They just got through replacing all those old red-tile things that had what looks like the NATO symbol on them, like, three years ago? And already the new sidewalks (the ones with wavy-edged bricks, like that helps) look just like the old. You step on one in the rain and it wobbles, with water spurting out.
Why can’t they just stack all those bricks onto the side of the sidewalk, and let us walk on the concrete part? That way they could serve as a kind of protective wall against vehicular traffic.
But seriously, who do we blame? Contractors for shoddy construction work? The weather, for being too wet? Motorcycles, for driving on the sidewalk? This doesn’t happen in Japan, does it?
A couple of years back when Forumosa was a lot more fun and you could join under any number of handles, something we did to keep the numbers up, I posted this under the handle “Just Arrived.”
Are you surprised? CSB, Mayor Ma and everyone else in power has their heads shoved so far up their asses that they couldn’t organize a drunk in a brewery with a credit card…
Most importantly, the crews that do this type of roadwork and sidewalk
work, intentionally(sp.) do a bad job so that they can keep tearing it up and redo it so as to use up the yearly budget for this kind of work. If a road lasted many years then the govt budget would dry up and these road repair companies would earn much less $$. You can see the intentional shoddy workmanship and obvious mistakes when they redo a road. The reason that
this can go on unabated is because the govt agencies responsible for these budgets are all in on the game. Welcome to Taiwanese culture!!
Also the fact that the ground is much softer here(volcanic before) than most places in the world and alot of rainfall adds up to a recipe for constant repairs.
Can I complain a bit about the quality of the roads in Taipei county here too? Please What? Do they patch the roads with sugar and when the rain comes like it has lately, the patches dissolve?
Seriously, can some civil engineer of someone familiar with road construction explain why ALL the potholes reappear with such frequency?? Are they doing something wrong, or is the acid rain from China THAT bad??
Badly constructed sidewalks, that would be a step up in the world for us in Taoyuan. Anything more than a little space between the street vendors and the speeding traffic would be nice
You’re right. We say they couldn’t organize a piss up in a brewery. I think though it is more a case of churning as Panda said. The road infront of my house has been pulled up and relayed 6 times this year and i live on a back street. One evening they came at 12 o’clock at night with the Jackhammers. My responce was to take photos of them, unplug their power source and call the police. They probably were thinking you crazy fucking forigner, but they packed up and left before the cops came.
Exactly. Sidewalks are for climbing. Over scooters. Which is probably much better exercise than walking anyway.
Count yourself lucky that you lot in Taipei even have sidewalks, however dodgy they may be. Walking should be considered an extreme sport, when done on most streets in Kaohsiung.
The thing that I like the best is all of the uneven surfaces between restaurants/shops/and bakeries/buxibans. If you are trying to actually use the walking space that IS available, you end up having to hop over/down a dozen little two-inch barriers between each restaurant or business that are just big enough to prevent an even stride
Now that’s a load of fun!
Especially if your’re new to the area and are not aware of said uneven surfaces.
Exactly. Sidewalks are for climbing. Over scooters. Which is probably much better exercise than walking anyway.
Count yourself lucky that you lot in Taipei even have sidewalks, however dodgy they may be. Walking should be considered an extreme sport, when done on most streets in Kaohsiung.[/quote]
And don’t forget FALLING!!! Jaysus I have a vicious scar from just going home one night and tripping over a damn piece of rusty, sharp-edged piping (that was months ago, by the way, the pipe’s still there and even put an old lady into hospital - 'coz the street lights also haven’t been fixed since that one semi-typhoon last year so you don’t see the hazard till you’re vertical and next to it, and lucky it hasn’t put one, or both, of your eyes out).
Now I don’t mind scars and I also have a few others, but they all have much more interesting stories behind them.
I now walk in the street, it’s safer - in Taipei, at any rate.
they are also for scooters!! That’s why there is no point on fixing them, scooters and vendors destoried the sidewalk, govt. think it is a waste of $$ to repair them. Nobody listen to the laws or rules anywayz…
You Yankeedoodles are all confused because, sensibly enough I suppose, you call them “sidewalks” back home. They are not sidewalks. They’re not “pavements” either, as they’re not usually paved. I just think of them as bits the shopowner hasn’t built on yet - and so does he.
Walk in the road like everyone else. That’s what it’s there for. Leave the “pavement”/“sidewalk” for the scooters/garbage/dishwashing/fireplace setting/ornament arrangement and all the other things it’s actually for.
LOL, so true it hurts…
What? Do they patch the roads with sugar and when the rain comes like it has lately, the patches dissolve?
