Taiwan Fact: In Taiwan, Santa is called Shèng Dàn Lǎo Gōng Gōng, which means "Christmas Old Grandfather". I believe in China he's called Shèng Dàn Lǎo Rén, which, more sterilely but maybe more charmingly, means "Christmas Old Person ( Read more... )

Taiwan Fact: As of Sunday, Taiwan enacted an indoor smoking ban. Which also includes parks, it would seem. Jordan, hermit that she is, had no idea about this until Sunday morning when I said something like "My goodness! 1/11, no more smoking!" and in just a few hours she was scolded (in Chinese by ordinary folk) for smoking in Da'an park. The ( Read more... )

Taiwan Fact: Up until about six years ago, the workweek in Taiwan was six days long. As someone who works less than full time (around 30 hours a week, though I get paid for 22), this sounds like slavery ( Read more... )

Taiwan Fact: The Taipei Metropolitan Rapid Transit (MRT) ceases service at midnight. But only kind of. I was still about 15min from home on Saturday at midnight. But there were still people waiting on the platforms, and I assumed correctly that they knew better than I did if a train would be coming. I thought I might have to catch a cab at my ( Read more... )