Wasai-- Southern Hospitality

So here I was. A hot Sunday afternoon waiting for a local bus to take me from the center of Tainan to one of the larger temples on the outskirts of the city. I must have been there for about 20 minutes when a young lady walked by and asked in very broken English where I was going.

“Matsu Temple,” I explained.

She seemed surprised and then conveyed that she and her family were going there too and offered to take me there.

“Sure,” I thought looking around, half expecting to see the family station wagon pulling up.

Then she went on to explain that they weren’t here yet and that I should go up to her nearby apartment with her and wait for them.

Yeah, I know. It sounded really fishy but what the heck, I was young, reckless and actually had nothing better to do.

So we went back to her place. She sat me down in front of the TV, gave me a cold green tea and told me she was going to get ready and ducked into the next room.

Being from the big city, I started getting really paranoid. My senses were heightened and I tensed. Tensed for what? Flight? Fight? I wasn’t sure but in a few minutes my hostess came back and announced that we could go downstairs now.

Downstairs I her uncle and another young lady had pulled up. We got in and headed off to the Matsu Temple. On the way I found out that these two newer strangers spoke even less English than my first acquaintance.

I was a bit skeptical of the whole affair. There must be some angle here, right? But in the end, we ended up going to the temple. We walked around. We laughed at a Buddha that was displayed with a lit cigarette on the counter top at the front entrance. They helpfully pointed out some of the more arcane icons at the huge temple (even if their explanations in broken English were equally arcane).

Then on the way home stopped off at 3-4 small, cheap snack shops which I later found out were known for their respective specialties. They even refused to let me pay even though I did manage to force my money on the owner of one of the shops.

After 2-3 hours spent together, they asked me where I would like to be dropped off. I mentioned a place and that was it. No fuss, no muss. They had just seen it as a pleasant encounter for the afternoon, no questions, no demands.

This was just my story about the incredible hospitality of the Taiwanese. I’ve heard so many since.

There was my friend Josh, who after pushing his broken down motorcycle in the baking Taiwanese summer, was greeted by a young guy on his scooter. The guy slowed down just enough to tell Josh that there was a repair shop down the road and that it was his uncle’s. “Great,” Josh thought. They’re just looking for sucker foreigners to milk. His options were limited though and so he continued pushing until he found the shop in question.

When he got there, he recognized the guy that had just hailed him. He grabbed a tall cold tea that he had just bought, handed it to Josh and told him not to worry. In the end, the uncle fixed his bike and didn’t even charge him.

Sure there are horror stories too but never have I, in all my travels, heard as many wonderful stories of hospitality as I have here in Taiwan.

Submitted to Wasai Taiwan by: Robert Dawson

Wasai--- Cute little castles on the hills of Taiwan

Not long after my arrival in Taiwan, while traveling to and fro through the land, I noticed these “little castles” on hills around the island. I kept looking at how pretty they are and how nicely colored some of them were and I told myself, one day I got to go and visit these little castles and see what the deal with them is.

A few more weeks passed and I made a couple of more trips around the island and I kept seeing more of those little castles and I finally said, “that’s it, I’m going to go up to that hill and investigate the situation.

So, I planed out my adventure, approached my Taiwanese friend, and said “ok, you’re going to take me up to those little castles so I can take pictures and see what is the deal with so many of them around the island. I ignorantly told my friend “is it because the island is so small that Taiwanese people decided to make or build mini castles? J You should see the size of some of the castles in Europe, Central, and South America”!

My friend smiled calmly told me to relax because no matter what, we’re not going to see and investigate any little castles because they are someone’s grave or resting place, and it will be very impolite and disrespectful for anyone to go and wonder around through someone’s burial place. Wow! What a shock that was to me when I heard that! “Graves… but they look nothing like graves” I thought! “They definitely don’t look anything like graves from other countries (especially the western countries) but nevertheless, that doesn’t make them any less graves than they are” my friend said. Fair enough, I though, but why all of them are on hills? “Well, in the Taiwanese tradition and belief, it is important that the person that died has a good view” my friend continued. At hearing this, I was so astonished; I could hardly keep myself from laughing. I knew and I saw all the things other cultures laugh at when they see what we do in the west, especially USA, and I thought how rude for them to do so, therefore, I forced myself not to even squeak out a smile at hearing all the stories about the dead, the little castles, the grave or tomb sweeping day, and so forth.

