It's the little things you miss about Taiwan

Like:

At the Ting Kua-kua fried chicken restaurant by the Taichung Science Museum there was a balloon machine called “Fanky Malloon”. Think i’ll name my firstborn that.

That first huge hack/cough in the morning bringing forth the previous night’s particulate-laced mucous.

The 80 year old Coach at the Taichung Sports Center/ Old School Pig-Iron Gym off Wen Hsin Lu screaming “LAI LE!!!” when he sees you coming down the stairs every day. The perfect way to start the day.

The shaweima stand outside of my old buxiban…nothing else like shaweima in Taiwan!

Endless beers while painting at the now-defunct Tropics bar in Taichung.

The burgers at Q Bar in Taipei…nothing too special about them, but damn good comfort food.

The ritual climbing of Dajianshan in Kenting…a trip south isn’t complete until you’ve done it.

Enjoying a nice betel nut while tromping around the country.

“Man Niu” Vitamin B drink after a long night out.

The lazer-yello piss you take after having a can of Vitalon P :astonished:

Chou toufu (there’s a restaurant called 66 in Rockville, MD that serves it, but it’s just not chou enough).

Shorts and t-shirts, 24/7/365.

Passing on the right

The receipt lottery (a year on and I’m STILL finding old Quan Jia store receipts in my pockets!)

The inexpensive one-eyed motorbike mechanic around the corner and his binlang-chewing high school scooter punk lackeys.

Mei-Er-Mei’s Zong Hui club sandwich for breakfast…mmmmmmmmm.

Finga’s jumbo hot dogs. Damn you Derek, you got waaay too much money out of me!

Having to take a jacket with while making mid-summer visa-runs to Hong Kong to avoid freezing to death at CKS airport.

Sitting down to coffee every morning with hard copies of Taipei Times, Liberty Times and the Taiwan Daily. Beats the online editions hands down.

Pudding Pops.

Pudding Pops.

Pudding Pops.

Pineapple fried rice at the Feng Chia night market.

When my neighbors had to shave their persian cat in the summers to keep her from overheating. Just ridiculous.

Playing “Guess that Earthquake”

Hanging with the laundry laoban drinking kaoliang.

Having a legitimate excuse for missing people’s birthday’s across the date line.

thanks for the shaved cat. something great i had completely forgotten.

Flying cockroaches.

the early morning wooden trains.

Blue Sandals as part of my evening attire

Little red stools (The kind you sit on and not the kind you get when a cabbie knees you in the groin)

Betel with cabbies at the 7-11 in Iilan

Trying to die while climbing mountains in post 921 Taichung.

Commercials for anti-impotence spray, but not commercials for new apartments that ring a decibel or two louder than CNN.

Enjoying a beer on the sidewalk.

Dr. Washing (Almost forgot how to wash clothes)

Cracks/ holes that develop in substandard bathtubs (where does the water go, anyway?)

The test of wills that occurs when you try to out-wait your roommate to see who will take out the “Stink Bag” hanging next to the toilet in the bathroom.

Wearing skinned knees and feet as proud trophies to prove your Taiwan traffic skills.

Bian dangs at train stations

That damned chirping-bird doorbell.

Eviscerating Elvis, Jinmen Wang and Wang Fei songs at the KTV.

Slapping yourself on the back and swinging your arms while walking is considered a form of excercise.

Biore for Men body wash…why the HELL isn’t this miracle of science sold in the States?

Taiwan-style steak at Noble House, complete with eggs, noodles and all the ice cream you can eat.

Pretending I’m German to avoid speaking English

Eviscerating Elvis songs? The mind boggles (or piths itself). :laughing:
Never tried Boire For Men - what’s so great about it?

The chirping doorbell is a classic. My mum and siser thought that was hilarious when they came to stay.
If I were to move back to UK I think I’d miss the little critters that surround me in my home - the odd roach that strolls in from outside, the geckos, the mozzies being fried on my electric badminton racquet, the noisy cicadas in the tree by my bedroom window.

The number one thing small thing I’d miss, if it counts, is 7-11.

What’s “shaweima”?

The word “shaweima” is of Middle-Eastern origin . . . . . Turkish I believe. Think of roasted lamb on a spit (or chicken, beef, pork, etc.) and the meat being roasted to perfection, then cut off in slices and put into big bread rolls . . . . .

What’s the English word for that? It eludes me.

Gyro?

I miss :

  • being able to immerse myself in interesting, stimulating and useful work during the week, then within an hour or so being able to enjoy quiet pristime mountains or some of the tastiest surf around during the weekends.
  • being close to HK, Japan etc

I miss walking ten feet to the closest convenience store (or fifteen feet to the next closest…or eighteen feet to the next…) rather than having to drive for ten minutes to one (the fact that Barq’s root beer flows freely here only begins to make up for this…) And freakin’ Ocean Spray juice is almost twice as much as what it is in Taiwan and it doesn’t even have to be imported. I also miss high-speed internet. The connection we have in my little town makes hi-net seem like the ‘C’ in E=mc^2.

What I am enjoying:

A cheese aisle that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg (and has vegetable cream cheese)
The only people staring at me being those in uniform which are easily ignored.
Less humidity.
A TV with over 500 channels and most of them in English (and I get to watch Monk again).
Feeling much better about my body after taking a look at the general populace…sorry, but damn, folks! A 20-oz (592 mL) soft drink is considered a small here.

and speaking of…

the general absence of pork powder.

Really, the Arabic word is “shawarma”, not “shaweima”.

A gyros is close, but not quite the same. The Greeks use tadziki sauce (yogurt, mint, garlic, cucumber) instead of tahini (sesame paste). The spices in the meat are also a bit different.

Where is this place located?? I miss Pita Inn and Wally’s Gyros.

The shawalma/ shawarma/ shaweima stand I always went to was in Taichung on Gansu Rd, a couple of blocks southeast of Wen Hsin Rd, but I’ve seen them all over in just about every night market. Look for a stand with a mass of chicken or mutton vertically skewered and rotated in front of heater.

Biore for Men body wash was the only thing that made me feel 100% clean in the summer months there…I dunno what they put in it, but it definitely put the kibosh on the Manstink floating around the house. :astonished:

You know I think I’ve eaten from that very shaw-wotsit stand on Kan-Su rd. I used to teach at the Hess there and so it was very handy. What I like about that place is that they toast the buns as well so it doesn’t get all mushy.

I ate them so often that I actually got tired of them and switched to the ‘gwah bao’ stand right next door. I had to approach from the side to avoid any awkwardness with that nice couple who sold me so many of those scrummy gyro-thingamebobs.

Ah, I know where you’re at Spack, I used to teach at the Join Me school across the street from you. Don’t worry, while you were stepping out behind her I was probably financing the greater part of her kids’ higher education.

Another thing I miss: asinine buxiban names. I taught at a school in Taipei called Idear only because the sign painter fucked up the spelling for “Ideal” on the side of the building.

On a completely unrelated note, I just noticed all the flags in DC are back up to full staff, so everyone here on the forum can now take off the white mourning clothes for Reagan…

They’re called “shawarma” or “shwarma” in the US.