What to expect in... Taipei
19. Trash trucks that play ice cream truck music
Catch it or you'll be stuck with stinky trash.
18. Scooters
They have one of the lowest birthrates in the world, so they can conveniently fit their whole family on a scooter.
There's a lot of little shops that sell a drug called betel nut. It turns mouths and teeth red, which freaked me out the first time I saw a betel user smile. Typically used by nasty old men, who stain the ground red with their spit.
Because it's a small island, Taiwan is heavily influenced by bigger countries, especially America, Japan, and the newest wave—Korea.
Side note - basketball and baseball are huge.
15. School is life
The students study in school for long hours. Then after school, they go to another school. The parents aren't partying, either - they're at work all this time.
14. Din Tai Feng + a bajillion other restaurants
Taipei has plenty of great food (if you know how to find it. There's plenty of crazy, smelly food.) Din Tai Feng is a world-renowned Taiwanese restaurant with some amazing food.
The city is so international that you can have any food you want.
13. Tea
They love tea and fruit drinks. Drink shops are never hard to find.
The big thing to do on the weekend is to hang out at a night market. There's lots of fun food to try.
11. Masks
When the Taiwanese are sick, they wear a mask to prevent germs from spreading.
They also go to the doctor pretty frequently (hypochondriacs?) They are very health-conscious and love to take advantage of their efficient universal health care system.
Smells don't bother the Taiwanese. I would consider wearing a mask just to walk down the street. The "sidewalks" are right over the open sewers. This came to me as a big surprise considering it's a wealthy country. The stinky tofu's pretty awful too.
9. Low prices
The dollar goes far here and labor is really cheap. It's a win-win situation: it's a nice, wealthy country and everything is cheaper.
8. Cheap, efficient transportation
The Taiwanese government gets some things very right, including transportation. The taipei subway system is one of the few systems in the world that actually makes a profit.
Taiwan retained more of the Buddhist/Confucious/Taoist roots that mainland China lost. The temples are usually filled with older people. Unfortunately, the new generations don't follow tradition as much.
Things need to be at least three times this size!
Interesting fact - there's more people on this island than all of Australia (23 million.) It's mostly urbanized because people love to cluster together in cities.
In urban areas, convenience stores can be found on every block. You can pay bills, use the internet in the cafe, get mail, get a meal, make copies, charge your transit card, call a taxi, and sometimes even drop off laundry!
4. Stunning scenery
You could spend the rest of your life discovering hikes, mountains, waterfalls, cliffs, beaches, and forests.
People in Taiwan are trained to work hard and obey the rules and play with their cute toys.
Also, businessmen don't try to rip you off because they want to establish good relationships with their clients.
2. Personality
This lil place is bursting with personality. Seems like anything goes, especially if it's cute (like Hello Kitty.)
1. The world's kindest, friendliest people
They're physically pushy in public, but don't let that fool you. They will bend over backwards to help you.
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