Dirty and Noisy Bikes

Taiwan is about a 2-hour flight from Osaka. Remember that that is 2 hours flying straight south. In the middle of December, that meant going tropical for us. Now, this post may seem a little harsh but this just the first impression we got coming off the plain. In comparison, Japan is very different. Within the first few minutes of arriving, I already missed Japan.

The first thing we noticed was how green the outskirts of Taipei were. It looked like a jungle. I successfully caught some temples on the ride up. The outskirts may be green but the city is closer to black. What is really interesting to see in this picture is the guard rail on the side of the highway. What you'll notice is that its' black. The original colour should be a bright silver but because of all the diesel and pollution it looks so dirty. I'm sure they've never cleaned it.

That feeling kept with me all throughout the trip. My brother said that everything turns this city colour after a few weeks. Now I understand why. Gross

You may not be able to see it but this building has a strange yellow colour to it. The sky was mostly the same colour when we were there. Now I've never experienced smog before but it disgusted me and I felt ashamed for breathing in that kind of air. If the sky looks nice and blue in this picture that's due to the magic of digital correcting.
The next thing we noticed right off the start were the taxi cabs. They are clearly trying to get the New York feeling by having lots of yellow cabs everywhere. Unlike other places, taxis here are really cheap. In Japan, taxi cabs feel closer to limos. The drivers get out and open your door and dress in uniforms with little white gloves. In Taipei, they not only looked like New York cabbies but they acted like it too. They even had the New Yorker arrogance in the sense that they only spoke Mandarin. I had to specifically make a recording of my brother saying his address to play it for the driver because after a few times of trying most of them could not understand our bad Chinese.

As you can see by this pic these cabs were everywhere. I'm sure gas is incredibly expensive living on an island.

The last big difference that we saw with Japan was how many motorcycles were on the street. The feeling was like a buzzing swarm of bees on the streets. Like France, nobody follows any traffic laws. They weave between the cars, pedestrians and each other. They don't stop for red lights and to quote my brother he "honestly feel[s] terrified" every time he gets on his bike. They sort of look like a little army straight out of Mad Max. At least from anywhere in the city you can hear the army coming for you. The streets are noisier then the loudest river, not because of the honking or exhausts but because of the 3cc motors on some of these things.
In Canada, I'm not sure if we can buy these little mopeds. My image of a motor bike is closer to a Harley Davidson or something out of Easy Rider then these little things. I'm sure everyone in High School would have gotten one. We do have them in Japan but overall the street is not so congested with bikes everywhere. They run around $2000 for a new one and closer to $400 for used. If I get into school here I may consider buying one. It's cheaper then the subway.

In Taipei, if there was once a sidewalk then it's now become a motor bike parking spot. In most of the side streets you had to walk on the street because the sidewalk was just riddled with bikes. Always keeping an eye out of incoming traffic.

Most back alleys in Kyoto are empty because cars have to get through. Taipei looks like it was once bulldozed right to the ground and then planned in a very modern way. So there are a lot of back alleys that are filled with trash and of course lots of motorbikes.