The list that follows is based strictly on my experiences in Taiwan, and while the list might seem facetious, it really isn’t. Taiwan is a bit like a crazy old uncle. He just doesn’t seem right in the head, but at the same time he’s a cool old dude.
- I love that you can make a right turn from a left-turn lane (and not be killed, either by traffic or by the road rage of another driver)
- I love that you never know which faucet will be hot and which one will be cold. Every visit to a new restroom is an adventure.
- I love that the garbage trucks play music and they sound just like ice cream trucks back home.
- I love that, when confronted with a solid wall of stopped traffic in front, a taxi driver’s first instinct isn’t to slow down, but to go around at full speed.
- I love that when you go to the men’s restroom you never know if there’s going to be a woman in there – either cleaning around your feet or assisting her son.
- I love that the men’s rooms often have big windows in front of the urinals so that you can look out at the city scape (if you’re on an upper floor) or passersby on the street (if you’re on ground level) while urinating.
- I love how they’ll queue 40 deep for the tiniest scrap of a free sample at Costco.
- I love how they’ll wait 30 minutes to eat at a “famous” restaurant, when a near identical one will be next door and have no business at all.
- I love that they have robot traffic flags-men at road construction sites.
- I love how some people actually park their cars in their living rooms.
- I love their compulsive obsession of placing and then removing silverware – without you ever having used it – in some bizarre choreographed fashion at “western” restaurants.
- I love how there is no residential street small enough that someone doesn’t have a business front in his home.
- I love how some buildings have car elevators and turntables. It’s just like the flippin’ Bat Cave!
- I love how businesses keep their air conditioning at 50ºF, when outside it’s 95ºF, but if it’s only 70ºF outside, they’ll be wearing Everest-rated parkas.