a Glimpse of Taiwan

So I spent almost all of May literally on the other side of the world on the island of Taiwan, so blog entries have not happened. Before the Finals started, the last NBA Playoff game I saw was Game 1 of Magic/Heat in the airport. They do televise MLB games (at 7am). And the way my luck is, due to the long trip home, I didn't even find out that my favorite pitcher Roy Halladay threw a perfect game until two days later.

I know it's sometimes interesting to hear somewhat fascinating tidbits of info about places abroad, so here are a few from my trip.

1. Scooters dominate the traffic. At one intersection at 9:00pm one night I counted 45 scooters pass from one direction during one green light.
2. People run a lot of red lights. One afternoon as I we stopped at a red light, my wife and I watched a van go through three consecutive red lights. However, you need to be careful because some intersections have cameras and you could get a ticket in the mail.
3. In Taichung City there are no sidewalks. People walk in the road and do their best to dodge scooters, bicycles, cars, trucks, and carts.
4. People wear facemasks everywhere.
5. Along with facemasks, you see many people walking around with long pants and a jacket on, even though it is 95 degrees out.
6. Most natives eat hot soup everyday, despite it being 95 degrees out.
7. And since there is soup, they see no reason to have a cold drink to go with your meal. If you want a glass of water, you have to ask for it specifically (and it will probably not be cold).
8. You can pay for everything at 7-11 shops: parking fees, power/phone bills, credit card bills, bus tickets, you can even have packages sent there for you to come and pick up.
9. You can stay at McDonald's all day. It is common for students to buy a drink and then study all afternoon in the dining area. Hey, it's air conditioned.
10. There are no racy television shows, unlike America.
11. Departments stores are like vertical shopping malls. I went shopping on the 23rd floor of one.
12. Speaking of that, in my understanding, most people live in apartment buildings. If you are wealthy, you live in a nicer apartment building. That, or your building is a small business on the ground floor and you live above it.
13. Is that the ice cream man I hear coming? No, that's the garbage truck. The garbage trucks play kiddie music.
14. Obviously, there is lots of weird food. My motto: don't ask, just eat. The worst food I had in Taiwan was at this fancy 5-star hotel restaurant. They served this shark fin soup (I would compare shark fin to a combination of a boiled piece of tree bark and a soaked hair wig). The soup bowl was brought with this heater/stove thing that kept it perpetually boiling. So it's 95 degrees out, I have this oven in front of me under a bowl of soup that tastes like tree bark or a hair wig that is too hot to eat and I can't get rid of it until it's done. Not fun.
15. The most-grown food is pineapple, and there is nothing better than freshly cut Taiwan pineapple.

I'll try to put up a picture sometime.