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Published: June 26th 2007
Squatter
I kept reading I was going to see a lot of these. The ladies in our group had quite a bit to say... As I was looking through some of the pictures I have taken I realized that I needed to write a posting about some of the things we've been seeing around Taipei - some very foreign, some familiar.
One immediately and obviously different experience is the traffic. It is chaotic and complex, but somehow flows amazingly efficiently. The largest difference from traffic in U.S. cities is the use of the scooter. I have been trying and trying to capture a picture of the number of scooters on the street, but have had a tough time getting a representative example.
There is a scooter-box where the white, crosswalk line would be at U.S. stoplights. All the scooters squeeze in between the cars and buses - often by inches and while both are still moving - to stop in the scooter box to wait for the light to change. Then, they have to park them on the sidewalks leaving the sidewalks on many streets completely full of scooters.
And the scooters rarely make left turns. Say one is driving East and wants to turn North. If they have a green light while heading East, they turn South into the stopped
Scooters
This is a very moderate amount of scooters at an intersection. Big streets often have many more. See the scooter-box they're in? traffic and turn their scooters around in the scooter-box to face North.
Oh, and when I figure out how to add videos onto here I'll show you the pedestrian-walk signs that start out with the little man walking at a moderate pace and end up - just before the light is about to change - sprinting. It's funny to see.
McDonalds and 7-11s are everywhere. Especially the 7-11s - nearly every block.
The McDonalds have a similar menu to the U.S. The fries are identical - we checked. But they have a lot of items we don't; like rice cake buns on some burger-like items.
And the 7-11s are interesting. Absolutely no diversity in selection (one brand and size of each product) except for beverages. The variety in beverages is kind of bewildering. I can't read what most of them are, but there are a lot of sodas, milk and soy products, and juice drinks. But variety like I've never seen anywhere else. Beverages are huge here.
Toilets can be a little different. The one in my hotel room I realize is customary in many high-end hotels, but I had never had one in my
My Toilet Control Panel
I'm still trying to figure out if the word "family" on there is a mistranslation of some sort. Although, I have a couple ideas. Hmm. room. And in most public places the toilets are very like-home, but in the County Courthouse I saw the first squatters I kept reading about be fore I came here.
Hmm, I think that is all on that subject for now. Let me get those photos edited and downloaded...
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Meghan
non-member comment
"Family"
I am fascinated. For God's sake, I hope you do a thorough investigation and push every darn button on that control panel. Surely that will keep your family clean. :)