The whole experience just made me realize how different people are and how tradition and beliefs makes us even more different around the world. Although some things may look ridiculous and seem beyond absurd, we should respect the culture, traditions, and practices around the world. It is unimaginable for a westerner how a dead person might be interested in a good view, and as anyone can see, graves in the USA are always on a flat field and far from anything close to a good view, but then again, if the Taiwanese believed the same we did, I would have never seen those “cute little castles on the hills of Taiwan”. I did manage to quickly take an unnoticed photo of the Taiwan graves, and everyone that saw the photo and heard the story was just as shocked as I was. On the other side, they all agreed that unless people are different in beliefs and traditions, no beauty and variety would be seen anywhere.

Submitted to Wasai Taiwan by: Daniel Clinciu

(Sacramento, the U.S. --- Hinchu, Taiwan)

Wasai-- Ghosts in the Garbage

When I first arrived in Taiwan I was working for Hess language school. The first week here was dedicated to training us how to be English teachers, and also giving us a brief introduction to Taiwanese culture.

Training was a lot of fun, but it was also a lot of hard work. There about 56 new teachers when we started, but the numbers soon began to whittle away as the days went by. It felt like I was on some bizarre reality show and people were slowly getting voted off the island. I think that many foreigners come here with the wrong idea, and when they realize how different things are here, and how powerless they are to change that, many of them go running home with their tails between their legs.

We had lectures all day from 9am till about 5pm. After work we were allowed to go out and explore Taipei. This provided many of us, with our first taste of culture-shock. At Shi-Lin night market, many people ate strange things like sheep brains, pig intestines, stinky tofu and chicken-ass-kebab. One American teacher, who refused to eat the food at the night market, headed straight for McDonalds. He emerged looking pleased with himself as he gobbled down a Big Mac and fries. He wasn’t looking so happy a while later though.

Taiwan has very few public garbage cans, and while he was looking around for a place to dispose of his trash and unwanted fries, he saw some people gathered around a large tin drum with a roaring fire burning in it. Taiwanese people were throwing paper into the fire, so he casually strolled up and threw his garbage in, too. We soon saw him running down the street with three angry Taiwanese men close behind him. He had just learned the hard way about the tradition of Ghost money.

In Taiwan many people believe that burning ghost money as an offering to your ancestors will bring you or your business good luck. I think that business has closed down now and there is a McDonalds in its place.

Submitted to Wasai Taiwan by: Stuart Wilson

(Hsinchu, Taiwan--- Cape Town, South Africa)

Wasai--- Gan Bei 乾杯

Gan Bei! The man who appears to be the leader of the group cried at the top of his lungs. At this point, the other 5 men around the table pick up their small glasses and practically inhaled the beer that was in them. This happened more frequently as the night wore on. I didn't need to steal a glance every once in a while to notice the decibel level of the conversation rising.

When I took a look at them to see what the commotion was all about, if I made eye contact with anyone they'd raise their glass to "cheers" me. Before I knew it, I had slammed my way through 6 small glasses of beer in an attempt to be polite. Feeling a little flush in the face myself, I tried telling them that in America, "cheers" is a toast to something, and doesn't require liquidating an entire glass. Their "gan bei", or "dry glass" literally, could be deadly in America where normal beers are 12 or 16 ounces. It was hard to communicate with the drunken Taiwanese at first, but that seemed to matter less and less as the beer flowed like water at a chili eating competition. The group proved to be a friendly bunch, albeit red faced and intoxicated.

The highlight of the evening was later when Mr. Wang downed about 12 ounces of Kaoliang (an extremely potent local Taiwanese liquor) in one gulp much to the joy of the group as they were cheering him on. That must have brought him over the edge though, as 5 minutes later he proceeded to fly into a furious rage, knock the table over and get slapped in the face by his wife while being restrained by several friends. That ended his night but the others kept on buying Taiwan beers and toasting us all into alcohol induced comas.

