Facets About Taipei

I guess, I won't do justice to my trip if I don't talk more about the interesting things in this bustling city of Taipei. Some after-trip thoughts about the culture, architecture and idiosyncrasies.

Before I begin, I think, I should add a disclaimer - The below are merely what I observed in Taipei. It is not a full representative of the place.

1. The toilet cisterns do not take in toilet paper, tissue paper and whatever rubbish. Perhaps, the pipes underground are too small, or too fragile? Mainly, though, I believe that they are just very environmentally friendly.

2. Recycle bins for various objects are all over the place, and rubbish bins are labelled if they are for every kind of junk, or specific junk. Yep, they are quite organised. And, they seem to use those recycle bins quite seriously!

3. People are very colourful in their dressing. They don't seem to like plain colours. There must be stripes, dots, etc of some sort.

4. They speak mainly mandarin, hokkien, hakka and minnanese. The MRT train announcements also revolve around this few dialects.

5. They speak American - accented English a la mei yu.

6. They seem to love to read. Chen pin bookstore cum departmental stores are all over the place.

7. Quite a number of mountains.

8. Sales people have saccharine sweet and persuasive antics. Customer service is definitely very good. (which i find surprising, thought it was just towards tourists)

9. Buildings are rather old, to the extent of dilapidated. Cost of living is low. Salary is also low. Minimum income for a gold credit card is approx S$9K per annum (vis a vis S'pore)

10. The only acceptable coffee you can find is at cafes such as Starbucks, Dante's Coffee and those NT35 coffee stalls....the rest, CMI! Boo hoo hoo....

11. Shilin night market is any girl's paradise. Wufenpu wholesale market, provided you buy in bulk.

12. Those with a penchance for sweet stuff and fruits will find this place heavenly. They give you extra topping for milk for your ice shavings.

13. Snacks galore, food galore and nuff said. Just eat!

14. If you are in a hurry, forget about the lifts at the MRT stations....walk is faster. Even the cleaning auntie told us to walk "kah ging". =p

That should be the main points...till I think of more...