Random Stuff II

Scooters, again.

These are everywhere, like I said earlier, and they all have 2 cycle engines. I suspect they are responsible for much of the haze over the city. They can get stinky when it warms up, and you’re out on the street on a weekday during rush hour. People sometimes wear these little cloth masks over their face while they ride, and they wind up looking like stormtroopers or something. This is almost always women, and you can find masks at lots of stores, often with fun designs on them. At the cat store I mentioned, they had them with a cat design.

Umbrellas Parasols

People carry umbrellas here, and use them against the sun. The problem is, this puts the points right at eye level for me. Ev has picked up this trick as well, and has many times poked me in the side of the head with it, and many more times nearly done so. People are worried about skin cancer, I presume, but I bet they’re even more worried about the color of their skin. Skin whitening creams are advertised heavily here. And the most common cosmetic surgery in the world is apparently “fixing” the eyes so they look more Caucasian.

Escalators

It’s a pretty firm rule in Taiwan that on escalators, if you want to stand, you stand on the right, leaving the left lane open for people who want to walk up. This is important for traffic in the train stations. It’s pretty rare to see a native forget.

Taxis

These are really cheap. A ride across town takes 100 - 200 dollars. The same train ride costs $20, but if the trains aren't going your way, this doesn't work. Taxis patrol the city, and it's really easy to hail one. But, it's best if you have someone write your destination in chinese characters. If I were a business hoping to draw tourists, I would publish prinable cards on my website, that people could print out and pass to the cab driver. Ev's roomate Patty wrote on a card for Ev something like "Hi, my name is Evelyn, and I'm very nice, and I live at xyz street, this district, the third alley back. Can you please take me home?" Drivers read it, look puzzled, then laugh. The official advice is for women to never ride in a cab alone at night (this by the way is essentially the only safety advice for anyone in any guidebook), but if they must, make a show of having a cellphone, and talking on it while riding. Make a show of writing down the cab number as well.