various systems used to translate words from Chinese into English. Unless there are standardized rules that everyone adheres to, variety might remain the spice of life, but getting from here to there is problematic.

Recognizing that when visitors come to Taiwan, whether for business or pleasure, they have a desire to be able to find their way easily, Taiwan has officially adopted the "hanyu pinyin writing system" for translating Chinese to English. This Reuters article explains the details about how the government is publishing a spelling guide in order to redo road signs in order to reflect the consistency. The changes will start in 2009.

No longer will you see "Minquan Road," "Minchuan Road," "Binjiang Street," and "Pin Chiang Street" on various signs for the exact same street. See what I mean? Wouldn't that drive you a bit NUTS?!

(Although, as you can see from the Flickr photo by onkio & di's, some signs in Taiwan do reflect the adage, "A picture speaks a thousand words." At least the part about the car getting towed.)

This shot from arex was taken in Taiwan's Shi-lin night market. Ahh, I can almost smell the garlic-filled sausage sizzling on the grill, and I can almost hear the white noise of a language I'll never understand.

Anyone have a free plane ticket to Asia?

To have your photos considered for Gadling's Photo of the Day, submit your best shots here.

A mailbox is not exactly the most fascinating subject for a photo. But somehow, I can't take my eyes off of this particular mailbox, captured by Flickr user arex while in Taiwan China. There's a number of things that caught my eye. It's a flat photo but yet it manages to give an impression of pattern and texture - the yellow mail slot, the peeling paint of the walls, and the bright blue signage combine to make the image jump out at you. Add in the ghostly black edges around the frame and the result is something that seems almost cinematic. Nice work.

Have you taken any photos of mailboxes in Beijing? Or perhaps just the post office in Boston? Why not add them to the Gadling pool on Flickr? We might just pick it for our Photo of the Day.

Aaron's post this morning with his musings about positive stereotypes reminded me of one of my absolute FAVORITE YouTube videos, "Crazy Asian Mother." It is a hoot.

Two high school age boys role play what happens when the mother looks over her son's report card. Listen for the list of classes and the humorous jab at the parenting skills of white American parents. Very funny and illustrates other aspects of stereotyping.

When I first saw this video a year or so ago, I was transported back to my 8th grade English and social studies classroom in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Those students were funny, charming, and the work they turned in on a daily basis was astounding. Grading their papers was a joy. Honestly. They were the kids of high powered very bright parents, and they were under pressure to succeed, although their parents greatly valued the flexibility and creativity found in the American education system. It was the best of both worlds. These two guys would have fit right into my classroom.

Whenever my daughter feels that she's pressured to succeed because I have ONE MORE TIME AND NOT FOR THE LAST TIME given her the litany of why she must do well in school in that annoying voice that only adults have, I think those Asian mothers who taught me a thing or two when I lived in Taiwan. As I explain to my daughter, I must have been a crazy Asian mother in a past life. Some things do rub off on a person when one travels.

By the way, I actually think there's a crazy Asian mother in every parent. Even men. That's why this video has almost 5,000,000 hits.

Wow! Wow! Wow! I could go on.

Even though today's news brought the missive of the out of character stabbing of an American tourist in Beijing, the opening ceremony of the Olympics was certainly in character.

It was amazing--and I only saw the last bit. That's one detail about traveling; world events swirl about in the periphery until a thought passes through, like, "Didn't the Olympics start today?" and the TV is flipped on to the right channel. I remembered the Olympics just in time to catch the finale.

The NBC TV commentators were as amazed by the ceremonial hoopla as much as I was-- maybe even more. Even though they expected a spectacular showing from China, the result was brilliant.

As Matt Lauer asked about the opening, "Is it usually this way?" Bob Costas said, summarized in a word, "No."

The synchronized acrobatics and dance routines in the final clips before the credits rolled were versions of performances I saw at the school where I taught in Taiwan-- X 100, of course. Once a year there is Field Day where the entire school day is given over to athletic competitions. Each grade also performs a synchronized performance that takes hours of practice.

To see what can be done with hundreds of school kids who pay attention is astounding. I wasn't surprised to see what can be done with adults. Still, the result was a spectacular feat of skill and wonder.

Well, even Taiwan is now more environmentally progressive than the US.

About 10,000 convenience stores in Taiwan will join an environmental push by withholding disposable chopsticks from hordes of customers used to getting them with take-out meals, Reuters reports.

From next Wednesday in Taipei, and by July 1 on the rest of the island, four convenience store chains will give out the wooden single-use chopsticks only on request. Taiwan's small restaurants also will be encouraged, with the enticement of saving money, to phase out disposable chopsticks, claiming that "conservation is getting to be mainstream" and that it shouldn't be an issue.

Conservation efforts are happening elsewhere in Asia. For example, China banned production of ultra-thin plastic bags in May and activists in Japan are pushing for a reduction of wooden chopsticks, which are already made from recycled chips. I travel with my own chopsticks anyway, so it would be a non-issue for me.

I wish conservation was "becoming mainstream" in the US. I think the minute Americans get "forced" to carry reusable chopsticks or forks for take-out lunch, there might be riots in the streets.

[via Asiaone]