the headlines: president trump has taken his message to voters ahead of tuesday's midterm elections. it comes as twitter has deleted thousands of fake accounts posting messages purporting to be from us democrats discouraging people from voting. polls show the race in many states is too close to call. the us is reimposing all sanctions on iran that were lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal. the measures — which the white house say are the toughest ever imposed — target the country's energy, shipping and banking sectors and will come into effect on monday. pakistan authorities have reached agreement with protesters who've been demonstrating against the acquittal of aasia bibi — a christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy. under the agreement, aasia bibi will be barred from leaving the country — but it's unclear for how long. now on bbc news, the travel show. this week, the travel show is in

taiwan, the island of traditions and religions, amazing les gets in modern marvels. i'm on a journey to discover how the island's colonisers have shaped the history, culture, and traditions of this beautiful land. don't go into the house! taiwan is a unique blend of east and west, making it one of the most dynamic and travel friendly locations in asia. this view is magnificent. any moment now the sun is going to rise over those mountains. situated 150 kilometres of mainland china, taiwan is an island of bustling cities, beautiful

landscapes, and vibra nt island of bustling cities, beautiful landscapes, and vibrant cultures. in 1949, at the end of the chinese civil war, the winning communists drove the defeated nationalists from the mainland. more than1 million people, soldiers and civilians, made the journey to taiwan. ever since, taiwan's relations with mainland china have been fractious. the first of our journey around china have been fractious. the first of ourjourney around taiwan is the former capital, thai nam. —— tainan. it has been the port of entry for most of taiwan's conquerors. the dutch were the first to colonise

taiwan and soon after they began building this large fortification. this fort was built by the dutch eastis this fort was built by the dutch east is —— dutch east india company. the dutch people wanted to travel to china since the early 16 20s, but the chinese government don't allow them to have a settlement in china, so them to have a settlement in china, so they are forced to come here and they built this place, they built they built this place, they built the fort, they built the construction for more than ten yea rs. construction for more than ten years. you can construction for more than ten years. you can see construction for more than ten years. you can see the wall. the way the bricks were, it is very different to the chinese way. how is it different? we call this a dutch bond. you see this layer, only the head of the brecht and outside side this way. by the 16 80s, chinese

traders and settlers, mainly from nearby bridge in amp province, were coming in nearby numbers. —— fujian province. they brought with them their language and culture. this is tainan‘s monis tree surrendered by the modern city. it is one of the old est the modern city. it is one of the oldest temples in taiwan. parts of the date back to the 16 80s. most mornings and evenings, the 100 or so monks and nuns who gave for prayer and devotion. they‘ re monks and nuns who gave for prayer and devotion. they're chanting gives thanks to the border for his teachings and providing a path to alignment. —— enlightenment. this

reverend, who has been a known for 20 years, the grand is beautiful and atmospheric place. we hope you at their happiness in life. so tell me a bit about the border behind us. he is the happy border. he looks very happy. is the happy border. he looks very happy--- is the happy border. he looks very happy. —— buddha. is the happy border. he looks very happy. -- buddha. he isjust full of great mercy. i asked the reverend why she became a nun. great mercy. i asked the reverend why she became a nunlj great mercy. i asked the reverend why she became a nun. i became a nun to give my thanks to my parents and especially my mother, and also give thanks to buddha. buddhism, taoism,

and christianity and the main religions on the island. visitors to the temple are acacia learn about borders and to pray. we hope they can learn and train themselves to more compassion, mercy, and more wisdom, just like buddha. just the right before you leave, take a moment to present instance and reflect on my own personaljourney. as the light fades, the monks and

nuns jana fett evening prayers. as their day began, it also ends. the mind the history and beauty of some of tainan‘s oldest buildings, i am off to the neighbouring city of kaoshiung. this is taiwan's brand—new national arts centre. they said is the largest the world. —— buddha. the centre has been built to boost the arts in southern taiwan. and to become a fixture on the international performance circuit. so this might look like a big empty

warehouse, but we are actually backstage at one of the excellent auditoriums here. you can sit around 1200 people. the centre will stage its own performances and host international touring productions. it has four main stages, and opera house, a concert hall, a playhouse, and a recital hall. it also has a huge outdoor performance space that can accommodate an audience of 20,000 people. the total indoor auditorium capacity is close to 6000. it is massive. how will you feel at? wedge is going to do a bit of serving for everybody. —— fill it. that is our mission. this is for the people. so we have very diverse

