The people on the sidewalk, the cars on the road.. the scooters EVERYWHERE

The pictures here are what the sidewalk on almost every side of my college campus in Taipei looked like. If there is one thing I remember vividly about living in Taiwan, it's the motor scooters.

At the time I was there (fresh from New York) I considered them a blight on the roads (and the sidewalks, for that matter!).

They were constantly weaving in and out of traffic, onto the sidewalk and between walking pedestrians, and just causing general havoc. Never mind the noise and (for the bad ones) exhaust! Even the cute little Taiwan girls drove these things!

The picture below I found from Google, but not because I didn't see them, just because I never snapped a picture when I did.

It was quite common to see a family of 3 or more on a scooter at least once a month, driving along the city street as calm as Mary Poppins... I'm not sure how... but somehow they never got in a wreck!

I have to say in parting though, compared to Beijing, the traffic there was timid and well behaved - 我的天啊。。。 I'll stop now... ;-)