Contributted to Wasai Taiwan by: John Zadrozny

(Tainan City, Taiwan--- New York, the U.S.)

Visit his website: The Real Taiwan

http://www.therealtaiwan.com/

==================================================================

related post:

Taiwan Baptism by Beer, Yellow Wine & Betelnut

I had just recently arrived in Taiwan during my first visit for a year of study and doing nothing, when a new friend – a business man from Taipei that pulled me into a sort-of language exchange friendship – asked me out on a drinking date. Well he did say let’s go for A beer and have some dinner. Of course at the time it did not occur to me that the phrase “drink one cup” in Chinese does not quite refer to the number of beers or drinks that is actually planned on being consumed. Usually though it does entail very much more than just A beer.

We stopped at a road-side open-air restaurant, or shall I just say “lu-bien-tang” and my dear friend, knowing I do not have any aversion to beer, ordered A crate of Taiwan beer together with a horde of various food dishes.

We drank, we ate, we talked, we drank some more. He taught me – or tried anyway – various local drinking games. Cannot quite recall what they were though. And we drank again. It was fully impressed upon me that slowly sipping your small glass of beer is not acceptable in any form. It is impolite. And especially impolite if you sip your small glass of beer ALONE. So it went through the course of the evening. Both of us taking turns to slam our glass into that of the other and downing the contents.

Until it seems, my friend decided that at the current rate, he will be way drunk before I even reach the initial effects of dizziness. So, in all his wisdom, he reached for his secret weapon.

A quick call to the man of the stall and two small plastic glasses appeared on the table. Each filled with less than an inch of a yellowy alcoholic beverage, which I later learnt by complete surprise was called Yellow Wine or Hsao Hsing.

Prodded by my dear ex-friend, we both consumed the contents in one smooth gulp. Now, I am a very daring person. I am always willing to try just about anything and no matter how bad the experience was, smile when I’m done. I could not smile. I really could not. Not this time. No way. That drink must have been the absolute worst beverage that has ever passed my lips.

You may ask, why I earlier said “ex-friend”? Well, I had hardly put down my glass and was still gasping for reality, when he his open palm extended toward me and on it an inch long green item of botanical origin. “Taiwan chew gum” he proclaimed.

Still having the most horrid taste in my mouth, I thought that anything he could offer me might help get rid of that taste. Man! Was I wrong! There is no worse combination than Yellow Wine and Betel-nut. Put that together with a really full stomach of beer and a rookie Taiwan visitor, and all you get is disaster.

I will spare everyone the torrid details of what happened exactly 3 minutes later. But all I can say is, I suffered really badly. And have never touched either Yellow Wine or Betel-nut again since that day.

Thinking of this night and many other similar experiences in Taiwan, brings to mind how different things are here when out drinking with business people compared to back home. Here I think the emphasis is on drinking as much as possible in the shortest possible period. And never sip your drink slowly by yourself.

Submitted to Wasai Taiwan by: Jason Burke

Wasai-- Playing with fire

Fireworks are legal in Taiwan!

“So what,” I hear you say. “they’re just fireworks?” Well, this is true. They are just fireworks. However, look at the situation from my perspective.

In Australia, fireworks cannot be bought by the common citizen. We resign ourselves to waiting for New Years Eve, and then watching them on the television. A poor substitute to say the least, as a television can never capture the right atmosphere.

Why this ban? I’m not sure, perhaps one too many people blew their hands off, using them irresponsibly. Regardless of the reason, the fact remains that I had previously never played with fireworks, and had only once previously seen a live show.

Since I had only ever seen fireworks as distant, colorful explosions, I walked straight past the stall that sold them! I was stopped by the friend I was with and directed over to a stall with lots of small cardboard boxes and tubes. Cardboard! What the hell? I thought the covers would be waterproof at least. And yes, call me childish, but I was expecting the classic cylinder with a cone cap at one end. Some were even made of paper! To be fair on myself, there were a couple of cylinders with cone caps, and to my glee these all had words such as ‘Danger: Highly Explosive’ or similar on it, but were rather expensive, so I decided on quantity, not quality. This time anyway…

I spent a total of 1000NT. The stall keeper threw in a few smaller cheap fireworks for free, and we were on our way.

