Taiwan Riding

Taiwan roads are dominated by scooters.

The Chinese fondness of bicycles has met the internal combustion engine.

Luckily Kaohsiung was first laid out by the Japanese;

Wide streets with median strips and organised road names are the norm.

I spent a fair bit of time on a bike in Thailand.

It is: "same same, but different" as they say.

The Thai drive like they walk - very slowly.

Everyone putters around with the whole family on one bike, never in much of a hurry.

The foreigners rule of the "fast lane".

The Chinese however, seem to be a people in a hurry.

They still stack their bike with all their worldly possessions - including the family, but they are also moving at high speeds.

They can keep the fast lane, and I will keep my skin.

I'm quite attached to my skin.

I have never seen so many scooter accidents as I have here.

Knocking into people seems to be a normal part of life.

It's lucky that health insurance is universal here.

It's needed.

I can think of some reasons why there are so many accidents here:

Speed - as mentioned.

Traffic lights - are all timed which makes driving very slow. Also:

Green light = proceed with caution; and

Red light = proceed with caution

Cars - although they seem to be more aware of bikes than other places in the world, there is some pretty shocking driving around. It sometimes takes up to three people to parallel park.

Rain - in Thailand during the monsoon, when it starts raining, you pull over and take shelter. What ever you are travelling to, is obviously not worth getting wet for.

Here, when it rains, it people drive faster (and crazier) to get out of the rains as soon as possible.

Potholes - this is partly about rain and partly about road construction, but pretty regularly during the monsoon large sections of road seems to disappear.

This is especially dangerous when such holes are filled full of water - you never know how deep it is and whether you are going to be sent on a one-way trip over the handle bars.

To their credit however, people do stop to put a traffic cone over the hole or at least a tree branch, and it is fixed up within a couple of days. On the other hand this does leave you with a patchwork of a road.

In conclusion here are some tips for the scooter life:

1. Keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel, so to speak.
2. Never trust anyone or anything.
3. Stay at least a doors width away from parked cars.
4. Make sure your brakes and horn are fully operational at all times.
   
5. Constantly think about what it's like to come off.
   

Dragon Boat 2007 - Video

New Scooter - sorta

Kymco Apex 1500cc

Dragon Boat 2007

The origins of this festival are lost in the mists of an ancient culture.

It is thought, that a revered poet throw himself in the river, at frustration with the corruption of the government.

The people loved him so much they threw rice in the water to prevent the fish from eating him, while boats scooted across the water looking for his body and beating drums.

Today, the result is: a day off work, families getting together, rice dumplings being prepared and a shirt-load of blokes getting in a narrow boat and race to grab a flag at the other end of the river.

It was definitely all the fun of the fair as we rode down to the river. Fairy floss, ice cream and corn-dogs competed for space with the Coke girls and a plethora of stalls promoting every variety of community group.

When the gun shot was heard, people crowded along the banks of The Love River, to see the brightly coloured boats race along the short course.

Well worth a look if you happen to be somewhere near Chinese culture.

Living Cheap in Foreign Parts

When you arrive in a foreign country, with hardly any money, no language and a long time before the first pay cheque, there are ways to minimize your expenses until you can afford to start living.

Here are a few tips we have come up with -

Food:

No Western food, as it is foreign they charge a premium.

Noodles and veggies, cheap easy and healthy, instant noodles are your new staple.

Eat on the street, for less than two dollars you can get a meal of soup, meat, two veg and rice from those roadside buffets. It also means that you just have to point at what you want.

Get a job that provides free lunch.

Housing:

If you don't get a job that includes housing in your contract, go for something cheap, maybe on the sixth floor with no lift.

Find something close to where you work which will cut down you transport costs.

Transport:

Just walk, the locals who never move anywhere without burning fossil fuels will look at you like your an idiot in this heat, but it is cheap.

Learn the bus system. Extremely difficult when you cannot read where it is going but just jump on ans see where it goes, you can always get on the same one going the other way.

Borrow a bicycle, good exercise and quicker than walking.

Borrow a scooter, with no registration or brakes, or maybe stick to the bicycle.

View from the Star Ferry, Hong Kong

View from the Peak