:::Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs --Mobile Internet in Taiwan Journal >>June 2004:::

　Although Mark had a very tight schedule in Taiwan, he was keen to take Lydia sightseeing before they left, otherwise he would never hear the end of it! They were most impressed by Kenting in the southern tip of Taiwan. Sunny beachside Kenting is a popular tourist attraction and the annual Asia music festival "Spring Scream" attracts tens of thousands of music lovers to the beach. With stage performance, rock-and-roll, dance and campfires, it is one of the biggest music festivals in Taiwan.

　Mark and Lydia were completely relaxed after their trip to Kenting. To their surprise, there were even wireless Internet services in a small fishing village like Kenting. In fact, Kenting is where the National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium is, and the museum was the government's first showcase for wireless Internet. Mark thought this was a creative move – to have such modern facility in a place so far away from the capital.

　Mark could not help making some inquiries while they were at the museum. He was told that "Wireless Kenting" was the first venture under the Industrial Development Bureau's Wireless Internet Application Project. As some 2.5 million people visited the museum a year, it was not easy to organize guided tours for nearly 10,000 people a day. With the help from the government's wireless project, the museum is now equipped with wireless Internet and there is PDA rental service. This means visitors can download any multimedia information they need into their PDAs or notebook computers.

　Lydia was having fun with her PDA while Mark continued his research at the museum. The wireless facilities at the museum allow PDAs to detect, download and play multimedia information about the ocean and its wildlife in two to five seconds once the PDA is close to the display window. Lydia was extremely impressed.

　Mark and Lydia were told that the museum had become more popular with schools, companies and clubs, particularly after the wireless Internet services were introduced. Young people and young families were among the museum's frequent visitors. Mark and Lydia had always liked children and particularly drawn to the happy, smiling faces of the oriental children visiting the museum. They played with the children and even tried their broken Chinese because, after all, good technology should make life happy.


Wireless services extended to Kenting from the museum at the beginning of this year. Internet hot-spots are now available everywhere, from major high class hotels like The Chateau and The Howard down to street corner convenience stores. Visitors can easily search for all the travel information they need in Kenting. However, it is not the only place equipped with wireless Internet in Taiwan. Under the government's Wireless Internet Application Project, wireless Internet services have been installed in National Museum of History, Guandu Nature Park and Nanhai Botanic Garden in Taipei, Railway Garden in Taoyuan and Heritage Floral Village in Changhua. It was a shame that Mark and Lydia couldn't visit them all during this short trip.

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