programming for the children, for the theatre—goers, for families, just a bit of everything. but with most transport links go through the capital, taipei, in the north of the island, i wonder will it get the international and metropolitan audiences that it is catering for. it is easy to access. we have an international airport 15 or 20 minutes away from the centre. it lies in direct flights from southeast asia and north—east asia and beyond. is credited come by through hong kong, but also with the high—speed rail. it gets you from taipei to the centre in 90 minutes. very easy to come. cathy and her tea m very easy to come. cathy and her team hope that their approach of developing local talent and

importing big international productions and acts will strike the right balance artistically and commercially. this splendid than you can sit over 2000 people. after russell, organist tony lew family offers to show me the pride of the concert hall. that was amazing. yes, thank you so much. what is of the elective magnificent instrument?m is very exciting. because i can make any kind of music in here. in the

high pitch here... and the very low, we do have very low. using here the entire hall by rating. packwood needed you need to be? there are a lot of keyboards. how many here is that one, two, three, number —— four, five. i had to spend a lot of time to practise. this is a brand—new organ. i believe it is the biggest one in the entire asia's concert hall. the largest in asia? what a privilege to play it. you wa nt to what a privilege to play it. you want to play something?” what a privilege to play it. you want to play something? i have played in 20 years. you can play a little bit of a song. they knew, tony. you are such a good sport to human need. the next, journey around

taiwan is alishan in the south of the mountain range. it is ridiculously early. my alarm went off at 330 this morning and it is 110w off at 330 this morning and it is now for 30. thank goodness the copy. we are about to get a narrow gauge railway to one of taiwan's most famous beauty spots. —— it is now 430. a few minutes later, the first round arise. it is dark and cold. 0n the way up, the mood is sleepy and subdued. —— the first train arrives. there are a few stops on the way and some people got on. the train takes about 30 minutes to claim the final leg of the journey to the summit which stands at two and a half dozen metres. this too is magnificent.

where overlooking the lake of clouds and any moment now the sun is andrew rise over those mountains. it was worth waking up in the middle of the night that is. a beautiful sight when the son hit the lake below. wiping a beautiful pictures. this is a favourite spot for visitors from taiwan and mainland china as the area is known for its myths and legends. 0ne area is known for its myths and legends. one of the best—known is the story sisters pond. so we are approaching sisters pond is. what a

sister legend? mysteries about two sisters falling in love with the same man at the same time. —— the story is about. each sister wanted the other to be happier. so she decided to throw herself in the pond and kill herself. so each sister killed herself separately, unbeknownst to the other sister? yes, that is the story. so that the other one could be happy? yes. that is so tragic. that is like romeo and juliet but with sisters. the ponds are dark and i am told very deep. there is an air of stillness and quiet here under the forest canopy. west of the great forest the rolling

hills have been shaped by centuries of tea growing. these rows of tea bushes seem to go for miles and miles, it must take a vast number of people to harvest all this, and i am told here they do it all by hand. aurora here is about to show me how. grin at altitudes of over 1000 metres, oolong is the variety of tea favoured here. i have never green tea before —— its tea before, what doi tea before —— its tea before, what do i do? you have two pick the tip. mountain teas are slow—growing which makes their flavour more intense. i am not sure if i am up to your

standards. foggy mornings give weight to hot and sunny afternoons and cool dry evenings. after picking, that tea needs to be dried. that was actually quite hard work. yes. i do not have as much as you. and now for my favourite part of the day. this is the final step. i would love to see how you do it here in taiwan. the new show me how to make the perfect cup of tea to as mac we have three points to do it. the first point is the temperature of water. the amount of the tea, and the brewing time. 0pen water. the amount of the tea, and the brewing time. open the pot cover, put the tea leaves inside. the amount of the tea has to cover the bottom. cover the bottom. yes.

let's see, is at covering the bottom? yes it is. we have to count to 60. it is quite strong. it is very fragrant but also bitter. i like oolong t. last stop on myjourney last stop on my journey around taiwan is the village of pingxi in the north—east of the island. it is a holiday weekend here and the village has a feeling of the old wild west about it. every 30 minutes

01’ so wild west about it. every 30 minutes orsoa train wild west about it. every 30 minutes 01’ so a train comes wild west about it. every 30 minutes or so a train comes barging through. tourists come here from all over the world to do one particular thing. this is the village that has embraced the tradition of making and releasing sky lanterns during festival time. and the taiwanese say this is something you should do at least once in your lifetime. traditionally lanterns were used to signal labouring towns and villages. —— neighbouring. 0ne lantern for danger, too lanterns for all is well. —— two lanterns. these days a different practices followed. people write their hopes and wishes on the sides of their lanterns and release them up to the skies top asking their ancestors above to look favourably upon their request. what do you wish for? i wish for health and happiness for me and for my

