Taiwan Culture

When you type “living in Taiwan” into the search bar, you are going to get a lot of info on why you should live here. The list usually includes the cost of living, the scenery, how nice the people are, how easy it is to find jobs (for Westerners that is), the weather is great, the girls are great, the food is an interesting, and you get to experience Taiwanese culture.

People are right, the cost of living is quite nice here. Even in Taipei, you can afford an apartment, metro fees, and eating out at street vendors every meal with money left over for travel, clothing, or fun. It’s also true in rural Taiwan, because there is no place to have fun. There are no coffee shops to sit and drink coffee and there aren’t any bars to enjoy a beer after work. There are very little movie theatres and nice restaurants. But you find you spend all of your money on getting somewhere that has more things to do. Also “normal” items, like coffee (even ground coffee), decent cookies, beer (even local), wine, 100% juice (instead of 90% syrup), and tampons are quite a chunk of your salary comparatively.

The scenery is nice, if you live near the mountains or travel to the mountains often. Taiwanese value their green, jungle-like national parks, but really only national parks. You will not find a valued city park in rural areas. Instead you’ll find a bit of green over grown area and a pagoda that is occupied by homeless people, construction workers trying to take a break from the heat, or older couples trying to find a quiet space to get a quickie in (Matt found that one out the hard way-iiicccckkkk). Many small towns haven’t found the value of trees. Nor can I say that any of the towns or cities are pretty, they all look the same—they hired one city architect

People are the same as anywhere else in terms of kindness. I’ve met some very kind, helpful people and I have met some terribly rude people too. If I hadn’t met co-teachers and a select few other people, I would have assumed that most of the residents of central Taiwan were animal-abusing, led-foot, creepy people.

Jobs are easily found in the ESL sector. Some schools will even hire if you have no experience or TEFL certificate, though parents will be concerned and pull out their children, meaning you’ll get fired for loosing clients. Stated from previous blogs, you’ll notice that the hours (unless you get a public school job) are not so great, especially living in a rural area. You’ll eat 7-Eleven a lot, which is expensive.

I cannot comment on the girls, but Matt finds the giant contacts and fake eye-lashes a bit creepy. Says he is reminded of the X Files with the murdering doll. It reminds me of the creepy dolls on Dr. Who. I’m just saying, that the girls will be a lot prettier showing their natural beauty, but not so much that I can see butt cheeks, please.

I’ve commented on the food before, I am sure. MSG, soybean oil, boiled lettuce, no fresh veg because of dangerous and heavy pesticides (which I’m glad because I don’t want to find maggots in my food). I am tired of the taste of soybean oil though! Not to mention, the smell of sticky tofu (think rotting garbage). I mean, even Zimmerman can only stomach some recipes of it.

What sites don’t tell you about experiencing Taiwan culture, is that you cannot escape it. I know, I know, that is why you go somewhere, right? But when you go to some places, it is little Westlandia in your apartment, usually the only signs of living in a foreign country are the TV channels and the strange writing in your fridge. However, no matter how western your apartment may be, it will always be Taiwanese.

Sure, you can handle the Taiwanese layout of the shower being right at the bathroom door, or the washer being in the bathroom or on the balcony. Perhaps you can get used to the fact that you don’t have a kitchen and your fridge is full of used take out containers instead of produce because food attracts cockroaches and flies and you are only home once a week in time to throw the garbage onto the passing truck. However, I cannot get used to the sewage and exhaust smell that wafts through the apartment, or mold that grows because dehumidifiers are too expensive and heavy, or the greasy dirt that seems to find its way in.

Nor can I get over the sleepless nights and mornings because Taiwanese culture is so wonderfully traditional, that they have fireworks and ceremonies for every little thing at every hour. So if you want the complete immersion experience, Taiwan is the place for you.

The Long Awaited Hong Kong Post

Arrived in Hong Kong in the early morning and took the bus to the Tsim Sha Tsui district of Hong Kong. We got off at our stop and wandered around looking for the Chung King Mansion, which we thought to be a giant, derelict building by guest descriptions. After going in a circle, we started looking at signs instead of buildings, and found that the mansion wasn’t really that bad of a building (at least by Taiwanese standards). About the only correct guest description was concerning the queue to get on the elevator at night.

We entered the main area, full of money changers, peddlers, and so forth, feeling slightly uneasy to be around so many nationalities after only seeing Chinese/Taiwanese people for several months, and headed up to our amazingly clean hostel. We dropped our bags off and went in search of coffee, found a speedo sale, and the Kowloon Park behind the mosque. We wandered the quiet Temple Street (a market area, not a temple area) and all the way to Kowloon Pier. Totally not worth the long walk because of the construction and lack of activities to do once at the peir. My ankle and the heat began to bother me. We sat and watched tourists before heading back to the train station, to be told that we were no longer in Hong Kong, which confused us until we realized they meant the island. After resting, we found some dinner at a Turkish restaurant run by Pakistanis. Then we wandered to the waterfront for some nice night shots of the harbor lights.

The casinos especially look better at night.

We woke up later than expected the next day. We headed to Starbucks and to the MTR to the last stop on the blue line on Hong Kong island. We were disappointed by the long line to board the ferry to Macau, but we did it anyway. It was a great idea! We mistakenly got off the bus in the north of Macau, but it allowed us to see the less touristy areas and reach St. Paul’s ruins at dusk. Night time is the best way to see Macau, the lanterns add a nice touch to the beautiful Portuguese architecture and hide the derelict modern South East Asian buildings. We ate some Macanese food (soup and tea for me as my cold was starting to make itself known) and then got on the ferry at eleven.

Wednesday we headed for the peak in Hong Kong, but the line for the tram wound around the block twice, so we decided to explore Hong Kong instead. We spent several hours in the aviary and surrounding area of Hong Kong Park before settling on more McDonalds for lunch. We met up with a friend from Korea, now teaching in Hong Kong. From Time Square (a fancy mall, not an actual square), we headed to Happy Valley Horse Races. We bet on a few horses and enjoyed catching up.

Thursday I woke up with green liquid pouring from my nose and eyes. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t see. I was miserable.  However, we got up and decided to take the tram to the peak. We paid a little extra to visit the viewing platform on the peak—so not worth it. It is just as good of a view from down below, and way less crowded. On our way back we found the free zoo at Hong Kong Park as well as a pizza parlor that sold pizza by the slice. We met Tom (our friend from Korea) for dinner and had tacos just off the world’s longest covered escalator chain (how do these records get started). We called it an early night as I was feeling terrible and Matt was beginning to feel a cold coming on too.

Friday we spent in Kowloon Park, enjoying the small zoo and aviary. Mainly, I sat on a park bench in the sun and slept. Luckily, I managed to avoid having a fever as I went through the quarantine check at the airport back in Taipei. But as soon as we reached the hostel in Taipei I had a raging fever and a horrible cough. Naturally, we were sharing the room with two other people. Those poor people.

We woke up early and checked out of the hostel. We wandered to the nearest hospital, a colonial-looking building that is part of one of the universities in Taipei. After many friendly helpers, and having to check my own weight, height, blood pressure, and heart rate, I was able to see a doctor.  The doctor couldn’t really explain the green ooze from my eye and looked extremely shocked when I told him about it.

We managed to catch the train to Changhua just after my doctor’s visit and we headed back, happy to have a weekend to rest and recover from my cold.