Transport in Taipei

My original idea with the blog was to do a photo a day. That has not actually happened. I was not inspired to write much today - hard to say whether it is laziness, intimidation, or what. But then I remembered that I really committed myself to writing everyday, so I came back to my blog to post.

Here is a photo taken in our neighborhood near the Guting MRT stop on the Taipei subway system. You see this sort of transportation less and less in the city as cars become more popular and affordable. However, the tricycle cart used to be everywhere and used for moving everything. Occasionally you still see one of these human-powered vehicles. Here, the man is obviously moving fruit - I think the long sticks on the bottom are some kind of cane.

More ubiquitous than the tricycle cart is the motouche - the motorscooter in the right corner of the photo. I once heard an Australian living in Taipei call it a "scoot-ocracy" - rule by motor scooter. Another day I will post a photo that gives a better sense of the scootocracy in Taipei. They are EVERYWHERE. They scare the pants off me - I would never, ever ride a motor scooter in Taipei. Chinese are said to "drive like water flows" - in other words, if there is an available space, it gets filled. It is considered drive-able. Americans, despite road rage and speeding tickets and what not, tend to follow rules of the road. Driving here feels like insanity to me. When I ride in a taxi here, the scooters speed up the right side of the road past us making it impossible for the taxi driver to make a right turn. He does - I would also never want to be a taxi driver here - but only in the short moment in between scooters whizzing by. I asked if there are many accidents with scooters and my friends say yes - although I have never seen one. At least the people here wear helmets. A law was passed 10 years ago requiring it and it seems to have taken root. More on buses, taxis, scooters and the like later.