Anyway, now for the fun! My friend and I went to a nearby lakeside. We decided to use the smaller tubes first. They shot away, or hovered for a few seconds, in various colors, shapes and sizes, and I didn’t even lose a finger! They had they’re own type of charm, and were new to me, so I found them fun to ignite, but I must admit, they didn’t quite give me a feeling of ‘wasai’.

After that, we moved to the four meter high fountain of golden sparks, which was spectacular, but I had been around bonfires that were bigger and more ferocious.

I had saved the best till last. A thick slab made up of thirty two smaller cylinders. I lit it, and waited a few long seconds. Did it work? Did the fuse blow out? Then, there was an abrupt pop and sizzle, and I was treated to my own personal fireworks display. Thirty two projectiles rocketed into the air, one after the other, and exploded far above my head. Some were large explosions, some took on shapes, or patterns, others hung around like willow tree foliage. It was a great finale. I stood transfixed, utterly mesmerized.

I have noticed that Taiwanese people don’t often use fireworks for random fun, and instead generally use them for engagement parties, weddings, and other large celebrations.
I guess it’s true that if you see something too often, it takes the magic away.

So, yet one more reason for Australians, and other non-firework permitting countries, should visit Taiwan. It’s not the fact that you can see fireworks, but the fact that you can light them. No more being a passive observer, you can actively get involved.

Submitted to Wasai Taiwan by: Sean Wise

(Taipei, Taiwan--- Melbourne, Australia

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related post:

Fireworks and Bravado

At Lantern Festival two weeks after the Chinese New Year many temples around the country put on spectacular displays of fireworks. At Luermen, just north of Tainan City tens of thousands of people gather for the display. It is well worth the hassle of walking through the crowds that throng the streets of the village, buying snacks at the market stalls and making your way towards the huge temple. On arrival at the temple forecourt I was ushered onwards, towards the temple itself and told that the bridge linking two of the buildings would be my best viewpoint – and besides, it would be very dangerous for me to stay where I was. I little reluctantly, because it looked, from the appearance of the small stage that had been set up that this was where the action would be, I agreed and allowed myself to be moved on.

I was on the bridge in good time to find a place to park my camera and tripod and to wait for the fireworks. In the centre of the forecourt, where I had first wanted to stand, the crowd moved aside as a huge stack, about four metres high, was wheeled into place on the stage. Then the ‘fun’ started. The stack turned out to be crammed with fireworks. Some shot their streams of colour into the air, but the general direction of the majority was much more sinister. Firecrackers shot every way, many straight into the crowd. OK, I had to admit to feeling grateful to those who had moved me on! Most of the men standing near were wearing plenty of protection including crash helmets and thick clothes. That was not the place to set up a tripod!

After the ‘excitement’ came a display, in the middle distance on the edge of the village, a beautiful display lasting about ten minutes held the crowd enraptured. As it ended I noticed that the stack which had been removed from the stage had been replaced by another, equally menacing tower. That too erupted and spewed its flames and explosions in every direction into the crowd. It was followed by a second intricately artistic display from another spot on the perimeter of the village. This time the wail of an ambulance siren accompanied the scene.

I looked towards a building in front of the temple and discovered where the towers had come from as I saw doors open and yet another being wheeled out of the long warehouse. The cycle was repeated about a dozen times. Each time the tower seemed more lethal. Several times ambulances were heard starting their journeys to hospitals in the city. And each time another distant display elicited “Ooos” and “Ahhs.” from the crowd. A lantern in the form of a small hot air balloon failed to gain altitude and dropped into the crowd where the flames were safely extinguished.

I began reflecting on fireworks in Britain. Many families like mine used to have bonfires in their gardens to remember, around November 5th, the exposure of a terrorist plot to blow up King James in 1605. But in recent years, following many accidents, public and insurance companies’ concern over the inevitable injuries and fires had changed the culture towards having ‘safe’, well managed public displays.

The disregard of safety at Luermen was somewhat scary. I wonder how those who had been injured would look back on their night of bravado when they had challenged the fire dragons – and lost. What does this say for the values Taiwanese people place on life and wellbeing?

