taiwan. a thirteen hour trip there, ten back.
the country is filled every square inch with buildings, roads, cars, motorcycles, and people. it's a country of food, shopping, walking, and driving. it's like a different world. the food is different, money is different, weather is different, street signs are different, the night life is different. health care and hospitals are different too.
driving- traffic lights? whatever. the drivers go wherever they want, whenever they want. a horn is a normal sound. it means "dude, i'm squeezing by. you hit me, it's your problem. i've warned you," not "get off the road you *bleeeeep!*" and when i say squeeze... i mean SQUEEZE. about three inches room between each car. the cars follow behind each other about a foot apart. there's no such thing as tail gating. that's the way they drive. seat belts are only worn on the freeway by the front seat passengers. most people stuff the seat belts away in the seats cuz they're "not necessary." parallel parking is like driving straight. all spaces are basically parallel parking. in parking garages people drive at 30+mph. to ensure a place to park in an apartment complex, a space is bought. my aunt and uncle bought two spaces. total cost? well... they were NT2.5 mil per... so it's NT5 milion. a bit more than $166,000. motorcycles are very common in taiwan. theyre found on the road, on the sidewalk, alley ways... everywhere. as many as four people/kids/animals are crammed on to a motorcycle. good thing, tho, is that helmets are now required. oh yes. driving age? no sooner than 18 years old.
walking- people don't have the right of way. jay walking's legal, but if you're hit... tuff noogies for you. on walkways motorcycles'll meep at you then run you over if you don't get out of the way. course it's dangerous, but it's more convenient to walk cuz everything's so close by. but if it's far... just take a taxi.
street signs- the signs in taiwan are differnt. they're still the basic diamondish shape, but they're all bright orange. not yellow or that new ugly neon green yellow... orange. like the construction worker signs. crosswalks at stoplights are fun. the signs are like america... red top is stop and the green bottom's go. but the top's a little red man, not a hand. the bottom's the cute on.e it's a little man who runs. yeah. an animated sign :) while the little man is running, the top part is a timer counting down from 60 to show how much time i sleft to cross. working signs are men in them chinese hats shoveling dirt or manure or whatever... a pile of stuff. yeah. normal crosswalks are one big bubbly dude and a little bubbly dude next to 'm.
eating- the chinese are little... but whoo, do they eat. from beans to beef, tofu to toads, sheep to snakes, fresh fish to stinkie fruit... they EAT. if you're hungry you just have to walk a foot or two and a store'll come on by. or you can stop by at a cart on the street. street vendors are everywhere. chinese like a thing called "tzou doh foo" ("stinkie tofu.") whoo nelly, the name is right. you gotta smell it to understand. same with stinking fruit. it's this spiney thing that looks a puffer fish blown up but it's fruit... and smells like... ew. blech. but they eat it. my favorite thing is bought from vendors. it's called "gee dan gow" ("chicken cakes.") they're little cakes shaped inthe shape of a chicken egg. some are made with fillings inside like butter, cream, and my favorite... peanut butter. there are also salty ones and ones made with fruit, but i haven't tried them. another good thing i sa drink called "dzin joo nai tzah." it's called "pearl milk tea" here but nothing here compares to the stuff in taiwan. that's fresh, nummy, and cheap. sometimes it can be less than a buck a pop. hot or cold, you can alwyas find something to eat.
quickie mart- "7-11", "hi-life"... whatever you wanna call 'm. convenience stores are always around the corner. or... on the corner, rather. and they're open 24 hours so you can always get stuff at any hour.
money- currency in taiwan is called an "NT;" a New Taiwan dollar. currently it's about NT30.1 per every dollar ($1.00). it varies, tho, from as low as NT20 to at most NT40. (the higer the better :) ) prices are low for stuff so going thre you get rich quick. pens and pencils are NT10-NT40 and food is from NT10-NT60 for small things. drinks are NT30-50. but even tho $50 becomes NT1500... it leaves your pocket in about ten seconds. there's so much stuff to get!
weather- it's really polluted in taiwan. for a tiny country there are a lot of cars and motor vehicles. sewers are plentiful and the air... well... my sister named taiwan "the giant urinal." it's a tropical, humid place an dit's always sticky. in the summer it's unbearable. showering five times a day dosn't help. after you turn off the water you see that you're sweating and already getting sticky. it randomly rains and it cleans the air a bit. ofcourse it's worse than acid rain and it can burn a hole thru your head (really? no. not really) but it's nice. sometimes the rain is hot tho and outside it's hot with buring rain. other times it'll be hot out and the sun is shining and cool rain falls. that's nice. rain falls hard. one second it'll be dry and the next you're soaked. the odd thing, tho, is that although it's really moist and humid, staying in tawian you get really parched and thirsty.
shopping- next to food places, taiwan is plentiful in places to shop. mazes of stands, walking vendors, shops, department stores/malls, stores, you name it. it's all foofy girly stuff, too. fashionable shirts, tanks, pants, dresses and skirts, shorts, socks, even underwear, jewelry, hair stuff, makeup... everything. name brands are there too. oh yes. and mustn't forget the ever popular and famous chinese mock brands. such favortes as... "gk" ("ck,") "gaucci" ("gucci,") "T&T" ("M&M's,") and many more.
night life- saratoga's night life consists of... uh... nothing. maybe a party. or a movie at the latest of 10pm. or maybe a dinner at the restaraunt when soup is $15 a bowl. los gatos is a bit better. there's a downtown with more than just expensive restaraunts and places to walk around and yuppie stores. but they all close around 8pm, leaving nothing to do afterwards. well... 8pm is when things open and the night becomes alive. vendors whip out their carts and merchandise (illegally... the law is that you need a store to sell) and malls are open till late late late. they close betwee 11pm-12am and the shopping squares or little shops and vendors close down at an average of 3am. some as late (early?) as 5am. curfew in cali is 11:30pm for 17 years and younger (meh. curfew shmurfew...) and in taiwan it's 12am, but it's inforced. ofcourse it's not much more of a difference, half an hour, but hey... there's more to do there.
health- chinese doctors are awesome. they check your pulse and can tell if you have stomach problems, kidney problems, why your head hurts. a touch of the wrist and they can tell you if you're gonna die... and why. they tell you the core of your life long asthma problem in 30 seconds. the one i went to recently checked the tongue and the eyes. medication is a mixture of 5-15 different herbs boiled in a pot and... dranked. or chugged. it's the nastiest, bitterst thing on earth. last time i couldn't take it. too gross. but i'm gonna try again :p hospitals are efficient. talking to a doctor is unheard of. my mom asked the doctor tons of questions about what was wrong wtih me, what he was prescribing, and chit chat stuff and he gave her this look of death. i had to smack her and nudge her to get her to shut up cuz i was fraid he'd perscrive me rat poison or something cuz she pissed him off. a psych doctor sees about forty patients in two hours. here? it's about... oh... two. ha. imagine how many people it'll be for a normal doctor... last time i had a bug bite the size of my head (mosquitoes are evil... and i'm mongolly allergic too. they're EVERYWHERE, speshly in the summer) and in five minutes the doctor'd checked it out, gave my mom the look of death, determined what it was from, and perscribed me my rat poison. ofcourse then i had to wait for the pharmacy (right downstairs) to make it, but no biggie. the doctor'd been so quick that i could wait for the pharmacist to make it five tmes. oh! the medication. chinese (hospital) medications are so potent and effectivethat they give just one week's supply (max) and send you on your merry way. in exactly one week (maybe even less) you're cured.
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