Oh, Asia

Ah, Taiwan.

Where the air is always heavy with incense.

Where the smog of the city makes the sunsets all the more intense.

Where the garbage trucks sound like American ice cream trucks.

Where it's cheaper to eat out than to make your own food at home.

Where hip-hop dancers can share the same plaza as a Tai Chi group.

Where there's a 7-Eleven on almost every street corner.

Where they have a strange fascination with poop.

Where the girls are cute and fashionable, and the boys are cute and fashionable (where you can see couples wearing matching coats, shirts, etc).

Where you often see a jazzy along side scooters.

Where restaurants, clothing, kid's clothing -- have marijuana leaves on them.

Where you can see a girl riding a scooter side-saddle, or a girl in four inch heels driving a scooter.

Where gambling is everywhere, but really doesn't exist.

Where you often see three kids on one scooter, or a dog riding with its owner on a scooter.


Where you can transport a huge Costco cake on a scooter, then eat it with chopsticks.
Where you'll find lines of 20 or more people at the sample stand at Costco.

Where you can find seaweed flavored lays potato chips, or put dried noodles on your 7-Eleven slushie.

Where, to prove their unending love, young people write their names on a lock, then lock it to the bridge above the train station, and throw the key down onto the train tracks to symbolize a commitment they can't take back.Where clouds of smells -- stinky tofu, sickenly sweet smells of fermented fruits, and smog -- linger in the air carelessly, waiting for the next person to enter its domain, and be confronted by the immense wall of smell.

I love it all.