9 March 2017
Third world footpaths
Eating dumplings in Hualien
Each time I come to Taiwan, I mention the footpath situation, now its time for a detailed expose! I do not understand the situation at all, if its not illegally parked cars and scooters, the stores themselves seem to put up barriers.
Tonight I actually saw the parking inspector ticketing cars, parked on the road, whilst completely ignoring the ones making everyone walk head long into traffic in the rain by being parked completely across the footpath.
Footpath is the rest of the world word for sidewalk in case I have any american readers, I dont, the only reader is my mother.
The below pictures will show you 5 of the 1000 times I had to walk out into the road and dodge a bus to go along the main street.
As for Hualien, despite the footpath situation, its an excellent place. Very exciting, bigger than I thought, and lots of places to eat. I get the impression there are a lot of tourists about, although they are all Asian tourists with the exception of some German old folks in matching red coats being lead around by a tour guide. Oh and me, standing around taking photos of the rain.
Many of the shops are for tourists, generally selling pineapple cakes or a variation there of.
There is also a large cultural part of town, which I photographed a small part of below, I am not sure what it used to be, parts of it look like a school, other parts look like a prison, then there are just warehouses.
I did however learn a bit about history. When the Japanese arrived the Chinese lived only on the west coast, and left the east to the aboriginal population. There is a big mountain range up the middle of the island to keep everyone separated.
The Japanese were having none of this, but they kept getting defeated by guys with spears whenever they crossed the mountain.
To solve this issue, they enslaved some of the fitter looking Chinese and made them build roads across the mountains, and dig tunnels. Obviously the natives did not like this, and many a spear was thrown killing the enslaved road workers.
However the roads got built, cause the Japanese military knows how to get things done. And once they were built, they just marched across and killed off the natives.
Japan is always the place that starts trouble. China only started building their islands in the sea when the Tokyo mayor rented a boat and planted a flag on a reef near China.
My history is way more accurate than any other source, I have been to all the places involved. No one else you know has.
Footpath challenge number 1, plant wall.
Footpath challenge number 2, scooter wall. Certainly not the worst of the scooter walls, but the most well lit.
Footpath challenge number 3, truck wall. It is impossible to walk behind it, and the gap in front is too small, had to back track and go around the car.
Footpath challenge number 4, combo challenge! Plant, junk, and a sign stopping me from going around on the road!
Footpath challenge number 5, restaurant. Thats the footpath! It just ends and becomes a restaurant.
Final footpath challenge, Tyre wall! Please note, this is not even a tyre shop. There is just a wall of tyres between shops for no reason at all!
Christmas in March? Hualien petrol station says yes.
This is not a petrol station, I believe its a water station. You cannot drink the tap water in Taiwan. Sometimes I forget and do anyway. I dont know what that means for me.
Much like smaller Japanese cities, smaller Taiwanese cities love a giant chemist / beauty products shop. Always the biggest, nicest store in town. Open until midnight, zero customers.
This is the cultural area with warehouses full of artist studios selling beads and whatever.
Open until 10pm every night. I assume these old folks sit there until then trying to sell their junk, I mean, cultural art.
Its a big area, many buildings, quiet though. All full of the types of stores you would expect to find in a tourist town, lots selling honey related products, good for the healthy.
A bit further along the road is the old train track, now a funky mall with blue lights. Quiet though, people prefer the footpath drama of the main road.
There are also many food streets to enjoy things on sticks.
And a huge line for the dumpling shop, I joined the line, in the rain.
Lining up in the rain was totally worth it, because my $2 dinner was amazingly awesome.