Hi guys, I enjoyed my first week in Taiwan well enough despite being stared at as if a zebra had bounded into the room much of the time. And yet, the island still withholds certain mysteries from me. One of those mysteries is the ice cream truck music. I’m laying over in Taoyuan tonight and it’s coming in through my hotel room window, for not the first time. I look around in vain for some icecream but there is none to be found. This has happened more than once, mostly when I was in Taipei. Does anyone here know what I’m talking about?
Yes, it’s the garbage truck.
Providing a little more detail: usually you can’t leave your garbage outside for pickup. The garbage trucks slowly drive around, and people come out of their apartments to throw their garbage in the back. The music is to tell people the truck is on its way.
It could be worse. At one point Tainan City started broadcasting English lessons from their garbage trucks.
Only in Taiwan do they have the same attitude toward garbage disposal as American kids have to ice cream.
I really hate the Maiden’s Prayer. Why not Turkey In The Straw?
This one is my favourite:
[quote=“Trash truck”]Are you hungry?
（你餓不餓？）
No, I am not.
（不餓。）[/quote]
[quote=“Doraemonster”]This one is my favourite:
[quote=“Trash truck”]Are you hungry?
（你餓不餓？）
No, I am not.
（不餓。）[/quote][/quote]
They have successfully replaced the English teachers with those. If only Taipei would follow suit.
Shouldn’t the trucks be white then?
Garbage time is socialization time. How else will you find out the neighborhood’s latest gossips?
Ah, sweet innocence.
… and no, no cream on top …
Dear OP, glad you are enjoying the celebrity status. Just remember to be suave like George Clooney, not the Bieber. All eyes are on you, whether you want it or not. Think George Clooney.
I was told that the traditional ice-cream vendors in Taiwan carried (and maybe still carry) the ice cream in carts, and they announced their presence with horns. The Chinese vocalization of the sound of the ice cream cart horn was “Bapu, bapu!” (“叭噗叭噗!”). I’ve never seen it except in pictures.
The pictures on the Internet show pushcarts, bicycles, and–I don’t know the precise term–motorized-pedicab-type vehicles.
You can see some pics here (warning: the first link links to a page that plays music):
Here’s a stationary ice cream vendor (i. e., a store) that has the word bapu on the sign above the door: i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac34 … G_8878.jpg
So if you hear “Bapu, bapu!” it may be the ice cream person.
[quote=“Charlie Jack”]I was told that the traditional ice-cream vendors in Taiwan carried (and maybe still carry) the ice cream in carts, and they announced their presence with horns. The Chinese vocalization of the sound of the ice cream cart horn was “Bapu, bapu!” (“叭噗叭噗!”). I’ve never seen it except in pictures.
The pictures on the Internet show pushcarts, bicycles, and–I don’t know the precise term–motorized-pedicab-type vehicles.
You can see some pics here (warning: the first link links to a page that plays music):
Here’s a stationary ice cream vendor (i. e., a store) that has the word bapu on the sign above the door: i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac34 … G_8878.jpg
So if you hear “Bapu, bapu!” it may be the ice cream person.[/quote]
I did see an old man on a bike who had a box on the end of his bike, the box was playing some sort of similar-sounding music but I could not tell if he was selling anything. This only left me more confused when I heard a similar kind of music in other places and saw no old men on bicycles.
I think the whole garbage truck thing is actually an insidious plot to destroy Westerners’ fondest childhood memories. Now, whenever I’m back in the U.S. and I hear an ice cream truck coming, the sense memory starts to kick in and I can feel the pungent garbage fumes wafting into my nostrils. I’m still able to eat ice cream, thankfully, but not from an ice cream truck. And I can’t seem to find a store that sells those missile pops…
Curse you, Taiwan!