Submitted to Wasai Taiwan by: John Crocker

(Tainan, Taiwan --- London, U.K.)

Wasai-- Unexpected festivities

I came to Taiwan for the first time in the summer of 2006, and stayed in DanShui for 10 days. I came a week before the Dragon Festival, and had no idea what the festival was about. Some of our friends from the States warned us about the celebrations and massive traffic that would permeate the streets, but I wasn’t expecting much. But when the day of the Festival came, I was shocked beyond my imagination. I was shocked by the immense celebrations that filled such tiny streets! There were cars everywhere with floats and long processions of people. What scared me the most were the fire crackers. There was one time where I was walking back home through the parade and I suddenly heard a long string of fire crackers explode near my feet!! It almost gave me a heart attack! If such celebrations were to occur in the States, the fire crackers would be banned by the police or at least done at a very deserted place far away from people. I was also perplexed by a peculiar sighting. There was a young man that was beating himself on his head with a stick with sharp bumps and ridges. He was bleeding from his head and even seemed to be enjoying the pain. I was struck with a lot of fear and disturbed. What is all this?! The other peculiar thing that I noticed was that throughout the whole parade, it seemed like the police were very passive. They were only controlling the flow of traffic, and didn’t seem to be watching the people as much. To me, the parade was getting out of hand with fire crackers going off every 5 minutes in the streets. If this were to happen in America, the police would be surrounding the man beating himself, confiscating the fire crackers, and maybe even arresting people for disturbing the parade. I was just shocked. The Dragon Boat Festival would be one thing that I would never forget!!

Submitted to Wasai Taiwan by: Caroline Ogasawara
(Hsinchu, Taiwan --- San Francisco, the U.S.)

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Wasai--- Market night, every night

Night markets. The English translation sounds exciting, risqué, and not quite legal. In reality they are just as exciting as they sound, but perfectly legal. Well, it depends which stalls you go to I suppose. However, a closer translation for these bustling hives of activity would be “mini-carnival”.

I was startled to find that instead of having two or three dotted around the city, there are one or two in every suburb! Since I live in Taipei, there’s about four rather large night markets within 15-20 minutes drive!

Before taking a walk through any of the night markets in Taiwan, I was expecting something like the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne. That is, seventy percent of the stalls selling the same types of clothes, the rest selling knick-knacks and trinkets, with a couple of food stalls.

My hosts told me we would eat at the market. I expected a few stalls selling the same sorts of food. When we got there, I was faced with many stalls selling a large range of cheap food. This presented a rather tricky choice. The choice was not what to eat. It was where to start! There will certainly be something that appeals to everybody’s taste. I ended up trying to taste everything. My favorite food so far? Deep fried mushrooms and a banana and mango smoothie. Pearl milk black tea and sweet potato chips covered in plum powder are tasty too. Why? Because most of these foods cannot be found in Australia. To me, they’re different.

Of course, rooster crests, pig’s hooves, and various other parts of animals anatomy normally not seen by western menus are also different. Very different! But my mind hasn’t got into the habit of regarding these as edible yet.

Ok, so I gorged myself. What then? I did some shopping of course! These are markets after all. There are a broad range of items, such as clothing, jewelry, electronics animals, etc. The prices were fairly reasonable, but then I was told that I was supposed to haggle with the shop attendants, in order to bring the price down. Suffice to say, the deals got even better after that. I must admit though, I’ve never got the hang of haggling. I’ve spent 23 years in a non haggling country, so I’m still coming to terms with it. In Australia, if a products price is too high, you go elsewhere, you don’t argue with the checkout chick (cashier) to make it lower.

While it didn’t elicit a “Wasai” from me, I’ve found that any night market bigger then an alley generally has entertainment too, whether it be picture booths, arcade games, or those other amusements such as shooting balloons with toy guns, fortune telling, and so forth.

I realize night markets are common throughout Asia, but for the westerner, or at least, for me, they are a must see, a place to immerse your senses in for a few hours, to have some fun, to try some traditional food, and, perhaps, get a bargain price on that item you’ve been hunting for.

