Smelling the roses through rose colored glasses

Sorry for the delay in posting, everyone. We've been having trouble with our internet connection the past couple of days, but we've got it working now.

01Another Look Out the Window

The first piece of news I have to share is about the weather. It's been simply heavenly lately. After two days of bright sunshine and 79-degree weather, I'm as chipper as a pig-tailed humdinger. When the sun shines in Taipei, the trees are extra green, the food tastes extra good, and the mountains actually smile at you. Needless to say, the beautiful weather has put me in a really good mood.

I have decided that this entry is going to be about a few little things that are really special about Taiwan. Let me start with the food. Now, I'm afraid that all the talk of eating cow tongue, chicken feet, and snake by-product has given some of you the impression that the cuisine here is less than appetizing. Nothing could be farther from the truth. While the Taiwanese can be rather, shall we say, adventurous, with their cooking, on the whole, the food is absolutely amazing. No matter what you find before you on your plate, you can be sure that someone has invested a lot of time, effort, and creativity into making it taste just the way it does. For example, beef noodle soup is considered by many to be an art form. There are people here who have earned PhDs in wontons. Achieving the perfect steamed dumpling, with dough as succulent as a baby's bottom and tantalizing fillings of spiced pork and sausage, will consume the livelihood of an entire family. The most wonderful part of it all is that I am just as enthusiastic about consuming Taiwanese cooking as the Taiwanese are about putting it in my bowl. It has been a beautiful relationship so far. (For the record, I have never eaten a baby's bottom, but the simile seemed fitting. I could be wrong.)

02Beef Noodle Soup

The second thing I want to write about is the remarkable level of efficiency and order that the Taiwanese have achieved, while at the same time maintaining an air of calm. It's amazing. The Taiwanese work incredibly long hours. Businesses stay open until long after dark. Most grocery stores are open 24 hours a day. The night markets are packed until after midnight, every night of the week. By all measures, these people should be having nervous breakdowns left and right. Yet, the venders, shopkeepers, and salespeople always seem to be upbeat, friendly, and accommodating. You never see them lose their cool. I don't know how they do it.

Then there's the concept of uniforms. They love them here. Walk into a bank, and everyone in there is wearing the same red blazer. School classes walk down the street and every student has the same windbreaker on. It's really exciting when two different classes are crossing the street at the same time but in opposite directions. You see a wave of red and a wave of black approaching each other. For a few moments, the street looks like a giant checkerboard, and then the individual colors emerge again on opposite sides of the street. And so far, I haven't detected any resentment to the concept of wearing uniforms, neither in the banks nor in the school classes. Then again, I'm learning that the Taiwanese are not ones to express resentment out in the open.

03Shrimp Wonton Soup

By far, the most remarkable example of efficiency I have come across in Taiwan is the handling of commuter traffic in the MRT (subway). The busiest station is called Taipei Main Station, which is the intersection of the two main lines running from East to West and from North to South. As you can imagine, in a city of 2.65 million people, Taipei Main Station gets pretty crowded during rush hour. In fact, the whole system would come to a crashing halt if there weren't some mechanism for maintaining order. So it's 9 am on Monday morning and there are way more people standing on the platform than can fit into the next train. Not to worry. The transit authority has painted lanes on the subway floor that correspond exactly to where the doors on the train will be when it arrives. Instead of everybody mauling each other for a position on the platform that will secure them entry when the train arrives, which is what I normally do, the commuters line up patiently in their lanes. When the train arrives, as many people pack on as space allows, and the rest wait patiently until the next train. The first time I witnessed this process, I couldn't believe my eyes. Fantastic!

05Take Your Places Everyone

To be continued...