So many people ask me: "Man, you're only praising Taiwan! What's wrong with you? So many things are bad there yada yada yada..." I reply: "Huh, what is bad? You have great food, friendly people, hot women, beautiful nature..." And then I'm asked: "How about scooters?" And I'm like: "Oh, that... oh yea, that is annoying. You have a point."
If you stay only a few days in Taiwan, you'll notice that over half of the population rides motorcycles and bicycles or whatever has two (sometimes three) wheels attached to it. The most common among them are scooters. Even though you'll sometimes see a hot girl in high heels rushing by and making you think whoooooaaaaa, that won't make up for the annoyances you'll experience when walking around Taipei's streets, but even more so in cities around Taipei, such as Banqiao and Xinzhuang. While for Malaysian Chinese cars are the most basic means of transportation, scooters are the most basic form of transportation for Taiwanese. And I think when it comes to the number of scooters, Taiwan even tops Italy. No wonder, that Taiwan is along with China and Italy has the most scooter manufacturers in the world (source, 2010).
Young Taiwanese love to ride scooters.
1 It can be annoying
The most annoying thing is, when someone walks slowly behind you on the sidewalk, literally pushing you to either step aside or walk faster. And that can happen many times in just one day. Sometimes it's annoying to go to certain night markets, because scooters are everywhere. And if you're new in Taiwan, you'll need few minutes to cross certain roads, because those who ride scooters won't stop for you, they never stop, they just slow down and you need to imagine that you're playing Super Mario and dodge them as if they were enemies from the game.
Taipei is scooterland, too. You won't see something like this in Slovenia.
But for Taiwanese scooters are much more than just a way of transportation. Scooters are part of life. For Taiwanese, they're convenient, because they're small and cheap. They're like cellphones, everyone's gotta have one, right?
On highways scooters have their own lanes (Photo: Huajiang bridge).
2 Parking scooters
Another thing, that's connected with scooters is parking space. Since there are so many out there, every little corner is sometimes used to park scooters. Maybe some people see a certain charm in that, but for me it's just a lot of metal and rubber squeezed together:
But scooters can also serve as something different than just transportation. They can be much more than that. It may be funny to Westerners to see what Taiwanese do with and on scooters (and believe me, I've seen a lot), but for the Taiwanese people this is normal:
3 Scooters as family vehicles
Seen in Xinpu.
It's not uncommon to see a whole family on a scooter going to night markets, ordering food, eating it on the bike and then rushing off home. The highest number of people I saw on one scooter was 5 (father driving, mother behind and 3 kids somewhere in between). Simply amazing!
4 Scooters for sleeping
This was seen in Kaohsiung.
I saw this guy in the morning around 7am. He must have been so tired, he took a nap on his bike. I only saw that once in Taiwan, but I'm sure it's more common than you think. Taiwanese are workaholics. You'll see guys like him in Europe too, but because they're alcoholics, lol.
5 Pets on scooters
Took this photo in Taoyuan City.
As you can see, not only is this scooter used for keeping the dog on a leash, it's also used as a store room and a hanger. Taiwanese are very practical. And seeing dogs on scooters is common in Taiwan, too. Who knows, maybe they're driving sometimes as well. Woof! :-P
6 Taiwan Scooterland conclusions
I wonder what else are young Taiwanese doing on scooters, if you know what I mean? But I don't really wanna know (actually I do, I'm just sayin'). In case I get some new funny stuff about scooters, I'll update this post, so stay tuned.
Be sure to walk on the side of the road in night markets for your own safety.
So now you know the whole truth about Taiwan. I couldn't conceal it anymore, yes, I'm saying it out loud once again: Taiwan is scooterland! Probably a bigger one than India or Italy! So be prepared when you visit Taiwan, scooters may give you some minor annoyances. Sure, Taiwanese will say: "Hey, scooters are convenient, why all the fuss about it?" But they're Taiwanese, they can't see what you see, so don't argue with them, it's normal for them, they're born with scooters. Just smile and change the topic to food and you'll avoid a punch in the nose (kidding!). Anyway... come to Taiwan, you'll have fun! Bubble tea and stinky tofu are waiting for you. ^_^
Do you have any scooter story to share?
Do you have any scooter story to share?
[LIFE in Taiwan][My TAIWAN page][All photos by MKL, 2010]
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