What I like about Taiwan:
non-stop flurry of Hong Kong movies on TV
Doraemon and Rurumi (?) cartoons on TV everyday
Pearl green tea for just 20NT
Cheap gifts from the street markets
Tea eggs at 7-11
cheap and great food
not feeling like a minority for once
If only the pollution weren’t so terrible here!
Judy
The people are fantastic: friendly, giving, open and curious about outsiders, and in personal relationships very down to earth.
The women are beautiful.
I appreciate feeling safe walking down any street.
I appreciate the times that I can find clothes that are my size.
Some of the countryside is stunning.
I appreciate the mass-transit system (because I love not needing a car).
A appreciate the great Chinese food at very low prices. And I appreciate how many restaurants will have their menus in English.
I appreciate that there is some first-rate foreign cuisine as well.
I actually like it when Taiwanese try out their English on me. It shows a willingness to try something new. And they always have something interesting to say.
I appreciate seeing how Taiwan keeps getting better and better. Taiwan is becoming cleaner, better run, more open, and more fun. And even through these tougher times, they continue to find better ways to solve problems.
Here’s something noone’s mentioned: the crazy little roads that wind around and seem to go nowhere, yet go on forever! Pei-tou is particularly great for this. Also, the weird old buildings you can find along such roads… And every little hill or mountain has trails on it, again, leading to and from nowhere. A Taoist’s wet-dream…
I like that you can steal cable for years on end and never go to jail for it. You can even string a cable across a major artery from cable box to neighboring roof without arousing suspicion.
I love a lot of things, but what I love most of all is the density.
I love living in a place coated with so many apartments and people that any business will succeed because there will always be a minority that will value it.
I often imagine what it would like being a Taiwanese person raised here. You certainly wouldn’t get lonely. And chances are, no matter how much of an oddball you were, there’d be another oddball just like you near by. Whereas in a less dense population, you’d have to go for miles to find another like you and you may never find them at all.
What’s more (which makes this place even better) is that even though there is a huge variety of people here, there are no scumbags walking around here.
Perhaps I should define scumbag. I don’t mean the crazy, abandoned homeless people such as those who wander around cities on Canada’s West Coast (where I am from). But rather, the same west coast city’s dirty scummy people who lurk around dark corners selling drugs, or the young punks who deface the city walls with graffiti or the heroine addicts that come up to you begging for spare change.
I guess I should add that I also prefer the poorly kept decaying buildings of Taipei to graffiti of any kind.
For once, I live in a big city where I can actually feel safe being a woman walking down the street at night. Also, late at night, although the majority of people are sleeping, there are still enough people awake in a given ‘dense’ area that the night seems alive with life. I just feel such freedom here. Due to that and I think Taipei is great.
I love the MRT…for someone who shuns the thought of every growing up, it’s nice to tell my friends still in Ohio that I take the subway on my morning commute without the stench of urine that you’ll find on the undergrounds in Paris and New York…I’ve never been to London so I don’t know about it.
I love how I can buy a satisfying authentic Chinese meal for $2.02 US or a high-quality American one for under $10.
I love that the rent for my 2bdrm, 2bth, 24-hour security, underground parking, with an indoor pool, one balcony from my room that looks into the mountains and the other one in the dining room looks over parts of Hsintien spacious Bi Tan Rd. furnished hi-rise apartment is less than $300 US. I couldn’t find an unfurnished one in my hometown for less than $400 and that would be with no breaktaking view.
I love the garbage trucks. I could set a watch to when I hear Fur Elise coming down the street.
Two words: pork bun.
I love the little kids I get to teach and how while they are learning English from me, I am learning Chinese from them.
I love taxis: taxis that cut people off at neck-breaking speeds (something I had to get adjusted to from the day I stepped into one from CKS airport), the fact that I can take one from the center of Taipei all the way to Bi Tan for less than $10…don’t even get me started on US taxi costs.
I love NT$20 stores where I can buy paper fans and a set of five chopsticks for a buck a piece and my family back in the States thinks that they are these great Chinese treasures.
I love the English signs in banks, ATMs, the MRT… “Please beware of your safety” “Processing…please waiting”
I love it when I learn a new word by reading the signs in Chinese and recognizing radicals or by comparing them to the English signs
I love my cat that I nicknamed Xiaomao Luzhong (kitten in the middle of the road?) that I found on Chung Yang Road right after Typhoon Nari. At six months old, he’s lived in Taipei longer than I have!
