7 Things I Hate About Taipei

I’m sure that many people are asking…come ON…it’s not ALL lollipops and roses? You mean that it’s that EASY to move to the other side of the globe to a country where you can’t speak the language?? You’re right. There are good days and bad. I feel very fortunate that the good days definitely outweigh the bad; however, there are a few annoying things about Taipei that can definitely drive me crazy. I’ve decided to share with you some of my favorite pet peeves about Taipei from the most benign to the #1 which drives me absolutely bonkers.

#7 - Carrying Everything

I do find it a big adjustment that I cannot simply purchase what I need at the grocery store, hardware store, Ikea, etc. While there are ample taxis available, it’s not as easy to simply park and make multiple trips from the car inside the house. I find that I have to carefully plan my day and ensure that I don’t wait too long to go to the grocery store. I also keep forgetting to bring my bags with me and wind up having to purchase more bags, which just adds to the collection which is already too big!

#6 – Laundry

I’ve accepted the fact that Taiwanese people mostly don’t use the dryer. I’m fine with that. I HAVE used our washer/dryer combo on occasion; however, in the process I’ve melted one of Elaine’s nightgowns. So, I reserve it only for towels! The problem I have is that while my laundry smells clean, it certainly doesn’t LOOK clean. No matter how hard I scrub, it seems that I just can’t get stains out! At first I thought it was the washing machine. However, a friend of mine has a new theory which I’m anxious to try out (to help keep me from replacing MORE socks!). She found that the Taiwanese detergents were simply not strong. She gets her detergent from Costco…the American kind…the good stuff, she says…TIDE. I’ll try it out. I realize I’ll pay an arm and a leg for it; however, I figure it’s cheaper than replacing the girls’ socks each week!

#5 – Sidewalks

The building in Taipei is quite haphazard. I don’t anticipate that the City Planning Commission is very particular or picky. It seems that when someone wanted to remodel or build, they simply build over what was there previously. If the elevations are slightly different, then a step is built. Sometimes the steps are marked with a yellow strip to differentiate the elevations, but not always. It’s not uncommon to have a 3-ft gap in one sidewalk and then have the same gap with 2 steps to help ease one down to the street. All I can say is that it would absolutely BITE to be crippled or handicapped in Taipei. If you visit, better get in shape first…especially one’s knees!

#4 - LONG Street Lights

Everyone walks in Taipei. It is a densely populated region where use of public transportation is quite the norm. It also has a lot of people on scooters and buses. To help ease the traffic, the lights are typically about 2 minutes each. What that means is that when the girls and I cross the street TWICE to get to school, if we don’t time it JUST right, it could take us 4 minutes to cross the street; 2 minutes to cross from East to West, and then an add’l 2 minutes to cross from South to North. While we live less than one mile from school, it takes us about 25 minutes using public transportation and about 10 minutes using taxis, mostly due to the long lights.

#3 – Cooking

Taiwan kitchens are ridiculously small. They’re more like galley kitchens. There are no dishwashers and the stoves are typically 2 gas burners. They are typically away from the action, and off to the side of the apartment…out of sight, out of mind. The feminist in me sees this as the patriarchal society’s way of ensuring that women stay out of sight, out of mind; however, perhaps I’m skewed? The absolute most WORST part of cooking in Taipei is that THERE ARE NO OVENS IN TAIWAN KITCHENS. I have found that many of the expats living in Tienmu have more ‘Western’ style kitchens and have ovens. We’re deliberately stayed away from the expat area of Tienmu to get more of a local flavor (and that public transportation is not as readily available in that neighborhood, as beautiful as it is!), so that’s what we must live with. I do have a microwave oven which has a convection oven feature. I have yet to try it out, and the oven itself is very small; however, I figure I’ll try out some cookies first. Worst case, we’ll just eat the dough! So, cooking is just not fun. I’ll keep you posted as I have hope that perhaps I’ll just become the queen of sauté!

#2 – Weather

I understand now more than ever why people pay exorbitant amounts of money to live in CA. The weather in Taipei is just plain icky. It’s very wet and sticky most of the time. It’s now November and it can be as chilly as 65 degrees one way, with winds that are simply biting as the weather is still damp, and then 82 degrees the next. My clothes are never quite dry even after 48 hours, and I’m never sure whether to leave the house with the umbrella or not. I put on makeup as it makes me feel pretty, but it simply melts away within the first few hours, leaving me feeling sticky and icky. I find myself showering twice a day and finding that I cannot get too close to the girls as I always find them sticky. This is definitely not something I am adjusting to….I’m simply accepting.

#1 - Slow Walkers

Yes. That’s it. My NUMBER ONE pet peeve is SLOW WALKERS. I HATE THEM!!!!!! I tell you, when I am on the streets, I typically have a purpose. I must get from one place to the next. The walkways in Taipei are fairly narrow, and there are a lot of people walking around. The frustrating thing is that many of them are completely oblivious to those around them. These slow walkers will meander across from side-to-side of the walkway as if they had all the time in the world. I feel like screaming at them ‘GET OUT OF MY WAY…DON’T YOU PEOPLE HAVE ANY PLACE TO BE??!!!’ It’s crowded enough around Taipei. I’m not certain why people don’t simply step to one side if they must stop to pick their nose or look up at the moon. I get the fact that there are a lot of people here…I just don’t like that people seem to congregate right in front of me while I’m trying to get from one place to the next.

So there you have it. That’s the 7 Things I Hate About Taipei. If you catch me on a particularly hot day where I haven’t had much sleep, have had to wait in one too many stop lights with very heavy grocery bags, have missed the bus because I was late wearing wet clothes and have been slowed down by one too many slow walkers…yeah, I’ll tell you that Taipei sucks! Well, it sucks on that day, anyway. Thankfully, I haven’t had a day like that yet :).