Author: Y C

Now this is pretty scary although not surprising given the obesity obsession recently in the US and elsewhere.

Quintessential NYC eats: Paying a Price for Doughnuts, Burgers and Pizza. So will all the food, you’ll die younger anyways! What a cruel and ironic twist. Not enough food, die of starvation. Too much food, die of obesity related illnesses – diabetes, heart disease etc. You can’t win.

I figure being Chinese and living in Taipei, you eat everything like gizzards, livers, butt, nose, ears, intestines, stomach, heart, feet, tendons bones, blood…. Nothing is wasted here, typical Chinese cooking. I say, if you’ve eaten everything, what’s to fear?

I miss the food in NYC. *sigh*

=YC

I suppose when the New York Times deigns to publish an article about a topic, it’s pretty newsworthy and important to know about. So, to my surprise to get an article forward from a fellow BLS alum where, it declared
“A Young Taipei Finds its Groove”
EH?

Unfortunately, it reads like a fluff piece, banalities abound. Rather disappointing. It makes some factual errors such as referring to Civil Boulevard when it’s always been known here as Civic Boulevard. On the other hand, it just could be that the Taipei city government has gotten the translation wrong (often does). It talks about the lounges and malls, Taipei 101 (the observation floor has officially opened this month and I believe it’s located on the 86th floor), and states that Taipei’s new “emerging culture catering to young people, [it] is becoming a cool place to visit.”

I suppose it is. It seems like it’s getting more internationalized, but it’s a case of one step forward, two steps back. English is still something that the city and the whole island has been trying to come to grips with for years now but often fails to. Except for a few government ministries and bureaus, Taipei and Taiwan is still a Chinese country (oops, I show my biases). It’s hard to argue that Taipei is becoming internationalized when foreigners can’t communicate with/to Taipei citizens. If you’re an international city, you’re going to have to be able to make foreigners feel welcome and have English documents, signage, people who can speak it. They don’t have it.

Despite all the glitz that’s showing, scratch a little deeper and you’ll find that it is as many people feel, a peasant city with tall buildings. Places like Shanghai, in just a few short years have leapfrogged Taipei as an international city where all the beautiful people go to see and be seen. Taipei can’t compare to Kuala Lumpur as an international city. Bangkok is catching up fast and if things continue, it will likely surpass Taipei and come of its own within the next few years.

Taipei, keep trying.

=YC

I think this post on Forumosa by plasmatron eloquently puts what it is like to live in Taiwan from a Western perspective. He is spot on.

I think one of the main underlying reasons for Taiwan’s multitude of social and cultural shortcomings is that Taiwanese are almost all “temporally challenged” that is they only have the ability to act, plan, think and reason in the immediate present, and notions such as consequence, cause and effect and the possibility that one’s actions can both directly and indirectly effect others are all incomprehensible to the Taiwanese… the meaning of the phrases “long term” and “future repercussions” are as unintelligible and ethereal to your average Taiwanese as the color of Buddha’s underpants…

it seems that in almost any other area of Taiwan outside Taipei, and to some extent within Taipei too, the peasant mentality reigns supreme, and god help any law enforcement office that tries to enforce any laws… the notion that as a citizen you are responsible for you actions and should be held accountable should you break the law is utterly unimaginable…