[quote=“Dr. Milker”]I think the whole garbage truck thing is actually an insidious plot to destroy Westerners’ fondest childhood memories. Now, whenever I’m back in the U.S. and I hear an ice cream truck coming, the sense memory starts to kick in and I can feel the pungent garbage fumes wafting into my nostrils. I’m still able to eat ice cream, thankfully, but not from an ice cream truck. And I can’t seem to find a store that sells those missile pops…
Curse you, Taiwan![/quote]
I can imagine how disorienting it must be to be a Taiwanese person and come to the US, then see an ice cream truck…
For sure. When they hear the music and look out the window, instead of Southeast Asian maids with garbage, they see little kids with popsicles. Must be pretty surreal…
[quote=“Atomist”][quote=“Dr. Milker”]I think the whole garbage truck thing is actually an insidious plot to destroy Westerners’ fondest childhood memories. Now, whenever I’m back in the U.S. and I hear an ice cream truck coming, the sense memory starts to kick in and I can feel the pungent garbage fumes wafting into my nostrils. I’m still able to eat ice cream, thankfully, but not from an ice cream truck. And I can’t seem to find a store that sells those missile pops…
Curse you, Taiwan![/quote]
I can imagine how disorienting it must be to be a Taiwanese person and come to the US, then see an ice cream truck…[/quote]
… and showing up with your garbage … 
You… you don’t want to eat that ice cream. Trust me.
[quote=“Atomist”][quote=“Charlie Jack”]I was told that the traditional ice-cream vendors in Taiwan carried (and maybe still carry) the ice cream in carts, and they announced their presence with horns. The Chinese vocalization of the sound of the ice cream cart horn was “Bapu, bapu!” (“叭噗叭噗!”). I’ve never seen it except in pictures.
The pictures on the Internet show pushcarts, bicycles, and–I don’t know the precise term–motorized-pedicab-type vehicles.
You can see some pics here (warning: the first link links to a page that plays music):
Here’s a stationary ice cream vendor (i. e., a store) that has the word bapu on the sign above the door: i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac34 … G_8878.jpg
So if you hear “Bapu, bapu!” it may be the ice cream person.[/quote]
I did see an old man on a bike who had a box on the end of his bike, the box was playing some sort of similar-sounding music but I could not tell if he was selling anything. This only left me more confused when I heard a similar kind of music in other places and saw no old men on bicycles.[/quote]
Hmm. I dunno. Maybe Icon can explain that one.
[quote=“Charlie Jack”][quote=“Atomist”][quote=“Charlie Jack”]I was told that the traditional ice-cream vendors in Taiwan carried (and maybe still carry) the ice cream in carts, and they announced their presence with horns. The Chinese vocalization of the sound of the ice cream cart horn was “Bapu, bapu!” (“叭噗叭噗!”). I’ve never seen it except in pictures.
The pictures on the Internet show pushcarts, bicycles, and–I don’t know the precise term–motorized-pedicab-type vehicles.
You can see some pics here (warning: the first link links to a page that plays music):
Here’s a stationary ice cream vendor (i. e., a store) that has the word bapu on the sign above the door: i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac34 … G_8878.jpg
So if you hear “Bapu, bapu!” it may be the ice cream person.[/quote]
I did see an old man on a bike who had a box on the end of his bike, the box was playing some sort of similar-sounding music but I could not tell if he was selling anything. This only left me more confused when I heard a similar kind of music in other places and saw no old men on bicycles.[/quote]
Hmm. I dunno. Maybe Icon can explain that one.[/quote]
Wait until he hears an explosion and then everyone rushing not to the scene of an accident but to buy just popped corn sweets.
Or the public broadcasts from the neighborhood lizhang on speakers mounted on electricity poles: “All elderly over 70 are entitled to a government fund of 3000, over 100 years old get 5000. Please collect Saturday at the church entrance. There will be candy and other presents for the children. That reminds me, Little Wu, don’t leave your bike across the alley, and come home for dinner”.
Or the trucks spouting political campaigns, recent sales or fixing mosquito netting/glass windows…