I got a recommendation to a dentist from several reliable sources, set up an appointment, and showed up, expecting the usual stressful experience. Was I ever surprised! Despite the language barrier, I was in the waiting room less than 5 minutes before being ushered into the x-ray room. No gagging on those horrid bite wings (shudder), no drool dripping down my chin (so not dignified) while the tech maneuvers the x-ray device. Nope, none of that stuff! This time I was outfitted with an x-ray deflecting gown, asked to step up to a small plastic bite plate and close my eyes. A soothing machine voice spoke to me in ENGLISH and in less than a minute my panoramic x-rays were done! No pain, no fuss. Now that’s the way dental diagnostics should be. The dentist turned out to have a gentle manner and even speaks and understands English. He (not a hygienist) cleaned my teeth and showed me, based on the x-rays, what word was needed and what my options were. Fast, simple, respectful. The cost for my initial visit: 100NT (3.00US). Amazing!
Getting it down to a system
09 Aug 2011 Leave a comment
in Daily Life, Taipei Tags: a day in the life
Everywhere you look, something is happening. The sun crosses the horizon around 5am, the folks in the Temple downstairs start their chanting soon thereafter. I wake up gradually, in time to fix breakfast and get ready for work. Buses run on-time. Stores are just opening up as I walk to work (mostly along the same route so I don’t get lost). Shopkeepers are cleaning the sidewalk outside their shops, cooks are chopping foods (yes, on the sidewalk!), laundry is dripping dry on balconies above the sidewalks, scooters are zipping by. Taiwan wakes up! And it’s hot enough to literally fry an egg on those clean sidewalks. Women with umbrellas shade themselves from the sun. People walk their dogs over to whatever tiny patch of green-ness will accomodate their bio needs. Lunchtime and the sidewalks are crowded with the hungry masses – very few people bring their own lunch (very few people cook because very few people have an actual kitchen!). The post-lunch lull: lights are off at work for those who prefer to sleep rather than eat. By the time I leave work, it’s already dark. (The sun goes down before 6pm.) I sometimes head down Heping to stop off at several organic health food stores and try to remember the way home, seeing a lit-up Taipei 101, in front of me, getting closer. As I cross the street and walk past Watsons, people stare. I turn left into the narrow passageway, past the Temple, and the folks placing offerings on red plastic plates stop and stare. The weekends are for travelling around, cleaning house, doing the laundry. On Monday night I follow the trail of people carrying trash to the blue trash truck. Weeks fly by.
Eslite
07 Aug 2011 Leave a comment
in Culture, Taipei Tags: bookstore, Eslite, free gifts, magazines
I decided to reward myself for having cleaned house and having made it through a particularly tough week. I haven’t found a library yet but I did pay a visit to the 24-hr bookstore off of Renai circle: Eslite (otherwise known as tons of shopping fun!). 5 floors of all sorts of made (or designed)-in-Taiwan items – oh and they sell books too.
I thought I’d try my luck to see if I could find anything (clothing-wise) that would actually fit me. It gets old walking into a shop where no one speaks much English, filled with cute clothing designed for what I like to call “tiny people”, and having the sales person (usually one of the aforementioned tiny people) answer “sorry no” when I ask in English whether they have anything that will fit me. (Guess they understood my question.) I find if I start browsing the inventory and hold something up, asking, “Do you have this in my size?” I have a better chance of actually finding something. The first store I walked into had a saleslady that spoke English! She very sweetly walked around with me translating when needed.
On the book floor, I found a very detailed city map – let’s see if I’m better able to navigate the streets of Taipei with it! I browsed the magazines because certain issues (mostly the British and Chinese versions) have “free” items shrink-wrapped-ly (is that a word?) attached to them: tote bags in all shapes and sizes, cosmetics, and other items in colorful boxes (no clue on the ones with no pics since it’s all in Chinese).
Mela adventure, part 2
07 Aug 2011 Leave a comment
in Daily Life, Foreign Food, Taipei
I stand in the front area of the Mela store. I’m obviously the only white person and I’m sure I look like I wandered in off the street. I’m here because I I’ve run out of some of my favorite health supplements and need some cleaning products too. I found out that Melaleuca has an Asian branch so I’m here to purchase what I need, only I have no idea how the Taiwan system works! A nice young lady fluent in English asks if I need some help and proceeds to help me shop! Many products are familiar to me but there are some clearly designed for an Asian market: drinkable collagen, skin care products with “whiteness” in the name, and RICE! for purchasing a certain amount I get a “free” gift – some sort of hibachi. (I’m exactly sure what it is because the entire box is in Chinese.) I get a lot of curious looks but I’m used to it by now. I smile and nod when I catch someone looking. The taxi ride back takes less than 15 minutes and costs 140NT (< 5.00 US). Next time I’ll try taking the train…
After cooling off at the apartment I head to Wellcome for groceries. More curious looks or people turning their necks to see where the tall white girl is going. In the store, so many interesting products, so many labels I can’t read! I end up spending about 28US for a cornucopia of organic goodies (Danish butter!! Bisquik! Longan honey! Coconut “just add hot water” powder!). Check it out:
Wellcome groceries
Mela adventure across town, part 1
06 Aug 2011 Leave a comment
in Taipei, Travel Tags: Melaleuca, Songshan, Songshan train station, Sun Yat-sen, Taipei 101
I checked the city map. I googled the location online. And then I started walking, through the day market, and turned – the wrong way (of course). I didn’t notice at first. I did notice that none of the bus stops bore the bus numbers I was looking for. 20 minutes later, Heping was in front of me and I knew I had managed to get turned around. Out came the map (again). I walked down Keelung (again), past Taipei 101, Taipei City Hall, and on until the Sun Yat Sen memorial was on my left. Wow, had I not been so focused on getting to my destination I would have taken pics (incredible building and surrounding grounds) but on I went…not many people were on the sidewalks (my first clue). The road I was supposed to stay on (according to the map) was under construction (my second clue) so suddenly I found myself on a dead-end street. And just as suddenly, my resolve to walk the entire way to Songshan Train station melted. I asked several peeps if they knew where Bade road was. They didn’t. I hailed a cab and after driving me in circles it was apparent he didn’t either (couldn’t read the English address I guess). I asked several store owners and they pointed across the road so I walked a bit further and finally ducked into an office building to try and cool off. By some miracle, it was the building I was looking for. The email said what I wanted was on 3F but when I got off the elevator, the place was a ghost town. Arrrgh. Oh wait, there goes someone! He spoke English and directed me one floor up. Aaaaaah! The elevator doors opened and I found myself in Mela-land (an actual Melaleuca store)!
