News and Views

We are back from Taiwan, as you may have inferred from my previous “Global Entry” post. Here are a few items I found interesting on the trip.

First, it was nice traveling “upper class” in what United calls “BusinessFirst”, implying that it’s between a normal Business class and a normal First class. The lie-flat beds were very nice, and we slept a lot on the trip home. I sleep a lot better on my side than on my back, but with any recliner that isn’t totally flat it’s very hard to lie on your side. These beds allowed that. Jet lag was reduced and we arrived fresher than normal. The food was also pretty good. The only complaint is that Gisele sitting by the window had to climb over me to get out when I was lying flat, and there isn’t much room to store items within reach. But I’ll take the trade-offs.

Since I switched to T-Mobile I was able to use my Android phone in Taiwan, just needing to install a SIM from the local phone company. That wouldn’t have worked with a Verizon phone, since their system is not compatible with most of the world. I paid about $15 for a month, including up to a Gig of data, which was more than I needed. It helped that I was on Wi-Fi in the hotel.

Here is a simple example of community cooperation in Taiwan. When riding the escalator, 95% of the time those who want to stand will all stand to the right, so that those who want to walk have a clear path on the left. Ever try walking up or down an escalator in the US? Unless you are the only one on it, you are almost always blocked by people standing two abreast.

(Sorry how poor the picture is — I took it from the top of the escalator just before it came to the end. But you can see the clear path for walkers.)

We took a ride on a cable car (gondola?) at Sun-Moon Lake. Devon and I found the following sign inside the car hilarious. The English just says “Keep your kid away from the window”, which is a reasonable warning, but the Chinese translates to “Watch your child, and don’t let him climb out of the window”. As if anyone would! Usually it’s the English translations that brought laughter, but this was an exception.

We spent a couple of nights at a hotel in the mountains of central Taiwan. While out for a walk in the morning I came across the largest spider web I have ever seen. It was at least 20 feet high, attached to a power line, and extended at least 20 feet wide. There were at least 50-100 large spiders on the web, varying from an inch in diameter to 4 inches or so (including legs). The following picture doesn’t quite do it justice, but you can click on it for a larger version.

We think they were golden silk orb-weavers. Wikipedia states “Species from Taiwan have been known to reach over 5 in (130 mm), legspan included, in mountainous country”. That’s where we were.

I’ll finish this rather lengthy report with a picture of the toilet in one of the hotels we stayed in. See the buttons on the panel? They control a spray of water. The left hand blue button is labeled “Stop”. The second, green button has a drawing of a butt on it, and is labeled “rear”. The third, red button has a drawing of a woman’s head and is labeled “front”. And the fourth, black and white button is just labeled stronger and weaker. I did try the green button a couple of times. Interesting, but I don’t plan on installing one in my house.