Exploring St. Lucia through a Taiwanese lens聖露西亞遊記

A week from today, I will be sipping rum and coke, enjoying the sunshine and the beautiful beach in St.Lucia, a Caribbean island and one of the few diplomatic allies of Taiwan.

When your country (in my case, my birth country, Taiwan), a democratic, free and prosperous one, mind you,  is thrown in the same lot with several internationally-certifiable, rogue nations like North Korea, Cuba, or Iran that are not recognized by the United States, my adopted home, you appreciate the friendship and recognition of those few, such as St. Lucia.

Out of Taiwan’s twenty some diplomatic allies, I’ve been to St. Kitts and Nevis (also known as St.Christopher  and Nevis.) I went there because my husband and I are big fans of Alexander Hamilton who was born in Nevis. (May I brag that I’ve also visited St.Croix where he grew up?) But let’s save “Finding Hamilton”  for another blog entry for a later time.

So why am I visiting St.Lucia? Well, in view of the diplomatic tie between Taiwan and St.Lucia, as a Taiwanese residing in Washington, DC, whose paying day job is to promote Taiwan’s international recognition, I am invited to participate in the Caribbean Media Exchange (CMEx) international tourism conference over there next weekend. I will be brainstorming on how to promote tourism ties between St.Lucia and Taiwan and Taiwanese American community with my fellow fabulous conference-goers!

St.Lucia, here I come!

不到一個星期之內我就要造訪美美的加勒比海島國, 也是台灣邦交國的聖露西亞！其實早在去年我與老公就想去那兒渡假, 一直未成行。我們最近幾年常跑加勒比海, 想說人在美國, 我們又超愛晒太陽, 加上加勒比海又是著名的渡假聖地, 所以我們如果沒有回去歐洲看老公的家人與我的越母（還不知道怎麼使用Apple Mac 筆記電腦注音打中文,如有怪怪的用字, 請多多包涵囉), 就是跑加勒比海。

台灣邦交國雖然不多, 但是一堆都剛好集中在加勒比海, 我前幾年去了聖克里斯多福, 可能因為我是唸國際關係, 有生之年能夠造訪承認台灣, 聊聊無幾的邦交國, 以及美國開國元老之一亞歴山大漢彌敦的出生地（我與老公是漢彌敦的頭號粉絲), 可謂是雙重興奮。不過,「尋找漢彌敦」就以後找個時間再來寫吧。

回到正題，剛好有位英國很支持台灣的朋友認識聖露西亞的觀光部長, 熱情邀請我去參加下個週末在那兒舉行的一個國際觀光會議 – Caribbean Media Exchange (CMEx)。我的任務就是和與會者一起探討如何增進聖露西亞與台灣和旅美台僑的觀光合作。不是純渡假哦,可是要認真動腦筋的咧。

所以才會弄個部落格來記錄我在聖露西亞的所見所聞,以及聖國出名的美景囉。(P.S. 中英不一定相對照, 因為 ….. 我是懶人)