What's the thing you like the most about Taiwan?

[Anonymous]

Taiwan's educational system is the best!!!









btw Alien, I am kidding

[QuietMountain]

someone mentioned the beautiful women, well... I'd like to put in a vote for some really cute guys...

plus, less hang-ups about physical touch. I may be alone in this, but I think it's good to see guys and girls, gay and straight holding hands and touching without worrying about what others think.

[Joesox]

Jennifer mentioned

'Fish ponds with huge coy we can feed.'

That reminded me of an icecream factory in Hualian where there's an icecream kiosk and a big fishpond. The visitors throw lumps of icecream to the fish, who climb over each over to get them. They look quite fat.

Another 'impressive' animal phenomenon is the twig-climbing hermit crabs in Yeliu. Salespeople near the beach have big open-topped boxes with lots of hermit crabs inside for sale as pets. In the middle of each box is a big twig with several 'branches'. The crabs climb up, seem to fight each other, and often fall off. I asked a stallholder's small daughter what the crabs liked best - meaning what food. She replied that they liked climbing trees best.

Another wierd crab phenomenon that I saw - natural this time - was quite close to a reservoir/lake in Miaoli. In a big bush, on one of the flowers, was a very small, white-colored crab, complete with shell, and claws. It was alive and seemed to be at home there. It was about 10 metres above and 30 metres far from the lake.

Just to get back to the topic, in addition to all the things already mentioned, I like all the attention that is paid to physical comfort and health here such as the back-massaging chairs, the nobbly walkways in parks, the variety of different spa-type devices in swimming pools etc, the pink leather aeroplane chairs in coaches, etc.
Probably other countries, especially in Asia, are similar but I come from Britain where we don't seem to have much of that kind of thing.
Joe

[Omniloquacious]

I love to swim in the crystal-clear waters of secluded mountain streams where nature's surrounding beauty has not yet been tamed with concrete or otherwise spoiled.

I also love to be immersed in a Chinese-language environment where I can hear, read and soak up Chinese to my heart's content.

But best of all, and the thing which nails my feet to Taiwan, is the girls and the xiaojies, the ladies and the lasses, the cummers and the colleens, the gals and the babes, and all of those luscious lissome darlings who make Taiwan so special.

[tonygo]

I love watching (from a distance) the road worker topping up his stone cuttung machine with gas with his cigarette hanging out of his mouth. The anticipation is electric!

[Tomas]

Just the top few:

Low cost of living.

Ah mahs, or any old lady who's still got a lot of spunk. They always let me practice my Taiwanese on them.

Night market food, particularly those burritos the Pakistani dudes sell.

NT$59 VCDs.

Soy milk and most of the breakfast foods that go with it.

Typhoon days.

Taxi drivers. Seriously. Some are real philosophers. Some are just funny as hell, spitting betel nut and cracking dirty jokes as they rush you through town like they were avoiding bombs.


Tomas

[ShaoPang]

While I've bitched my share about low-class people I've met here, one should never forget they exist everywhere. Check this out:

http://www.knology.net/~carlos/redneck.htm

Classic.

That's so funny. Even funnier that it's in Georgia (where I live now). I've moved three times while in Georgia and each time I seem to get one of these guys next to me. I think they're everywhere down here.

[Mr He]

What I love about Taiwan now?

Barbecuing in my garden over summer.

The cool days and clear air where I live.

Looking out over the mountains when taking my daughters for a walk.

The hustle and the bustle of the night market.

Squid on a stick for a yankee dollar.

The mountains... still a love of mine.

[sandman]

I love the post above Mr. He's. I must have been having a terribly bad hair day that day!

[butcher boy]

Last week I dropped my wallet at a local station down here in Tainan. I got off the train three stops later where the station manager was waiting to tell me I had left my wallet at the other station. When I got it back the next day, no tip had been taken or anything.

The station manager had also given me a laugh earlier in the day - I had been unsuccesfuly trying to mime 'return ticket' when he decided he had had enough and ordered me to 'speak english!'