Submitted to Wasai Taiwan by: Sean Wise

(Melbourne, Australia--- Taipei, Taiwan)

==================================================================

Night Market

I was born in Taiwan but immigrated to the U.S. for 20 years before moving back here to Taiwan earlier this month. I thought I would be pretty used to life here in Taiwan but when I visited some night markets, I was reminded of what a strange sight that was. I went to several night markets but especially Shilin Night Market was so crazy, jam-packed with people. My friends and I had to almost hold on to one another’s bags so that we didn’t get separated. It’s just a strange sight to see so many little food stands right next to each other, selling almost the same thing and as you walk by, people are shouting and trying to invite you to buy food from their stand. Sometimes I wonder how the entire night market can withstand all that electricity being used to power the stoves without burning down. I think this was a culture shock because even in the most crowded cities in America, you don’t see such a sight. I think most of it is probably because the U.S. just has more space so shops don’t have to be so crowded together. And I think storeowners in America don’t like to open similar shops next to one another because of competition. They would rather carve their own niche in a section of town that doesn’t already have a shop like it. I think shop owners in the U.S. are not as aggressive as those in Taiwan and so do not stand out on the streets trying to pull in customers. Once in a while you see some store in the U.S. hire a teenager to dress up as a chicken or a hot dog to draw in customers from the streets but even then they don’t really shout at passersby but just hold up a sign or something to advertise some sale or promotion.

Submitted to Wasai Taiwan by: Cythia Peng

(San Francisco, the U.S. --- Hsinchu, Taiwan)

Wasai--- Toilet-trained ?

I thought I had finished learning about how to use a toilet by the time I began elementary school. At the age of 34, on my way to visit Taiwan for the first time, I learned that I was mistaken. On arriving at the KIX airport in Osaka, Japan, I went to the restroom to find a surprise waiting for me. I opened the restroom stall door and pondered how to approach the horizontal urinal. Which way do I face? Where do I put my feet? How do I position my body? How do I keep my shoes, socks, and pant legs dry? I am 34 years old, and I have no idea how to use this toilet.

The airport in Osaka was the first of many toilets that I came to know as squat toilets. At the CKS airport in Taoyuan, I was a “wee” bit smarter. I took a little more time to notice that the stall doors had pictures on them. Some doors had squat toilet symbols and some were labeled as handicapped-accessible. Ah-ha! All of my life, until now, I had been trained how to use a handicapped-accessible toilet. My previous trips to places like Ireland, Germany, and Russia taught me that toilets had many unique ways of being flushed. Asia, specifically Taiwan, taught me that I have been a physically challenged toilet user. During my four week stay in Taiwan, I learned a whole new set of toilet skills. I was being re-toilet-trained. After somewhat embarrassing discussions with others, I learned to face the small arch of the toilet. I learned to roll up my pants legs and carefully and steadily plant my feet on either side of the hole. After a number of trials with some humbling errors, I learned how to best deal with the physics of hair changing the direction of fluids based on pressure and other factors.

The previous 34 years were spent chastising male family and friends for struggling to get everything in the toilet. Wow, I didn’t know I was going to experience this same challenge. I now sympathize with them and apologize for my previous ignorance. After my first month in Taiwan, I no longer needed to use a toilet which allowed me to sit down. All of the muscles in my legs were finely tuned from their time spent holding me upright over squat toilets. I could hold my own with the best of the Taiwanese toilet-trained. I was feeling like a competent 34 year old again. Now, I just need to be diligent about always remembering to put the toilet paper in the garbage can and not in the toilet. Once I have mastered this skill, they might allow me to consider citizenship.

Submitted to Wasai Taiwan: Kim Cusick

( Kaohsiung, Tawian --- the U.S.)

