New Digs

Today we are proud new renters of a cool little deco-mod apt, complete with A/C, high speed internet, a japanese style sliding door bedroom, blue leather furniture, and a fully stocked in-living room bar. We are going to be living in the nicest part of town, right next to the most famous temple in Taiwan. The rent will be $220CDN, plus bills. The guy who was living there had a family emergency and had to go back to New York. We lucked out as we were the first to see the apt. We also got hooked up with cell fones. They're really cheap here, and absolutely crucial to have. We are looking at scooters tommorrow, and will be able to get a good used one each and pay less than $1000CDN for the two of them. I'm still on the fence about driving here though. It's indescribable to someone who's never been here, you have to be always watching your back, even when you're just walking, or you will be hit by a scooter. See, there are no sidewalks to speak of, and all traffic (pedestrians included)is on the road. It's the insanest thing i've ever seen. Extremely dangerous, yet you can't get by very easily without one. I guess we'll hafta buck up and learn to go with the flow. There are no rules of the road, and red lights are mere suggestions. It's nothing to see piles of scooters take a left turn on a red without so much as a shrug. Sounds easy enough, but add 10,000 cars and rows upon rows of scooters into the mix and watch the mayhem that unfolds.
The city of Tainan is like nothing i've ever layed eyes on. We are driving around with Aaron and Johnny and Angela on the backs of their scooters for miles and miles and the city just never ends. Its like Times Squre in NY times a million, in every direction. I'm not sure if i could ever get used to that, but i'm sure as hell gonna try.
-K