You may all be surprised to read this but I was there at Computex 2000 as well! Yup, by some miracle, I made it to Taipei's International Computer Show or Computex 2000 in short. :)

Computex 2000 was supposed to be like Comdex but only hardware oriented. In fact, if you are into hardware, this computer show was definitely the one to visit. However, while the organizers pulled all stops to make sure the show would be a success, the immigration department went the other way.

Getting a visa to Taiwan was something I would only want to do once in my lifetime. I had to literally beg and plead with the Taiwanese embassy in Delhi to consider my application, burning several thousand rupees down the phone line in the process. Even the courier service greatly benefited from my misfortune. For some reason, they would not approve my visa, even though I gave them the necessary details and proof that I was not thinking of running to Taiwan for good. They just keep insisting on more.

Truly, it was one major nightmare getting that visa. However, just days before I was set to fly off, they finally relented and granted me my visa. Why, I don't really know. I guess they just got tired of playing the red tape game. :) Right up to that day, I did not expect to actually make it to Taipei. It made me wonder if Taiwan was really serious about promoting Computex 2000. The incredible amount of red tape is more than enough to put any visitor off.

Anyway, somehow I made it to Taipei. Arrived at night so I couldn't see much of anything. My pidgin Mandarin came in rather useful as I managed to reach my hotel without any problem. The next day was the first day of Computex 2000.

One of Taipei's MRT Station

My hotel was rather far from the venue so I had to take the MRT train and walk from the station to the three buildings that make up Computex 2000. Yup, you read correctly. Computex 2000 consists of three separate buildings. So, you can imagine just how big it was.

Hall 1 and Hall 3 were next to each other while Hall 2 was quite a distance away. Fortunately, vans from VIA and ABIT were there to shuttle visitors to and from the different halls. Registering was a snap and soon, I was admitted into Hall 2.

Hall 2 was certainly huge. It accomodated manufacturers dealing with computer systems, motherboards and add-on cards. Even though there were 120 manufacturers in Hall 2, there was plenty of space for the crowd to move about. After gaping a little at the size of both the hall and the crowd, I started exploring...