It’s been so wet that taking out the big cameras has been impractical, but I usually keep my wife’s new Canon SD1000 handy. It’s small enough to fit in my pocket or on my belt. I went out a few minutes ago just to run to the 7-11 for a Coke and didn’t bother to take it with me. Mistake.
Taipei is always a city of surprises. Most of those surprises involve the populations almost playful disregard for anything resembling the law or basic rules of common courtesy. I say playful because no one seemed bothered by it and take it good-naturedly, presumably because they’ll disregard the next person just as fast as they themselves were disregarded.
If you see a “no parking†sign, someone will be parked in front of it, even if the sign is painted on someone’s front gate and they have no other way to get out. If there’s a no jaywalking sign, you can bet someone will be jaywalking there.
I was shocked to learn that, on Heping Rd they’ve started to install covered bus stops!. It seems like a great idea to me, but in Taipei there’s always someone ready to take advantage of it. On my way to the 7-11 I passed one of the new covered stops, which is now being used as covered scooter parking. True, there’s no sign saying, “don’t park your scooter under the bus stopâ€, but it shows a complete disregard for the people who might be using the bus stop for something like… oh, I don’t know… how about waiting for a bus and trying to stay out of the rain?
I also missed a photo of the female construction worker coming off a job site. Nothing special about her except that she was kited up in the standard construction gear: Hard hat, t-shirt, lifting belt, blue jeans and bright pink “Hello Kitty†wellingtons.