My boss lived in Zhonghe and he said they had a boat for when it flooded every year or so .
That’s a remarkably low rate of inflation for public transport .
Unlike in other countries public transport has actually been getting cheaper over time (and free in some cases )!
Taipei is a basin with tidal rivers on two sides. So it fills with water very easily. Xizhi (Hsichih) literally means “end of the tide”. Little wonder that the low-income housing in Xizhi, Shezi etc. was regularly under water.
I’m glad you used past tense. We moved to Xizhi about 10 years ago. No flooding there since our move. Not once. And yet, every time I mention living in Xizhi, questions about the flooding always follow (well maybe not “every time”). Flooding in Xizhi really is something related to “Old Days.”
The district’s old name Tsui-tng-ka (Chinese: 水返腳; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chúi-tńg-kha ; literally: “water returning site”) refers to the fact that the tide from the Keelung River stops at Xizhi and goes back to the sea. During Japanese rule, the place name was changed to Shiodome (汐止, literally “end of tides”) and was under Shichisei District, Taihoku Prefecture. This is the source of the current name.
Tidal rivers are a weird thing. I never knew about them until one day I was standing on the banks of the Keelung River, near my house near Bailing bridge and I noticed the river was flowing the wrong way. Never saw one in Kiwiland but I guess our rivers are long and sinewy.
Xizhi doesn’t flood anymore thanks to that flood diversion tunnel they built in Jilong River near Ruifang. It helps drain the river upstream by diverting the water into the sea at the foot of Jilong mountain. I remember there was a big typhoon just when the tunnel was nearing completion. The government opened up the tunnel despite the fact that all the construction equipment was still sitting at the site. It saved the day but trucks and backhoes were washed out to sea.
I remember Nari. My ex roomate´s boyfriend lived in Xizhi at the time. We saw him on the news. They were pulling him out of his 4th floor apartment… to an inflatable raft… through a window…
That just further proves the correlation. Not to bash Italy and Greece but it’s evident that they are not doing well in relation to the “cold”, reserved and distant societies like Switzerland or Sweden.
Taiwan also isn’t as developed as Japan where ppl are far more reserved. Coincidence? I think not.
Memories! My wife’s family bought a home for future use in a row house. My then girlfriend and I took it over for while. The neighbors on both sides of us where good friends and shouted gossip every morning as they were doing their laundry. No talking quietly over the fence here. Now, people hardly look up from their phones.
The person who observed that it is not just a Taiwan phenomenon is correct. Globally everyone’s eyeballs are glued to their smartphones. Mine included (as I type this reply). Such a boring world now where strangers talk less to each other. Even people who know each other well talk less to each other. I see entire families go out for dinner together and every single person is texting on their smartphones at a family dinner. For them, what is the point of going out to dinner as a family?
Getting back to Taiwan, who remembers “bu yao” ing taxis? Around 1983, taxis would pull up to any foreigner in Taipei at night hoping for a fare (even if no one hailed a taxi and one was just casually walking down the street). I guess they figured foreigners were rich or did not know how to hail a cab. Business was slow at night so they tried what they could. The behavior of the taxi drivers was so aggressive at times that it got very annoying. Usually one just kept walking, but when my friends and I were drunk we used to open the taxi doors and then slam them shut with a loud “bu yao”. We called this activity “bu yao” ing taxis. It was our own helpless way of fighting back.
Who remembers all the old Shandong soldiers on the Northwest corner of Nanjing Road and Linshen Bei Road (now a park). Lots of amazing hand made dumpling shui jiao stores along both roads at this Northwest Corner. There was also a small diagonal alleyway full of old former soldiers kneading Mantou and Yingsi Juan. TWD 2 per dumpling back in the early 1980s! The park is nice, but I miss those old alleyways bustling with real authentic people
yup I remember that. There was a big outcry when they destroyed those places for that park and 5 star hotels. Nice dumplings and soya bean milk!
Damn! I was around in Taipei in the early 80s and love shui jiao, but didn’t know about that place. So upsetting! 
I remember the corner well because in 1984 my lao wai friends and I decided to celebrate St Patrick’s day. I got the brilliant idea of getting one of the old former soldiers to make me Green Mantou 饅頭. Other friends were assigned to make green beer etc etc. I had to talk to several of these old former soldiers before I could convince one of them to add green food coloring to his Mantou. They all thought I was up to no good and wanted to poison someone. They were innately conservative and wanted no mafan. Talk about culture gap. How do you explain the traditions of turning everything green on Saint Patrick’s day to an old Shandong soldier who spent his life battling Japanese and Communist troops in the trenches of Nanjing or Chongqing? A true test of my Chinese language abilities. Worth it though as my green Mantou were a big hit at our St Paddy’s day party!!!
I remember the corner well because in 1984 my lao wai friends and I decided to celebrate St Patrick’s day. I got the brilliant idea of getting one of the old former soldiers to make me Green Mantou 饅頭. Other friends were assigned to make green beer etc etc. I had to talk to several of these old former soldiers before I could convince one of them to add green food coloring to his Mantou. They all thought I was up to no good and wanted to poison someone. They were innately conservative and wanted no mafan. Talk about culture gap. How do you explain the traditions of turning everything green on Saint Patrick’s day to an old Shandong soldier who spent his life battling Japanese and Communist troops in the trenches of Nanjing or Chongqing? A true test of my Chinese language abilities. Worth it though as my green Mantou were a big hit at our St Paddy’s day party!!!
Some of those stores had second floors with stools and small tables where you could order shui jiao, noodles, other snacks (dou gan, tea eggs, pigs ears) and beer. The ceilings were so low that you couldn’t stand.
We used to go to the dumpling joint in one of the market buildings on Zhonghua Road before they were demolished. Square tables, wooden stools. Exhaust fumes from the buses.
I remember in the old days of protest it made it to this area one day, in particular a scruffy gentleman was marching around the middle of the Linsen Nanjing intersection shouting stuff. Walked down Linsen a bit and a platoon of riot police came marching up the block double time