taipei impressions

• it's a city to walk and subway in, if only because the traffic snarls are unending
• the smokers are ubiquitous and the most innocent looking pedestrian will light a ciggie at the drop of a hat
• they have pedestrian crossings across the widest streets and they tell you how much time you have to get across and they give you plenty of time!
• its messy gangly solidly mid-century and nothing-beyond-the-eighties architecture brings back  memories of the taiwanese tearjerkers of yesteryears
• their people are beautifully courteous in a way that refreshes your spirit after a year in the trenches of work peppered with news of protests and marauding scooters
• for reasons HOM and i cannot fathom, we expect taipei to be cheap so needless to say we are disappointed
• it was a lovely visit to rival the best year-end vacations in memory