NHI and newcomers
04 Aug 2011 Leave a comment
in Foreign Food, Taiwan Tags: hawthorne, hawthorne blossoms, King Join, Melaleuca, National Health Insurance, NHI
I got my NHI card today – that’s National Health Insurance for you out in blogland. This means that for around 1500NT (50 USD) per month, I’m able to go any doctor or dentist (Western or Chinese style) accepting this insurance for a 4.00US co-pay! Wow! Guess I’d better get going on the dental work I’ve put off for years (thanks to Melaleuca for keeping my teeth and gums healthy in the meantime). Interestingly enough, they include your birth date YEAR as a number representing how many years Taiwan had been a nation at the time of your birth (mine = 46).
We welcomed a new team member today with a welcome lunch at a lovely vegetarian restaurant: King Join.
King Join Restaurant
Hawthorne Gelee
IKEA comes through
02 Aug 2011 Leave a comment
in Shopping, Taipei Tags: furniture delivery, IKEA
Amazing: IKEA said they’d deliver the furniture purchased last Friday, today between 1pm and 5pm, and they did! One lone delivery setup person (all 5’7” of him) arrived around 3pm. I buzzed him in and he dragged five packages up to the fourth floor, asked to wash his hands, and then diligently went to work. He was obviously a pro, and after setting my new mattress (yeah, no more sleeping on a mattress-like-a-box spring) assembled all my items and was done by 4:30pm. He was even kind enough to hang the painting I’d obtained in Taichung AND as an extra added bonus he cleaned up, including removing all the boxes and wrapping materials – which is surprising because there is a definite advantage to NOT having to take out the trash here!
Monday, Monday
01 Aug 2011 4 Comments
in Taipei Tags: Cafe Cafe, Daiso, Japan, The Grand
That hugely colorful “temple” I saw on yesterday’s adventure? Turns out it’s a hotel! The Grand Hotel no less, according to one intrepid reader (an in-the-know co-worker). As a hotel, the building seems a bit less intimidating to visit than a temple. I’ll definitely go back (photo op city), if only for a meal. Certainly there’s even a world-class restaurant within…
Speaking of meals, another co-worker introduced me to a hip, happening cafe creatively named Cafe Cafe.
Taipei at night
Afterwards, we checked out the 39NT store (Daiso, from Japan) for strange and wonderful bargains. I mean, who couldn’t use a Scum Skimmer!
Just what I needed!
Beitou and back
31 Jul 2011 4 Comments
in Shopping, Taipei Tags: Beitou, Tealit.com
I got up early this morning to travel to Beitou (pronounced bay-tow) to look at some office furniture advertised in tealit.com, hoping it would be a viable alternative to IKEA’s offerings. I walked 20 minutes to the bus stop and rode the 285 for 55 minutes, past the airport, the guy burning “money” in a kettle on the side of the road, the baseball park with its super-sized bat and ball sculptures, and an ENORMOUS Temple sitting on a hillside, to the northern edge of Taipei. Beitou is known for its hot springs smelling of sulpher much like Bumpus Hell in Lassen National Park in northern California and Glen Ivy hot springs in Corona. (That odiferous fun will have to wait for another weekend as will the Folk Art Museum.) NOTE: Look for a funny photo of something I saw on Shipai Road, to be posted shortly. Here it is; check out this guy back his backhoe out of a truck WITHOUT a ramp!
I was waiting for the truck to tip over!
I watched people waiting at the bus stops, getting on the bus and registering that there was a non-asian sitting in a seat, sitting quietly (as the signs on the bus politely request), and then get off the bus to go on with their day – they all seemed to be biding their time. An hour into my bumpy trip up north I got to thinking: the locals are so creative and resilient. I wonder what they could accomplish if so much of their time wasn’t spent on getting from one place to another, taking out the trash, and getting their clothes clean?! And then: perhaps there is something to be gained by focusing on the journey rather than the destination. Your thoughts?
Wellcome shopping extravaganza
30 Jul 2011 2 Comments
in Foreign Food, Shopping, Taipei Tags: grocery shopping, Watson's, Wellcome
Grocery shopping takes on a whole new meaning when you have a fridge the size of a single file drawer , very little storage space, and it’s hotter than Hades outside so walking any distance is not an option. It’s amazing, though, how much you can fit into one shopping bag and how much you can buy here for 370NT ( 12.00 USD)!
3 heads of romaine lettuce
3 Tomatoes
3 Cucumbers
6 lemons (that are probably limes)
Big slice of melon (won’t know what kind it is until I bite into it!)
6 brown eggs
4 cups of cherry non-fat yogurt
package of pineapple cookies
6 slices of wheat bread
Asia's best kept secret... 