at our most recent "vacation" in Taiwan. It wasn't really a vacation vacation as we didn't really do any touristy stuff. I guess that's the problem when our reasons for returning the last time and this time have been major events in our lives (marriage and Devon's first birthday) and the time between each visit is so long (bit over two years) so the majority of our schedule has been taken up with being treated to lunch or dinner with relatives and friends. Not necessarily a bad thing but we're pretty much fed up (pun intended) with it after 2 and a half weeks.
Our latest culinary conquest earlier tonight was the second of the two best mala hotpot places that I had mentioned in my earlier post. I figured since we probably weren't going to be back for another 2 years that we should try both before we left this time around. Named "Tripod King" for their unique, rustic-looking brass hotpots, they were quite yummy as well. I couldn't really tell the difference in the mala portions between them and Old Sichuan but Erin liked this one better. The restaurant itself seemed a bit classier than Old Sichuan and I found it pretty amusing to see that the waitresses here would do an old-style deep bow (butt up, 90 degree angle) towards us every time they came by for anything. Took our order, bow. Brought a dish, bow. Answered a question, bow. Brought another dish, bow. Removed a dish, bow. I really felt sorry for their backs. But they're definitely a good place to gorge yourself silly in even though they did politely kick us out after an hour and forty minutes. =)
Anyway, just some random musings that have crossed my mind during the past few weeks:
The weather here this time around has really disappointed me. Temperature-wise it's been fantastic. Highs in the low 80's, lows in the upper 60's, low 70's. It's a little odd though cause I'm the only walking around in t-shirt and shorts. Everyone else is bundled up in jackets and scarves which is just mind-boggling. Temperature during our 3-day trip up to Taipei was about 10 degrees cooler so that warranted jeans and a light jacket for evenings. So why am I disappointed? Cause the sky isn't blue. For the past 2 and a half weeks I think I've only noticed 2 or 3 days where the sky was blue. Most of the time (not counting the overcast days when it was rainy/drizzly), there's this weird white haze over everything. I asked my Dad about it and he snorted and said it was pollution. Now Kaohsiung is the 3rd largest city in Taiwan and comparing it to Taipei in terms of traffic and people density makes it pretty noticeable that this is a small city but to have even such a small city covered almost constantly in white fog, that's just terrible. The air quality in the cities is definitely nowhere on par with what we're used to back on the US East Coast although I guess residents of LA probably wouldn't miss a beat. Even Erin says she misses the US for the cleaner air.
I still can't stand the department store salespeople here. Nothing against the salespeople themselves, it's the sales culture they have here. Basically they're way, waaaaay too attentive. I'm used to the US style where the shopper is basically left alone until you need something and have to hunt them down and have them ignore you. Here, you're greeted when you wander into the section of the store that the salesperson is assigned to which means you're greeted a lot as you wander throughout the store. And then they'll ask if you need any help and if not they'll often still loiter around just in case. That just creates undue pressure for those of us who aren't really looking for anything in particular and just want to browse. What makes it even worse is that since we're on vacation, we're going to these stores during the weekday when all the locals are at work so often the entire floor is devoid of shoppers except for us and a few others. So you've got a whole floor of salespeople just standing around, eye'ing us in case we enter their territory so that they can serve us.
On the flip side of the coin, customer service here is pretty impeccable. Everyone's very courteous and helpful. We've spent a lot of time browsing the department stores (along with Taiwan's largest mall) this time around. Not because we were buying loads of stuff, but because it was the most convenient type of day trip that we could take with Devon. All the department stores here in Taiwan have maternity areas (typically on the floor where kid's clothes and toys are sold) where mothers can retire to with their kids to have a quiet (relatively) and out-of-sight place to breastfeed and change diapers. It's pretty great and something I wish the malls in the US would pick up on. While I support the whole "free to breast-feed in public" kick that US women are up in arms over, personally, Erin and I prefer more private environments to do so. And having to change your kid's diaper in a public restroom on a pulldown plastic wall slab doesn't quite compare to a not-as-frequently-traversed room with padded and partitioned sections specifically for diaper changing. Plus some of the department stores have small play gyms for the kids as well which works well since at his age, Devon doesn't appreciate being tied up in his stroller for hours on end anymore.
Driving in Taiwan (or in our case, watching other people drive us) is always an interesting experience. While the road test in Taiwan is possibly more difficult than in the US (S-turn, forward and reverse???), I don't think anyone follows the actual rules of the road once they get their license. You really have to be on your toes every second while driving here. I don't think there's as much road rage here because you're getting cut off constantly anyway so people are used to it. I actually would like to putter around the city on a scooter but I'd need to get a license first and my parents would probably have a heart attack if I told them that's what I wanted to do.
Dentistry in Taiwan is a bit different as well. Besides being much cheaper (I had a cleaning done and 6 small cavities filled/redone for a bit over $160), the equipment is state of the art as well and the assistants are cute. The peculiar thing is that instead of just clipping a bib around your neck that covers your upper chest area like they do here, they place one on your face instead with just a hole for your mouth. So throughout the whole procedure you don't see a damn thing except the paper covering your face. But the dentist works quickly and I was in and out in like half an hour.
