My friends and family sometimes say there is such a thing as being too clean.
For the most part Taiwan is clean but if you look closely as to where they wash the dishes on the side of the street and some other common food handling practices that you will not see unless you look for them. You’ll find that wo
we’re just getting a healthy amount of dirt to exercise our immune system. Don’t look too much. Don’t see too much. Don’t think too much. Or you’ll get sick
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Budapest is filthy and smelly AF.
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So dirty
I wonder who is the genius that decided to put fabric on public transport. Imagine the germs in them since I doubt they clean them.
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That’s disappointing, it’s one of my next to destinations once the virus is gone. Budapest has many artisans that are overlooked compared to their European neighbors like Italy, France, and England. For example, they have some of the best shoemaking still based on the old way. You can still find hand made shoes of the highest quality materials for around 5-600 euros since the cost of labor is lower than Italy and England. They also kept more of the traditional method since they industrialized more slowly.
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Well you can’t blame Taiwan for that one. It’s all these damn imported Philadelphia products.
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I think the climate and soil actually has a lot to with grime here too.
I run around my parent’s yard or walk out to get the mail without shoes on all the time in the US. I quick rubbing of my feet on the door mat and my feet are relatively clean to go inside.
Here, I scrub my patio about once a month and it’s always so dirty from general dust blowing on it that I can’t even step out two steps to put my trash outside without needing to hop in the shower and rinse my feet off.
I also feel like I need to scrub the floor daily here, even though I take off my shoes before I come in. In the US, I never take off my shoes and we might run a vacuum around a few times a month. Still cleaner in the US with a lot less time spent cleaning.
As far as cleanliness of businesses are concerned, I did grow up in the US midwest, so snow means salt and sand on the roads and sidewalks tracked inside all winter. But cleaning crews are a lot more thorough in places like schools, stores, and offices in the US, so you don’t feel like it’s always dirty. Like here, I have to wipe down my desk and keyboard daily because it gets dirty that fast. I drop my coat on the ground and I pick it up and it looks like it was left there for centuries. Go to a small mom and pop shop in the US and you’ll see plenty of grime, broken tiles in the floors, dirty bathrooms, etc. but the ground outside, as long as it’s not where a restaurant is hosing off the mats or grease is spilling out of the garbage, the road itself is pretty clean. The same cannot be said for most of Taiwan.
And don’t get me started on the mold problems. Floor fans all over the bathrooms in the MRT, which are always wet? Why didn’t you install a dehumidification system when you built the place?? (Though, if we’re comparing to NYC…)
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Visually, taiwan might look clean for the most part however behind the scenes its anything but.
Take a look at this.
Outdoor urinal that runs directly into the stormwater, not sewer. This happens all over the island and even for actual toilets too (pure discusting). Food safety here too is non existant and most restaurants are filthy aswell. Its sad that not many people notice these things but when you really look at the “stuff that most wouldnt think to take notice of” you will start to see how unsanitary this place is (the sewer rivers in all cities are an example, why have cleen streets when there are open sewers?)
Taiwan is overall cleaner than thailand and other asian countries like that but its nowhere near asclean as places like japan, australia, nz, okinawa, singapore etc…
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Don’t listen to him. Budapest is really nice.
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Ahh only 600 euro, that’s good to know. 
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That’s mostly air pollution, you’ll see a lot of carbon particles, those are mostly bits of tires and brakes (this is not well-known but they account for a lot of the visible crap you will see) ,vehicle exhaust and particles from fossil fuel power stations .
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Handmade shoes go for 1k plus in western Europe. These shoes can last 10-20 years and even more since they are hand welted and the soles can be replace in theory an unlimited amount of times. So it’s a good deal in the long run if you can make a shoe last for 10+ years. Think about it that way.
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Okinawa is that special?
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Maintenance of buildings is a let down here. The only dirty thing that bothers me is sanitation. gov buildings are good but everything else rarely is. it shows a cultural mind set. imagine a decent restaurant in the west that had signs telling you to put your feces laden tissues into the basket that rubs your shins when sitting and fails to provide soap at the sink. Then everyone backs up the old pipes claim.
Littering is also a real problem here. But all these points are easily and quickly corrected in taiwan when something happens.
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Not to do the…It’s worse in China thing,
I find it to be a minor thing overall. Streets are pretty clean except for cig butts and toothpicks, littering in the countryside can be a problem for sure in places.
Fishermen are the worse culprits, they are disgusting (both anglers and professionals ),sort that out and we would see major improvements . The coast and harbour are often filthy . And the rivers…Let’s not talk about the water quality…!!
Taiwan has major environmental issues and littering is only a very small part of it.
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The last time I used train system in UK was after visiting Taiwan about 18 months ago it was hell.
Shuttle from Gatwick airport was late filthy dirty toilets out of order. I had to do 2 tube trains to get to Marylebone station, they was dirty covered in litter, station toilets out of order.
Train from Marylebone to my home Town jam packed toilets out of order, train smelt was hot air con not working and no windows can be opened.
Home Town station litter everywhere, lift to bridge out of order, and no big surprise toilets closed.
This is one of many reasons I have chosen to try to retire in Taiwan.
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I don’t understand this, I sent my Sister some photos from pontoon at Bitan of apartments overlooking beautiful scenery, she went oh my god they look derelict unlivable.
Some only need a lick of white paint and difference would be amazing.
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I went to a public toilet in Starbucks in the UK last year, opened the doors and said “nope”, and walked out.
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They had toilets in tube stations?
I thought this is only an Asia thing… I meant in the US it’s not like they had toilets in any mass transit stations. No toilets in BART stations in the bay area, in fact toilets are really hard to find in SF overall, and you often have to pay (not really pay but buy overpriced products). I don’t know if they even have toilets in NY subway stations, I didn’t think so, and if they did it was probably disgusting.
But Asia take pride in their mass transit systems and would not allow it to even think about being disgusting.
I didn’t smell a thing in Budapest. It is my favorite city in Europe.
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