family. i hope it comes true! thank you. when you arrive in pingxi you can buy a ready—made lantern or make your own with the help of a local expert. then helped me. so we opened this out... you have two sheets of paper, around the wrong way, 0k. two pieces of paper, we are just going to put glue on the edge here... people wish for happy marriage... study, money... people wish for money? i wish for money. so do a lot of people. now we try to put the body and the base together. 0k. very good. that's it? yes. that is it. now the fun bit, we get to decorate

oui’ now the fun bit, we get to decorate our lantern. it is customary to write a message. and hopefully your wish will be granted. not bad? not all the lanterns have the smoothest journey. health and safety is definitely an issue. 0h journey. health and safety is definitely an issue. oh my god, it hit the house! the potential danger means that sky lanterns are banned in some parts of the world. because it is so windy all these lanterns are going up and flying every which way, things are banging and popping. during holiday weekends like this the local fire during holiday weekends like this the localfire brigade is on hand. it is customary to take a picture... before we release the lantern. and 110w before we release the lantern. and now we lighted, is that correct? hgppy now we lighted, is that correct? happy travels! 0h now we lighted, is that correct? happy travels! oh my goodness, don't go into the house... 0h! (laughs). that was almost a disaster. it is

still going! (laughs). it is alive! i thought the sure it was going to crash into someone's house. that evening just down the road the local community gathers to celebrate the mid autumn festival. traditionally the festival celebrates the gathering of the harvest and family reunion. 0n the lanterns people write messages of love and thanks to the ancestors. 0ver write messages of love and thanks to the ancestors. over the years this event has turned into a big annual televised show with singing and dancing and a very engaging host. a large land and is released on the

half. —— lantern. is released on behalf of the community. and then the people release their own lanterns. it's a beautiful moment, and a memorable and to my taiwan journey. coming up next week, we are off to scotla nd coming up next week, we are off to scotland to dive into some first world war history. and also head to india to find out how street fashion is becoming high fashion. i hope you canjoin us is becoming high fashion. i hope you can join us for that if you can and don't forget, if you want to follow the travel show team on their journeys in real—time you can sign up journeys in real—time you can sign up to us on social media full top until next time, from me and the rest of the travel show team here in

taiwan, goodbye. hello. friday was a chilly day, a sunny day for many, generally speaking quite a quiet day. but the weekend sees things turning a little bit more lively, in fact they have already started to liven up over recent hours, the wind has been strengthening and through the weekend we will see some rain at times. this is the satellite picture from a little earlier, you can see this swirl of cloud here, this was a hurricane, hurrican 0scar, not a hurricane any more it still a deep area of low pressure pushing to the west of the uk, bringing a surge of mild air from the south—west. a milder start to saturday compared with recent mornings, particularly in the west where we will see outbreaks of rain continuing across northern

ireland, scotland, 50—80 millimetres of rain across parts of western scotland, later in the day that spills down into north—west england and parts of wales. and it will be windy, wind gusts of 60—65mph at times close to the western isles of scotland, but north—east scotland with some shelter from that south—westerly wind and some sunshine, you could get to 17 or 18. quite gusty winds for northern ireland, but brightening up here through the afternoon as rain slides into north—west england and parts of wales, flirting with the west of cornwall. but for the midlands, east anglia and the south—east it will be breezy but not as windy as further west and it will be mild. as we go into saturday evening it will be this central slice of the country that will continue to see outbreaks of rain, so for fireworks displays in cardiff and perhaps edinburgh are likely to see some rain. rain tending to clear away from belfast, london mostly dry, mild for all and quite

windy as well. deeper into saturday night, into sunday morning, that front will fizzle away. it will be some clear spells either side, but minimum temperatures, 8—11, considerably more mild that it has been of late. this is the weather set—up going into sunday morning, still with this slow—moving weather front providing rain across some central parts of the uk, the rain quite light and patchy initially and picking up later in the day across the south—west, particularly as a new area of low pressure spins inwards. elsewhere there will be some spells of sunshine, still windy in the north—west but not as windy as it will have been on saturday, temperatures still doing 30 well for this time of year, 11— 14. into the new week, most of the rain will be found in western areas, more dry weather further east, it will be often windy and it will stay mild. good morning, welcome to breakfast

with naga munchetty and jon kay. 0ur headlines today: the funeral of the leicester city boss begins in thailand, a week after he was killed in a helicopter crash. his players say they will take to the pitch in his honour this afternoon in their match against cardiff. broadcaster paul gambaccini wins damages from the crown prosecution service over its handling of unfounded sexual assault allegations against him. and could growing trees in a test tube help save endangered plants? in sport, the hibernian manager, says he may quit hisjob because of anti—catholic rascism. after celebrating a disallowed

goal on wednesday,