I could go on and on…Wo ai Taibei!
Now that it’s cold, what do I like about Taiwan?
Hot hot hot Zhen Zhu Nai Cha
Hot hot hot Hot Pot
Hot hot hot Hot Springs
Hot hot hot Cans of Coffee from the 7-11
Bri
GORGEOUS WOMEN
CHEAP SMOKES
MOUNTAINS
MOUNTAINS
DID I MENTION MOUNTAINS?
NOT HAVING TO SAY EXCUSE ME AFTER BELCHING/FARTING
EASY MONEY
I just love Taiwanese ice. Shaved ice with a variety of yummy toppings…my favorites are the fresh fruit, lychees, and sweet green beans. Yuummmmmm!!!
quote:
Originally posted by Jolie: Seems like we are really fooling ourselves but okay, what the hey.
Dude just because your miserable, and don’t have the guts to take charge of your life and leave Taiwan, don’t assume that we are all like you.
quote[quote]But then again, I don't think I'd miss them when I leave.[/quote]If you could leave, you would have already left by now.
Among the things that I like:
The challenge of living in a place where I am functionally illeterate.
Relative proximity of everything to everything; its a small town with a big city flavor to it.
24 hours spots
People tend to be more health conscious than people back home; so I’m reminded to watch what I eat
etc.
I love these replies
i love suan mei tang(or any similar drink with mei tze in it). only asians would enjoy a nice refreshing cold drink that’s salty.
i love eating seafood i’ve never seen before and whose english names i don’t know.
i love “rose apples”(lembu in taiwanese).
i love a country where being a geek is cool and where the huge computer markets make fry’s look like a convinience store.
i love taiwanese girls who eat weird animal parts that my female friends in the states wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole.
i love watching the women walk around with umbrellas on a blistering hot sunny day.
i love seeing all the girls bust out their burberry scarves and wool overcoats when the temperature dips below 75 degrees.
i love getting my soup to go in a plastic bag.
hmm. just looked over my list. all food and girls with a splash of geek thrown in.
quote[quote]just looked over my list. all food and girls with a splash of geek thrown in.[/quote]So much about your self-introduction…
Since everyone recommends a “glass half full approach” let’s try it:
I love the smell inside taxis here, and how the drivers spit betle nut into plastic bags
I love how old women shove you in the supermarket
I love walking behind locals on the pavement, and trying to work out which direction they will go next with no warning
I love the architecture
I love that the use of tiles is not restricted to public urinals
I love how a romantic restaurant is built in a tower used for burning toxic waste
I love the logic of building nuclear reactors with inferior products on fault lines
I love how all this “cheap good food” is served in places with fluorecsent lights and a TV set on
I love that this place is a magnet for every type of natural disaster
I love that CKS airport (which I see a lot) is not third world, and has great places to shop, eat, and have a beer
I too love the rubbish trucks which play Fur Elise
I love the cheap electricity bills
I love that cultural & ethnic diversity of the place
I love Taiwan beer, much better than that European or Japanese stuff
I love eating those feet, hearts, and other parts of chickens sold on every corner
I love the smell of those eggs in the convenience stores
I love that shopping, sleeping, and KTV are the only national sports here
For all these reasons, and more…
I like the people, when they are not driving. Taiwanese women are among the most beautiful in the world.
I like how eating “famous or special” food seems to be a national obsession.
I like being different and not just another face in the crowd.
I like the narrow alleys that are perfect for exploring.
I like how Taiwan is ideally situated for quick trips to other countries in Asia.
I like the looks of discomfort and disgust on the faces of whiny expats who come here on company postings and suck up the degradation and filth with shit-eating grins on their faces, all for the sake of the mighty yanqi dollare.
Reminds me of those porn vids where the past-it bottle blonde with lipstick running into the cracks around her lips gets a seeing-to in the arse from the super-endowed cocksman, while the camera zooms into her facial grimaces.
Lovely!
After reading this thread, I feel all warm and ooky inside. Did someone say, “I love the dentistry”?
I love little baby ducks
and rain
well, sandman, that doesnt seem emotionally healthy at all.
TUpei
baby ducks?? are they good? the frog legs were
Good to see you are so well adjusted, Sandman. If anything is offensive, it is your vulgar post. You just stay put, chances of you reintegrating into polite society are nought.