. . . THEN I WILL TELL YOU ABOUT HOW HALF OF TAIWAN REFUSES TO INSTALL TOILETS AND MAKES YOU USE HOLES IN THE GROUND.
Or maybe about the culture of the CONVENIENCE STORE ~ Because Taiwan was owned by Japan for a long time, we still have Japanese signs and stuff everywhere. I don't know if the convenience store was influenced by Japan, but it's pretty much identical to the ones you might be familiar with due to anime stuff or whatever. Pretty much everything can be found there! You can buy bus/rail tickets, you can use the fax and copy machine, they sell pre-prepared foods like boiled eggs and rice wraps and assorted snack type foods like that, and then there are the things you expect from a convenience store. If you're really lame, you can run in with your cold lunch and ask them to microwave it for you. Whenever you run in, they will say, "Hwang ying guang ling" which means "welcome to come in and look around" and when you leave "thank you for coming in and looking around". This is standard practice for all stores.
This was lame information but I will give something more interesting now that I found out a while ago. The city I'm in is called Kaohsiung, which translates to 'high hero'. The city was originally called 'Dagoh', which means 'beat the dog'. When the Japanese took over, they were like 'f, no, we can't have a city called beat the dog that's repulsive wtf is wrong with you Taiwanese aborigines'. To be fair 'dagoh' meant something else in the aboriginal language but it was represented by the symbols for 'beat' and 'dog'. Regardless, both names are pronounced 'Takao' in Japanese, so they were like, OK your city is now High Hero, deal with it. Occasionally, you'll still see signs that say 'beat the dog', and you have to know enough about Taiwan history to know that this menas 'Kaohsiung'. Or if you know Japanese.
And that is all for now. I apologize for lameness.
lmfaosdc GOD I KNOW TELL ME ABOUT IT I remember being so confused when I was like 11 and seeing that. SO. CONFUSED.
Oooh. *LEARNS THINGS* Do you know what Dagoh originally meant, then? How long was it occupied by Japan?
My trip has been pretty fabulous so far! I've met some truly awesome people and not even the horror of being on a Greyhound bus for 3 months can ruin that. I just arrived in Baltimore today after a brief stop outside of Nashville on my way from Albuquerque. I think tomorrow I'm going to try and stop being such a lazy ass and upload what few photos I remembered to take! I'll make sure to post a link in my eljay when I do. ♥
Or maybe about the culture of the CONVENIENCE STORE ~
Because Taiwan was owned by Japan for a long time, we still have Japanese signs and stuff everywhere. I don't know if the convenience store was influenced by Japan, but it's pretty much identical to the ones you might be familiar with due to anime stuff or whatever. Pretty much everything can be found there! You can buy bus/rail tickets, you can use the fax and copy machine, they sell pre-prepared foods like boiled eggs and rice wraps and assorted snack type foods like that, and then there are the things you expect from a convenience store. If you're really lame, you can run in with your cold lunch and ask them to microwave it for you. Whenever you run in, they will say, "Hwang ying guang ling" which means "welcome to come in and look around" and when you leave "thank you for coming in and looking around". This is standard practice for all stores.
This was lame information but I will give something more interesting now that I found out a while ago. The city I'm in is called Kaohsiung, which translates to 'high hero'. The city was originally called 'Dagoh', which means 'beat the dog'. When the Japanese took over, they were like 'f, no, we can't have a city called beat the dog that's repulsive wtf is wrong with you Taiwanese aborigines'. To be fair 'dagoh' meant something else in the aboriginal language but it was represented by the symbols for 'beat' and 'dog'. Regardless, both names are pronounced 'Takao' in Japanese, so they were like, OK your city is now High Hero, deal with it. Occasionally, you'll still see signs that say 'beat the dog', and you have to know enough about Taiwan history to know that this menas 'Kaohsiung'. Or if you know Japanese.
And that is all for now. I apologize for lameness.
Tell me about your trip!
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Oooh. *LEARNS THINGS* Do you know what Dagoh originally meant, then? How long was it occupied by Japan?
My trip has been pretty fabulous so far! I've met some truly awesome people and not even the horror of being on a Greyhound bus for 3 months can ruin that. I just arrived in Baltimore today after a brief stop outside of Nashville on my way from Albuquerque. I think tomorrow I'm going to try and stop being such a lazy ass and upload what few photos I remembered to take! I'll make sure to post a link in my eljay when I do. ♥
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