The Agenda for my post today is (check the title) Taiwan and features two bloggers, 1life2live and Ann Jaimi, both of whom have been investigating what the country has to offer.

Regarding Taiwan, I’m partly like Ann, who suggest that a mere mention of the country instantly brings to the fore front of my mind those generic toys that you can only buy in post offices and chemists. Yup, the ones ‘made in Taiwan’.

This, of course, is casually insulting, especially after a read through Ann’s post, The Island Claimed by China. Notable points of interest are the Longsham Temple, CKS Memorial Hall and the tallest building in the world, dependent on whose rules you are playing by, Taipei 101. All intriguing, though it is the concept of the Shilin night market that peaks my interest most. Apparently due to the heat, the Taiwanese do their shopping at night, which coupled with the fact that Taipei is particularly safe, sounds great! Got to be better than a Saturday morning jaunt around Sainsbury’s anyway.

1life2live hits many of the same spots as Ann, adding in the National Palace Museum in his post Taiwan (Republic of China). He also gives a “nutshell” history of the territory and the political awkwardness of the subject that Taiwan has never actually been its own country.

“Of course the communist government in China still claims that Taiwan is part of China, and the Republic of China (government in Taiwan) claims that they are an independent nation. It is a very controversial subject not only in China and Taiwan, but also in international arenas around the world.”

He also gives a rundown on the Dragon Boat racing festival that coincided with his visit. It is basically a glorified raft race, but far more exciting and very cool… excellent.

For some visa information on visiting, head to this lonelyplanet forum thread.

Ah, holiday photos. Remember the bad old days, when you had to spend 3 hours with your Auntie Maureen on her return from Blackpool, ploughing through 300 super-large glossies of ‘funny’ seagulls? Or 5 hours wading through the three-volume, smugger than smug snaps of your post-gap year pal who wanted you to see every single ‘amazing’ African child she single-handedly saved from a life of poverty and pain?

Nowadays at least we can all look at (or ignore) each other’s travel photos at our leisure, as we upload our professional-quality digital images instantly onto Facebook day by day. But you’re in danger of becoming Auntie Maureen mark 2 if you don’t keep abreast of the latest photo sites – yes, people, there is life beyond Flickr.

This is something our STA Explorers Neil and Megan know only too well. With photos from their round the world trip building up, they’ve elected to put the whole album on Picasa. The uncluttered design means that your images really do take centre stage, and the comments are much more prominent and attractive than on Flickr or Facebook. You can share your photos or download your friends’ albums very easily, and Neil particularly rates the geotagging facility, where you can display a map with pins showing where each photo was taken.

So why not try something different for your travel photos? Check out Picasa here and look at Neil’s album to see how it works.

Sat in a UK based office with rain clouds gathering all around, on what is invariably a typical British mid-June day writing about others in far off locations, experiencing all the world has to offer, is promoting some seriously restless legs. However, I continue unhindered with some African adventure at arguably the most spectacular point of the Zambezi River, Victoria Falls.

Victoria Falls is a world beater by some measurements when it comes to waterfall comparison and both Just Us 2 and Adventure: Your Travel Blog have been discussing ‘the smoke that thunders’. Both are well worth a read. Also staying in Africa be sure to visit Becky’s Travel Blog as she embarks on an epic seven week journey through the continent.

Those ‘itchy feet’ Becky mentions are definitely residing under my desk right now. I’ve seen Niagara, and am thinking as far as impressive natural landmarks go, pairing that with Victoria Falls would make a nice duo.

Marketing campaigns are one of those things that divide opinion like Marmite. Boring stuff just passes under our jaded radars, but when the marketing men stick their necks out and produce a shaking, singing dog or a drumming gorilla, everyone goes nuts.

STA tend to go for the interesting, youth-appeal approach – such as using real travellers as models, or being a bit provocative with strippers – and it divides opinion online.

Take the ‘Come back interesting’ campaign, above. I personally love this one, but that’s because I’m a sad literary obsessive and anything that references classic 1970s Penguin book covers is right up my street. The Marktd marketing blog agrees, deeming it:

a really lovely and very smart campaign for STA Travel… there is a solid insight behind the work that has been brought to life in a really engaging way.

Not everyone agrees though. On her MySpace, Elizabeth thinks the poster is:

being blatently offensive to Queer People and promoting the use of Sex Workers

Overreaction? Do you find their marketing offensive and frivolous, or fun and inspiring?

I had a lovely coffee with our STA Explorers Meg and Mojo yesterday, to gossip about travelling through social media (and, OK, the joys of red lipstick) before they set off on their interrailing trip. One thing we discussed was the surprising lack of good travel video clips and video blogs on the web, despite the medium being perfect for capturing and remembering journeys. So, this morning I got hunting to see what I could find.

And although I found a few worthy dull Judith Chalmers-style video diaries, I absolutely knew when I saw Where The Hell Is Matt? that it had to be part of our Hall of Fame. Matt, ‘a 31-year old deadbeat from Connecticut’, became famous for his 2003 world trip where he, well, did a stupid dance in loads of amazing places and made a video out of it. This led to another trip in 2006 to repeat the project in 39 countries, and a third in 2007 where he danced with his online fans.

Yesterday’s Times got it spot on when they said:

This kind of travel bragging should be annoying, but strangely, it’s rather sweet

It is. It makes you feel very good indeed, for all it’s gimmickry. You may want to ‘do a Matt’, as many of his fans have done (their own travel-dance videos can be seen at the bottom of Matt’s Video page). Or you may want to just learn from the spirit of his project: sharing travel online can be joyous, and personal, and silly, and moving.

Oh, and that video is a perfect way to do it, especially if you add music.

South America is our continent of choice for this post and Snowfree ~ Our World Trip along with the Turner Travel Blog are both sites run by families exploring the area.

Currently in Mexico, the family behind Snowfree – that’ll be Warren, Janice, Connor and Alannah – have been recently living it up in Puerto Escondido, surfing one instant and then infinity pooling it the next, very nice.

Run unsurprisingly by the Turner’s, The Turner Travel Blog was set up to keep friends informed of all they were up to without requiring the stream of usually overlong emails. Having recently been in Brazil, you can check what they got up to on each of the nine days they were there in posts labeled appropriately (Brazil Trip Day Six, for example, where they ate some shrimp pizza)

Enjoy the view of Rio…

Tokyo is definitely near the top of my ‘travel-to-do’ list. Currently no plans are in place, partly due to an apprehension of a significant language barrier (I’m in the turmoil of learning French, I’m so not a natural) and other scheduled trips monopolising potential funds. Nevertheless, an upbringing centred on martial arts movies, Japanese cartoons and technological gadgetry indicates a visit, which I hope will be something of a spiritual homecoming for myself, is inevitable. Plus, I love karaoke!

Already there and settling in for rainy season is Nick of Nick’s Worldwide Wanderings. Where to begin on his experiences is basically an impossible decision to make. There is so much, all considered and involved from all over Japan. It is his latest post about the prospect of living in Tokyo until 18^th August though that hooked me. See what you think, but be sure to check back through some other entries.

A lighter look into the joy of Tokyo is to be discovered at Blog d’Elisson. The thrills of coffee in a can and Japlish are both covered. There is also some discussion on the Japanese penchant for KitKat. Got to love new flavours of anything! Especially for instance, Mango!

Finally a quick mention for Tokyo post one and Tokyo post two at Jemel and Lindsay’s Travel Blog. Consider assertion confirmed,

Karaoke is everywhere

And, if that wasn’t enough, darts is apparently the latest Tokyo craze! I love the arrows. Tokyo sounds like the best city on earth…