Taiwhere, Taiwhat, Taiwhen, Taiwan

window view, bus rides in Taiwan, Beth Shea Palmer

Becoming suspicious about iPod solitaire programming: if people play an x-amount of times (say 100 times a week) does it automatically allow x-amount of wins, in a suicide-prevention measure?

Been beating iPod solitaire on a weekly basis thanks to my 30-minute bus commute to Wu-Ling school twice weekly, although it’s not all joyous because now I can’t play on solid ground b/c my eyes are used to focusing amid jolts, bumps and general constant bus vibrations.

Beth Shea Palmer, in Taiwan

Routinely, I pedal among illogical death-wishing here in Jhongli:
left turns from the right-hand lane (and vice versa); abrupt pulling over and/or u-turn sans blinker; families of 5 sardined onto a 150cc scooter, none wearing helmets; a cigarette-puffing man revving his scooter forward to cut off a bus barreling onward, never mind the 5 propane tanks he’s transporting.

But, now, 9 months into my Taiwan experience, I’ve seen a feat I can’t imagine can be topped.

In an outrageous, unexplainable act, two scooters, driving in tandem, about 6 inches apart, remained parallel thanks to the left scooter male driver’s right foot resting on the left foot of the right scooter female driver. They casually turned a sharp 90 degrees right and kept going.

Is this a circus?

One bite of these cakes and you stop laughing at their name and start agreeing…

The perfect male Chinese New Year gift: a golden peanut that can store your watch, chain and other things that would otherwise be cluttering your desk!

Chinese New Year hats! (Don’t be surprised if your souvenir looks suspiciously similar.)

PROVE ME WRONG: you can eat anything with chopsticks (nuggets, fries, pictured here)

The most BEAUTIFUL architecture and plaza in all of Taiwan: Chiang Ki Sheck Memorial Hall, just two stops away of Taipei Main Station by MRT

Well, our contract in Taiwan is up April 21; time to start typing my three notebooks of thoughts and observations and squishing and slicing them into a meaningful website