A part of China apart from China, Taiwan and its capital Taipei are estranged from the mainland by more than the narrow straits of the South China Sea.

Politically and culturally the island has been at loggerheads with the Communist territory ever since the nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek fled here from Chairman Mao. That he took over 600,000 pieces of national treasure with him still rankles with the Chinese. And that they are on public display in Taipei's Palace Museum only rubs salt into the wound. While Taiwan pays lip service to the idea of being part of a single Chinese entity, the mini-state tends to go its own way, a capitalist pilot fish swimming just in front of the vast shark of China.

For the visitor this careful balancing act creates one of the most fascinating contrasts on earth. To all appearances this is a Chinese territory, but in practice it appears more like a Western nation, and nowhere is that more true than in Taipei where Taiwan's semi-independence has made it real expat territory. Like Hong Kong before it was handed back by the British, Taipei has large populations of Europeans within its boundaries, all making their contribution to the cultural melting pot. There is a broad section of Japanese as well, a legacy from when the rising sun flew over Taipei's Parliament - in fact, many older citizens here still speak Japanese.

The result is that Taipei is a massive dose of global humanity. An estimated six million people inhabit this tiny river basin, and, when crowding in to the alley of one of the city's traditional night markets, you can well believe this figure. However, don't let this put you off - Taipei, it is true, can be noisy and frustrating, but at the same time it wouldn't be half so fascinating if it was anything else. The city has embraced commercialism with abandon, but is marvellously anachronistic. You may find a hawker selling fried cobra under the neon lights of a Coke ad, or a traditional market stall groaning under the weight of computer software.

And everywhere the Taiwanese have built upwards; although the rest of the island is still a pristine picture postcard of a place, Taipei is a chaotic jumble of architectural styles, yet some of the older buildings still survive. Only in this city could you fall out of a serene Buddhist temple into a cinema multiplex. Fascinating stuff.

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