Walk Hard

Today is Sunday. So Jenny was gone all morning at work. Draidan woke up and was really grumpy. I have figured out that the best thing for both of us is when he gets in this mood is to just bust out the stroller and take him for a long walk. He calmed down instantly and I ended up walking for almost three hours. At this rate, I should have a nice tan by the time I get back to Canada. Or...look like a tomato. One of the two. We stopped by a big supermarket and picked up a few things. He woke up just once to smile at the Duracel Spokes Model who was cooing over him and then passed out again.

One of the biggest problems about going anywhere on the street in Taiwan is the taxis. I have been to 11 countries in Asia and with the exception of Japan,the cab drivers are annoying in all of them. Taiwan cab drivers are especially annoying though. They take annoying to whole new levels of annoyingness. Yes, I know that is not a word, but this is my blog and I am rolling with it. When they aren't weaving in and out of traffic like lunatics, running red lights, pushing scooters off the road and driving the wrong way up the street, they can usually be found parking their taxi in a place that blocks the rest of the road. They also have the really bad habit of honking at anyone they see walking. But they don't just honk, that would be too polite. Instead,they drive up quietly behind you and then honk the horn loudly just as they approach you. Which scares the hell out of you, not to mention the baby you are pushing. I don't know why they can't figure out that if people want a ride, we will stop and wave at them. To make matters worse, the practice of tricking out their horn has caught on. Thus, the horn belches out some high-pitched abrasive sound that only seems right on an Arizona freeway.

Taiwan is starting to become a more developed nation though. Even in the 6 years I have been here, the difference is amazing. When I got to Taiwan, there was about four western restaurants in Tainan. Now, they are everywhere. The public transportation gets more efficient and greener every year. I just read that their high speed rail is on time 99.5% of the time and Taipei's subway system is rated number one in the world. They just banned cigarettes from all public places, too. The only annoying thing is they made a special allowance for pubs and nightclubs to still be able to smoke. Which were always the worst places for it in the first place. All the nightclubs are owned by gangsters, who pay off the government officials, who then structure the laws to benefit their "investors." The biggest thing holding the country back is the government corruption.

Alas, the party running the country now are quickly selling out Taiwan to China. The new president Ma is a sheep in wolf's clothing and because his party owns 85% of the media outlets in Taiwan- the people are completely oblivious to it. If they actually did their homework on the guy, they would see that not only was his fancy Ivy League schooling in the US paid for by the KMT but he also worked as a spy for them during his time in America. The guy used to sell out the Taiwanese academics studying in the US to the KMT government. Who would then bar them from coming back to Taiwan. He would attend anti-Taiwan rallies and always preached unification with China. And now he is president. He immediately lynched the last president with trumped up charges and now they are giving him one of the most unfair trials in Taiwan's history. When a Chinese diplomat came to Taiwan for talks, many Taiwanese took to the streets to wave Taiwanese flags as the motorcade drove by. The police were ordered to take away their flags and even arrested some of them. Could you imagine how angry Canadians would be if we had our flags torn out of our hands because they might offend a Chinese dignitary? This is one of the best things about all the kids learning English here. They will start to be able to go online and see the truth about what is happening in their country.

Oh, baby wants to play... enough politics.