Initial thoughts in Taiwan
Almost having been in Taiwan for two days, here are some things I've noticed/thought:
There are tons of people on mopeds. It's much more common than seeing motorcyclists like in the US. I think it's so awesome to see young and old people alike zooming around on the mopeds.
On that note, driving in Taiwan is freaky! Not as bad as in China, where it's like people don't understand what red light/green light means. But because of the people on mopeds, the random pedestrians (jaywalking...), and narrow roads, there's always something to be taken surprise by. Despite this, it seems the drivers have a lot of control over these high-stress situations. (Everyone drives crazy, and everyone knows everyone drives crazy, so they already know they have to be super cautious??)
Additionally.... there's no law that the back passengers in a car have to wear seatbelts o_0 I wear them anyway but the ones in Helen's dad's van don't work... uhhhh!
By far, the most common store I've seen is 7-11. As Helen puts it, it's truly a convenience store in that you pretty much can do anything from there. You can even buy concert tickets and pay for your parking fees there. XD
There's probably no way I won't gain weight in Taiwan with the food being so cheap, and in turn, having so much food. We do a bit of walking but I haven't done enough to work off the intake XD
On the plus side (?), I'll probably lose it all, and possibly more, when I go to Japan because the cost of everything is so high/I'm lazy to make food. And I'll still have to do a lot of walking.
I feel like I might be excessively talking to people on AIM/Gmail/random stuff (surprisingly not facebook) just because I need to feel connected to people back in the US.
[edit:
LOL. As Andy mentioned, yes... night markets and more food. And cheap cute clothes! I need to go back :0 When I went I didn't have any cash... and I was full so there was no incentive to get the food. I know, sadface, huh?
And I don't know how I forgot this (perhaps my brain's been fried), but it's friggen hot! Man. Even Phoenix, AZ's 100 degree weather doesn't feel this horrible. It's all cuz of the crazy humidity that you can't catch a break from the heat, even with a breeze! There's no place for the sweat to evaporate to T_T
OH. And quite possibly the best random thing that happened was getting upgraded to business class with Helen. :D We weren't sitting next to each other w/ our original seats, and we asked if there were any way we could at the check-in. When we tried to board, it didn't accept our tickets and I freaked out at first but then they handed me a new ticket w/ pretty blue colors and I was like... OHH-KAY! XD I saw Helen and then I knew it was because of our request :) Unfortunately, I'll be traveling by myself on the rest of my flights and that means no random surprises like that.
]
There are tons of people on mopeds. It's much more common than seeing motorcyclists like in the US. I think it's so awesome to see young and old people alike zooming around on the mopeds.
On that note, driving in Taiwan is freaky! Not as bad as in China, where it's like people don't understand what red light/green light means. But because of the people on mopeds, the random pedestrians (jaywalking...), and narrow roads, there's always something to be taken surprise by. Despite this, it seems the drivers have a lot of control over these high-stress situations. (Everyone drives crazy, and everyone knows everyone drives crazy, so they already know they have to be super cautious??)
Additionally.... there's no law that the back passengers in a car have to wear seatbelts o_0 I wear them anyway but the ones in Helen's dad's van don't work... uhhhh!
By far, the most common store I've seen is 7-11. As Helen puts it, it's truly a convenience store in that you pretty much can do anything from there. You can even buy concert tickets and pay for your parking fees there. XD
There's probably no way I won't gain weight in Taiwan with the food being so cheap, and in turn, having so much food. We do a bit of walking but I haven't done enough to work off the intake XD
On the plus side (?), I'll probably lose it all, and possibly more, when I go to Japan because the cost of everything is so high/I'm lazy to make food. And I'll still have to do a lot of walking.
I feel like I might be excessively talking to people on AIM/Gmail/random stuff (surprisingly not facebook) just because I need to feel connected to people back in the US.
[edit:
LOL. As Andy mentioned, yes... night markets and more food. And cheap cute clothes! I need to go back :0 When I went I didn't have any cash... and I was full so there was no incentive to get the food. I know, sadface, huh?
And I don't know how I forgot this (perhaps my brain's been fried), but it's friggen hot! Man. Even Phoenix, AZ's 100 degree weather doesn't feel this horrible. It's all cuz of the crazy humidity that you can't catch a break from the heat, even with a breeze! There's no place for the sweat to evaporate to T_T
OH. And quite possibly the best random thing that happened was getting upgraded to business class with Helen. :D We weren't sitting next to each other w/ our original seats, and we asked if there were any way we could at the check-in. When we tried to board, it didn't accept our tickets and I freaked out at first but then they handed me a new ticket w/ pretty blue colors and I was like... OHH-KAY! XD I saw Helen and then I knew it was because of our request :) Unfortunately, I'll be traveling by myself on the rest of my flights and that means no random surprises like that.
]