Its been almost 8 Years since I arrived in Taipei. Those first few months were so hard. I missed my family and friends so so much(still do) and I had so few friends to call real friends. Years later and I have a loving wife, two daughters & a great job(Let me be creative with the truth). Still hard to find friends like I had back home but still trying, and a few still show promise!(Jason/Mike/Andy...).

If there is one thing that stands out after all these years its what a difference feeling safe makes to overall living. I no longer walk down the street and worry about being attacked & robbed, and whilst that might sound sensationalist, after being beaten up by Algerian gangs in Grenoble France and chased to  my car on a regular basis in London by a  guy that was either going to rape me or at very least steal my car, its a truly liberating experience.

Whilst it sounds like a joke its probably the most important factor that has kept me here in Taiwan(Ex Gail and my daughters of course). The Taiwanese people show an interest and kindness in foreigners that I would never have shown a foreigner visiting the U.K. They are genuinely kind and compassionate people that go out of their way to make people like me feel welcome despite my obvious ignorance of the language. By no means is Taiwan perfect however I couldn't and wouldn't change it for anything in the world. Thankyou Taipei & Taiwan for making me feel so welcome.