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cleanliness (of the ground). the streets are clear of litter, the corners clear of beggars, even the public transit stations seem to repel dirt.
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dirtiness (of the exterior of the buildings). the windows have muck, the walls have grime, and everything just looks… bad. even fairly upscale places, like hotels or restaurants, have exteriors matching some of the worst parts of american cities.
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the convenience stores are excellent. clean, neat, clearly-but-not-harshly lit, mostly open 24/7, with surprisingly wide options — fresh fruit, good sandwiches, tea, etc. you can pay your bills there, get packages delivered there, or get cash at their ATMs. there’s one on almost every block — either 7/11 or Family Mart.
a woman paying her bills at a Family Mart
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the milk is fake. see this carton of milk, below? the one that says “I 🤍 MILK” at the bottom? with a “PROTEIN” label on the front, and the number 5 on the top half-covered by a sticker that sorta looks like it could be indicating 5%/whole milk?
oh, you thought this was milk?
not milk. in fact, the majority of items in convenience or grocery stores that look quite a bit like milk are in fact made of cardboard some material that’s never seen the inside of a cow’s udder.
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in some countries — germany, france, mexico — practically everyone speaks english, or at least enough english for you to ask for directions, order at a restaurant. not in taiwan: the vast majority don’t speak any english at all.
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the language change causes some funny confusions. sometimes there will be english writing on store signs, or sweaters, that’s strange (”College Summer”), nonsensical (”Have Beautiful Mind”), or even just total gibberish (”Arshikjh”).
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one thing that facilitates the cleanliness on the streets is the municipal waste system. nobody brings their trash out to the curb for a garbage truck to clear; instead, the garbage truck will stop at designated places at designated times, play a jingle sort of like american ice cream trucks, loudly enough for the whole neighborhood to hear, and the residents of the whole block will stream out of their homes with all of their trash.
[ sound on to hear the trash truck’s jingle ]
a video of a trash truck on a beach in kaohsiung
a video of a trash truck on a beach in kaohsiung
this also serves an important social role: neighbors repeatedly see each other, wait in line for a minute or two and chat. seems especially useful for the elderly. (h/t josh wilkes for commentary here)
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again on trash. surprisingly, especially given the lack of litter, there are almost no public trash cans — anywhere, not even available at stores. often, i would need to explicitly ask a store clerk to throw something out for me. everyone is expected to “keep track of their own trash.” this caused me to reflect on how powerful norms are causing the outcomes, rather than e.g. good public policy: it’s actually quite difficult to get rid of trash on the street in a trash can, and yet peoples’ response is to hold onto it instead of littering. very surprising to me!
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the food is cheap and good.
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i’m 5’10”. the average height in the US is 5’9” — when i hang out with other jews, i’m a bit taller than average. but here, i’m quite tall. on the public transit, i can consistently see over almost everyone’s head.
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there’s less racial diversity here than i expected, and i didn’t expect much. in my first week here, i saw maybe 20-40 caucasians, and two — two! — black people. i’m sure there was a greater diversity of asian folks than i could pick up on, though.
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i sometimes got stared at, probably for being a “wéigǔo rén” (foreigner). or maybe for the blue eyes. not frequently, maybe 1/50 people who would glance in my direction on the street.
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god, the public transit is good, i wish we had half as good public transit in the US. the main train system was an above-ground set of lines called the MRT. trains arrive every couple minutes, so if you miss your train you don’t have to wait long for the next one. the stations aren’t just kept clean (as i said earlier), but are also just generally a joy to use: there are maps in exactly the places there need to be; the turnstyles make a joyful little ding when you use them, and burst open quickly when you swipe a card; there are small markers on the ground where the doors of the subway cars will open indicating where people waiting in the station ought to stand in order to let those on the cars out, and people actually stand in neat little lines instead of crowding the openings. the UX is incredible, and obviously built for a people who care about maintaining social fabric.
an MRT station entrance
the only thing i found lacking was the signage in the stations. in the US, if you peek from a subway car into the “Main St” station, you’ll see “MAIN ST MAIN ST MAIN ST” plastered everywhere in huge font. in taiwan, there might be one or two small “main st” signs demurely hidden behind a wall. this seems obviously bad to me — riders want to be able to glance outside and instantly know at what stop they are.
Alethios has a great essay that goes into more depth on the MRT & its design choices.
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the high-speed rail is exactly what you expect.
