Long time no blog... perhaps since I came back from Taiwan, I go to work before the sun rises and return home after the sun sets daily. Nonetheless, it was an enriching trip. Time for some photos and interesting observations of a foreigner in Taiwan.

Motorcycles or 机车 as they call it in Taiwan, is the main mode of transport. And I wonder if helmets a must for motorcyclists. Look at the image above, it reminds me of the scene I saw at Cambodia where a family shares a motorbike. Many motorcyclists also wear a face mask due to the highly polluted air and streets of Taiwan too.

This is another interesting image of the motorcycle culture in Taiwan. Along the side of the roads are parking lots for bikes. You can see a never ending stretch of bikes on the left side of the road but it is empty on the right side even though there are designated lots (white boxes) for them. Uncle Ma, the local who brought us around, told us perhaps the vans/trucks uses the right side to unload goods so to prevent damages to their bikes they cluster to the other side. As I travel around in Taipei, I notice more of such unwritten rules. Nonetheless, parking on the side of the roads is very common in Taipei compared to Singapore.

We saw a Christmas tree in the junction of the old street even though its February and Christmas is over for more than a month. Yet it is only a few days after 元宵 and we can't find lanterns around the streets anymore.