I'm finding this country to be one of the most convenient I've ever been to.  The best example of how convenient it is here is the Easy Card, the card that gives you access to the subway system (called the MRT).  You buy one of these cards and then just add money to it when it starts to get low.

Of course any major city with a subway system has cards like these.  The real convenience begins when you realize that you can also use this card for the bus system, for ferry rides, for some taxis, to pay for purchases at 7-11 (where you can also pick up packages that are mailed to you in case you aren't home), and even to buy Boba tea at a street market.


Another great example is this little tidbit - Taiwan has the most convenience stores per capita of any country in the world.  You walk down the street and there is literally a 7-11 or OK Mart on almost every corner.  If you don't want to cross the street to go to one, don't worry, just walk a little ways and you'll find one on your side of the street!

Of course in other ways it's very inconvenient.  Bureaucracy is rampant here.  I have to wait until I have a foreign resident card to get a sim card for my cell phone, but that will take a month because first I need to have a resident visa (I only have a visitors visa now).  It's a very paper heavy country.  A good example of this crazy love of paper - we were at a street market yesterday and bought two scoops of ice cream from a street vendor and she gave us a large paper receipt for each one.  The ice cream was great but I'm not sure the documentation was necessary.


Overall the convenience far outweighs the inconvenience of the bureaucracy.  I think more big cities should jump on the band-wagon of the easy card.  It's the next big thing.

 At long last - our apartment hunt!  The task spanned two days, four Taipei districts, and about 18 apartments.  Some were pretty bad, most were fantastic.  In the end we suffered from too many choices.  There was a lot to consider of course - proximity to the MRT subway was very important (it's usually really hot here and walking isn't all that pleasant - it'll be especially bad the days my husband has to wear a suit).  Another important consideration was noise.  You can't imagine how important it is to have a quiet place to escape from the insanity of this city; the constant traffic, people, and animals wear you down after a while.  Neighborhood was a factor as well.  We wanted to be close enough to shopping and restaurants that we could walk easily.

So here are the top three choices!  A lot of the other places we saw were beautiful, or funky, or both.  But in the end it came down to these three.

Choice Number One: Quiet Luxury


This apartment was much smaller than most that we saw.  It had one small bedroom and an even smaller study.  The decor was beautiful however, and the apartment was very new with a lot of great amenities.  It was almost more like a hotel than an apartment, from a legitimate consierge that would have your dry-cleaning taken care of to a beautiful indoor pool, sauna, and gym.  The drawbacks included the obvious lack of space but also the area.  It was the farthest away from an MRT station (15 minutes walking on a good day) and it was at the end of a fairly nondescript street, not very close to any shopping, dining, or nightlife. 

Saturday was our best day here so far.  We had a great day with a friend who took us out to Danshui (see previous post).
Our trip started with a walk through a busy market.  There were so many things to see and taste.  It was a little bit of a sensory overload.  But in a good way.


I had a bite of fried octopus that was delicious (not the squid from above).  We also tried this amazing fruit that tasted kind of like a cross between a tomato and a melon.  Really refreshing after walking around in the heat!

"Culture shock is the anxiety and feelings (of surprise, disorientation, uncertainty, confusion, etc.) felt when people have to operate within a different and unknown culture such as one may encounter in a foreign country. It grows out of the difficulties in assimilating the new culture, causing difficulty in knowing what is appropriate and what is not." - Wikipedia


Culture shock is a funny thing.  It hits out of nowhere.  Little things set it off.  It isn't a constant state at all.  I've decided it's much like scuba diving for me.  Your fine, your having a great time, everything is awesome and beautiful, then all of a sudden out of nowhere you realize how much water is on top of you and you have this horrible sensation that you can't breathe.  All you want to do is rip your regulator out of your mouth and get some air.  But that would mean certain death  because your regulator is the only thing capable of giving you air.


Culture shock has been a lot like that for me - you walk around absorbed in how cool everything is, all these new sights and sounds and tastes, everything is amazing.  And then all of a sudden out of nowhere you feel like you can't breathe.  All you want is five minutes of being back home, five minutes to be out of the smog, to get away from the scooters and the people and the Chinese writing everywhere.


But you just can't have that.  It isn't possible.  Much like you can't have a breath of fresh air 60 ft below the surface of the water.

I guess jet-lag isn't quite done with me yet.  I thought I was in the clear but last night I woke up again wide awake at 3AM, thinking it must be around 6.  Luckily I went back to sleep fairly quickly and managed to wait until 5:30 before I got out of bed.

Yesterday we toured several apartments, some with beautiful swimming pools. There wasn't a single person in them.  Nowhere.  And it's hot here.  If I would have had a pool I would have been in it.  After a while I asked our agent why nobody was swimming.  It turns out Taiwanese are deathly afraid of the water.  He said about 85% can't even swim.  I guess during Japanese occupation they weren't allowed to swim, but also they think that ghosts reside in the water.  Our agent also informed us that we would have to use a shower cap when swimming because that's what everyone does here and it would make people uncomfortable if we didn't.  This is definitely a curious country.

I'll end with a funny picture we saw in the elevator of one of the apartments we visited yesterday.  I don't really have any idea what it means, but it sure was funny.

Today was definitely a blur.  We started at 9:00AM, saw apartments all day, got back to the hotel for a little break, then hopped in a cab and tromped around downtown in the rain until about 11:00PM.  Around 9:00 tonight we both started falling apart and ended up ordering fries and chicken sandwiches at TGI Fridays.  I'm a little disappointed in us but we both needed some comfort from home.  Funny enough the TGIF's food here is better than back in the states.

I'll be posting tomorrow about our apartment hunting.  Frankly right now I'm burned out on the whole thing.  Instead let me share some pictures from the day!

We ate breakfast from the buffet downstairs.  It was surprisingly good - a strange combination of Western and Eastern breakfasts.  I found another new favorite - taro cakes.  They kind of taste like chicken and dumplings to me which is weird.  I think they have fish in them.

I just did a post on our first lunch in Taipei on my food blog Raining Potatoes.  See it here!  http://rainingpotatoes.blogspot.com/2010/05/first-meal-in-taiwan.html

Here's a little teaser :)

After four months of planning and 14 hours of rump-numbing plane travel, we finally made it to Taipei! The combination of the long flight and losing a day (we left L.A. on Monday afternoon and arrived here late Tuesday night) was disorienting to say the least.

It's been a rough day for us so I'll keep this first post short.  I just wanted to say we're alive and here and enjoying ourselves and completely overwhelmed!  I can't wait to post more when I have a little time!  Tomorrow we start our apartment hunt.  Very exciting!  Who knows what we'll find.  I'll end with a few pictures from the day.