I’m bitter because of the myth that the food is great, when the average is awful. I was tricked, and try to dispel the myth to save my fellow humans. If you think the average is high, it suggests a lack of perspective.
Ever had tsampa and yak butter tea? Tibetan staples, but only great in the absence of perspective
Canned sauce is ubiquitous
Yeah it’s all about the settings. For instance they have massively long waiting times at main intersections here. That’s just causing problems for pedestrians who have 20 secs or whatever to cross the road and making motorists anxious.
But then they go and send police to manage certain intersections which I agree with by the way.
Anyway the situation has improved slightly over the last few years but still far to go.
Indeed. I’m on you’re side with this. In terms of pre conceived assumptions. I was wrong, however The common Chinese food here is pretty trashy, I also agree. But I have gone past that and learned how to appreciate the taiwanese pallet. Which I honestly view as far superior to my homeland, canada/USA palette. Asians are far superior in taste sensitivity. Not all, but as a broad brush I feel it’s obvious. As well as texture. Once I got into business in food, i learned very quick to be the student (ie. Listen) rather than be the teacher (ie. Judge). My food experiences here have been so much better since this shift in ego 
Look, pleasant surprise…aboriginal barbecue come on guys!!!
You can get good cookups at most aboriginal festivals , love it.
A friend of mine ate street food at a night market and got hospitalized with explosive diarrhea resulting from food poisoning. At least the hospitals are good 
No thanks, I don’t trust Taiwanese hygiene standards.
Yes, it is. Because it’s easy to spray bomb chemicals and make lots cheap in places that don’t pay their employees dick all. It’s a good recipe. It’s a trash product. Kind of what I am saying…
It might be “better” than the American pizzas available. But I won’t lie, I enjoy a gross greasy American pizza here and there.
It’s just really weird to see how much frozen foods I see Italians buy where there’s so much fresh high quality and even local stuff at the grocery.
Time = $
Fact of life. Unfortunately.
But manage them slightly oddly. As in, there’s still the countdown for when the light would turn green. But it doesn’t turn green because it’s currently managed by police. Yet they don’t turn off the timer, so there will be a small surge forward when the timer runs out yet the light remains red, with maybe a couple of vehicles going into the intersection, or cars behind innocent cyclists starting to honk.
Without the police it’s usually worse, especially at busy highway entrances and exits etc. chaos. Ok I’m derailing things here.
Probably no one thinks the police here are intelligent. Despite schooling and test passing, there is still a lot that remains to be seen…
Most police are on traffic duty as part of training or as disciplinary. Either way, it’s goes to show the brains behind the traffic operations.
One of my in-laws tried to pass the test and failed a few times . Now works for a bank. 
We can do this together
Also the tiredness factor
Taichung has dynamic signal systems at some intersections, but I don’t think I never noticed it too much. Some of the roads would probably see such systems being of greater benefit if the road design was better, at least for some of these spots.
Taichung City has a page where they talk about it. It’s in English:
Taichung has the most signaled intersections in Taiwan. From the news Oct. last year only 7.9% are connected to the traffic control center, leaving another 6000+ that operate independently and adjustments require dispatching personnel. So definitely some room for improvement. The news article here also states that the installation of these dynamic traffic light systems on major roads started in 2017
As another interesting point. Taichung has less than 1% of it’s traffic lights hooked up with a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) to keep the lights on in case of power going out. At the time of this news piece from last year last year that’s only 60 intersections.
As for the topic.
Myth: For me maybe just how great some people proclaim the food to be. I still like a lot of the local stuff, no doubt about that, but maybe because I’ve been here a little while now so for me it’s just “normal” now. Still love danbing (蛋餅) though. That and some radish cake and some soy milk or tea in the morning always makes me happy.
Nailed it: The hiking. Lots of great hikes. I love getting out to some of the BaiYue and getting those amazing views at the peaks.
Pleasantly surprised: Despite being such a small island I still feel like I have a lot of places I still want to visit or go to again.
Looks like all they have is a little green paint
Yeah, not high-tech
Despite the common language of whining about being tired day in/day out (myself included) the rampant use of numerous stimulants and constant long hours of drone like complacency could be put into the “surprised” category of the threads title. For me personally, I wouldn’t go so far as to say “pleasantly” as even the legal ones ( caffiene, nicotine, betel nut etc) are killing people left, right and center. Regardless of opinions on good vs bad, it is truly a wake up call looking at the excessive use of refined chemical stimulus in Taiwan for sure.
I was trying to program in a positive bias to the responses