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Toilet Restaurant, Taiwan

http://au.travel.yahoo.com/great-outdoors/taiwan/toilet-restaurant-taiwan.html

Themed restaurants are everywhere these days.
There are Rock n' Roll themed ones, restaurants where you can eat while sitting on beds, and even bars made completely of ice. But Taiwan has taken novelty restaurants to a whole new level. Welcome to Marton, the world's first toilet themed restaurant! Marton means toilet in Chinese and in this restaurant you literally sit on toilet seats and eat out of miniature toilet shaped bowls (both the Asian squat-style and the traditional Western variety toilets).
The restaurant is the first of its kind and only exists in Taiwan. The creator of the restaurant used to be a street vendor. He sold ice-cream in a special plastic toilet cup holder which he designed himself. He decided to take this idea one step further and so the toilet restaurant was born. The restaurants use ceramic toilet bowls/dishes to serve a range of meals. Apparently he was inspired by a comic book character who would put crap on crackers. No joke! This comic is popular with the young kids in Taiwan!
The creator has now patented the idea and opened up several more branches around Taiwan. So if you ever thought the world was going down the toilet, now you have proof! The restaurants attract a range of customers but it is especially popular with young people and families with kids. Apparently it's not all just about novelty value and the restaurant gets many repeat guests. As a result it has introduced a loyalty program so you can collect credit on multiple visits and then receive a big toilet shaped bowl. These are also sold separately so you can take home a ceramic toilet bowl with you!
Food is either served in a flat bowl that resembles a male urinal; larger main meals are served in a toilet bowl. Noodles or rice are served in a bathtub shaped bowl. Some of the most popular meals are curry noodles or rice because of their resemblance to....well....you know! Chocolate ice-cream is popular for the same reason.

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Toilet restaurant

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/247.1/popup/index.php?cl=1425865

Wasai--- A very unusual holiday

One day, after having lived in Taiwan for only a couple of months, I awoke to the sound of what appeared to be a massive festival. There was music blasting, people dressed up in costumes and performing, and people marching down the street with musical instruments. I walked to work that day, and saw that this festival went on for blocks and blocks, and that many roads had been closed off to traffic. People seemed very festive and happy, and I was sure that this must be a national holiday of some kind. When I arrived at work, I asked my co-workers what holiday was being celebrated today, and they were completely baffled as to what I was talking about. I described what I had seen on the way to work, and finally somebody figured it out. They told me that somebody must have died (!)

This was very surprising to me. Where I come from, funerals are very serious and solemn affairs. I attended a friend’s funeral a couple years ago in America, and the day consisted of people delivering quiet, serious speeches about the departed, and lots of crying and expressions of sadness. People usually wear black or very dark colors, and often hug each other to offer support. Although these are very sad occasions, people usually feel better after having expressed their sadness, and funerals offer a chance for people to let out their emotions, instead of keeping them “bottled up” inside them. I haven’t been in Taiwan for very long, so I’m not sure what the root causes are for these differences. Perhaps the Taiwanese have a different outlook on death? Or perhaps their culture prefers not to express negative emotions in public? When I die, would I rather that people wept over my passing, or that they threw a huge party in my honor? I think there’s something to be said for both approaches.

Submitted to Wasai Taiwan by: Randy Fowler (Taipei)

Wasai---But where's the wedding?

On my first day in Taipei we went to Danshui, where there is a lovely park. In the park a photographer was taking photos of a bride and groom. She had on a long, white wedding gown and he was in a tux, but there was no one else around. No Best Man nor Maid of Honor, no family members, no guests. My host explained that the wedding photos are taken before the actual wedding day.In the U.S. it's customary that the bride wear her gown for the first, and only, time at her wedding. All of the wedding photos are also taken on that day. It is even considered by some to be bad luck for the groom to see his bride in her gown before the actual ceremony.

Submitted to Wasai Taiwan by: Peggie Scott (Hsinchu)
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Wasai-- Betel Nut Girls

Back in the States, in the heyday of night clubs, lovely young women,in not very many clothes, would drift among the patrons with a tray of tobacco products calling, "Cigars, cigarettes?". And today, Cocktail Waitresses line their closets with saucy outfits designed to bring big tips. Hooters, the restaurant named after a popular aspect of the female figure, seems to have developed a thriving business on the premise that sex sells.
Yet, somehow, when I first arrived and saw Taiwan's glass-caged lovelies, my jaw dropped. No hiding in dimly lit, smoke filled rooms for these business women. They offer drive-through (or drive past, as the case may be) service to their customers. It all seemed so blatant, so not subtle.
A year later and I'm still fascinated with the betel nut girls.
Submitted to Wasai Taiwan by: Peggie Scott (Hsinchu)

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For Taiwanese