Riding down from Kwan Yin Shan we drove by some side-of-road, tiny buildings with “sexy” dressed woman. Hmmm. Turns out, they sell Betal nuts. Weird combination. Kind of over-the-top drive-thru coffee stands. But, as best as I could understand (from the father/daughter who I was riding with) is that “if they did not dress sexy, they would not sell any Betal nuts”. One of the people here (I want to guess that it was someone from Singapore ((where they speak Singlish – a super-efficient, shorthand combination of Chinese, English, and Malay)) ) said that he made the mistake of swallowing the juice from a Betal nut. Bit like swallowing chewing tobacco. Not to be advised.
Stinky Tofu – a local thing. My insensitive nose smelled nothing. Tasted fine.
Food here is rather bland to a non-suburban American. Might be that I’ve eaten Taiwaneesish food, though (as opposed to Chinese, Japanese, etc). Native Taiwan food is said to be relatively spiceless. But even some curry chicken I had in the distinctly upscale food court in the Taipai 101 shopping center (ceramic dishes in a shopping center food court!) was not very heavily curried. As is well know, though, you can’t starve in Taiwan.
You’ve heard of a “flock” of birds? A “herd” of cows? Well, how about a “Taiwan” of motor scooters?