4 April 2011
I ate at mcdonalds
Today is a public holiday, for mothers and children day. According to a poster I saw with broken english, this is a new holiday to try and address the problem with declining birth rates in Taiwan. So a lot of Taiwanese men are probably quite excited today.
My train back to Taipei isnt until early afternoon, and I think my hotel check out time is 12:00, so I set out for a walk in search of breakfast.
I couldnt really find much open for breakfast apart from Mcdonalds and Starbucks, there were a few day markets open but most had only raw fish and meat on offer, or the occasional deep fried thing looking a bit sad as its probably left over from the night before.
Mcdonalds won out in the end, would have to be the first time I have eaten there in years, it wasnt great!
I ate at a Mcdonalds located at the central train station, not the High speed one, the regular one, which was a hive of excitement of people arriving from all over the place.
As I left, I noticed a large white woman and her thin husband left also and followed me. They had on caps and fanny packs.
I went down to the subway, and they are still following me.
Next thing she asks, no hello, no excuse me, nothing 'WHICH WAY TO THE AIRPORT???!'
I looked at the subway sign right in front of me, it clearly has a picture of a plane and the word airport next to a station on the line I am waiting for (theres only 2 lines).
So I told her, this train, second to last station.
'HOW WILL WE KNOW WHEN TO GET OFF, DO THEY SPEAK AMERICAN HERE?'
I tried to explain that the stations are numbered and the graphic on the train will explain where you are at etc.
Next thing shes taken out 100 taiwan dollars and says 'IF I PAY YOU CAN YOU RIDE WITH US TO THE AIRPORT?, WHERE ARE YOU FROM ANYWAY?'
So I told her I am from Australia, and by the way you have just taken out $3.
She said 'THATS A LOT OF MONEY TO YOU AUSTRALIANS'
I then told her that our dollar is actually worth more than the U.S. dollar and has been for quite some time, enjoy your day.
We got on the train together, but I got off at the next station, I had had enough of that.
This is the civic park with some sort of huge building in the centre, there were lots of people doing Tai Chi but also, Zumba!
Traffic lights are the same as Japan, with a countdown timer and a little animated green man, he starts running when you are running out of time.
In Taiwan, they love Fannys.
This place is just asking to be sued by Starbucks. I would have tried their coffee but they were shut.
This is the dirtiest underpass I have come across. But still, no graffiti, no homeless people. It is a bit surprising there are no beggars or homeless. I wonder if there really arent any or if they are rounded up and moved to some place where foreigners are unlikely to go?
As a contrast, Hong Kong is full of beggars, most of them disfigured in some sort of horrible way.
Transformers.
This BMW is completely covered in Carbon Fibre vinyl, with red badges, blue exhaust pipes etc. I havent really seen any other car culture stuff in all of Taiwan before I saw these 2 parked together.
Its very polluted today, even though this photo seems bright and colorful, the tops of buildings are dissapearing into smog.
Heres my breakfast, the coffee was actually pretty good. The hot cakes were hot cakes, I am not really a fan. The menu is not in English even at Mcdonalds, so I pointed and asked for 'number 4' which was on the board as hot cakes, and a cafe latte. The girl then rattled off a speech in Taiwanese that was quite detailed.
I said, OK. I think what she must have been saying is, if you order the hot cakes and a coffee you are better off getting the meal because its cheaper, because I got a hash brown which I didnt ask for.
It will be a long time before I eat at Mcdonalds again!