There have been actually 2 months that I came to this small far eastern island. I just want to share my new impressions, observations with you. First of all, this place is really different when I compare Singapore and Malaysia. I had the real far eastern feeling here with the motorbikes, bikes, crowded streets outside and different kinds of food smellingJ))
I just want to start from the streets. Crowded, and the traffic is even crazier than Turkey with lots of motorbikes moving at the same time. They are really good at riding motorbikes even with 4 members of family can get on the same vehicle. Crazy!! (streets video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh51QBmmTHw) Chinese written billboards lighting all the night, supermarkets open even until 2:00 o clock or 24 hours are the most interesting things when I compare the European style. The streets are always full of action, about 6000 7elevens work all the night and mornings.
Shopping and even looking at the stuff in the food court of the supermarket are wonderful. However, I can hardly select something familiar too eat. You can see crabs, snakes and some strange sea foods (video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oICNoWx1nrY). Even you are allowed to taste them while walking in the supermarket. I strongly recommend you to taste, it is even better than paying money and not eatingJ) I did once , could not stand when I saw strange things in my food. The staffs in the supermarket are really polite as all country; they even stop their current works and help me to find a product in the supermarket. As I said before, it is even impossible to explain a product to someone, unless he understands what you say. Before learning Chinese, I create a body language. Just try to explain water; you will most probably be misunderstood at the beginning.
However, I really found lots of delicious stuff in the night markets. They open at about 8: 00 o clock and there you can find variety of different foods. It is comparable cheaper than Turkey. Beside these, finally by finding the familiar Kebab, I became really happy, maybe the happiest man in the worldJ) ( this time , egyptian guy with an arabic music prepares kebap http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWtqTDelNNo - Of course , Doner Kebab in Germany and Turkey is better:)) They give great importance to their health. They do not eat too much bread. The food is mainly rice, and mostly they put egg or meat inside. That tastes really interesting when you drink soap with egg. My favorite is, as a Turkish guy, floury stuff looks like our Gozleme.
As I said, there is a big traffic jam in the streets. Beside these, I have seen some warnings, which are written as “no birds”. It was really strange … By the way; the warnings in the construction areas are really interesting. Actually there is no standard even though they have the same writings. Moreover, each person in the pictures smiles while warning about the inconvenience. Maybe, this shows the politeness of the people here. However what I recognized here also, even though these people are so kind , there exist too much security cameras in the streets . I could not understand why they do give great importance to this stuff. When I think about my country, maybe we have to have double of themJ))
Now, I want to give some information about the international fairs in Taipei. As I said, sometimes you feel yourself as a pop star in the streets; it is even the same when the sellers or responsible people in the fairs attack on you. One of the fairs, actually at the firs fair I have attended, some guys jumped on meJ) and they take me to the Trade office in order to let the suppliers and manufactures make a presentation of their products here. Because of being an engineer, I really enjoy this kind of information. Even I have the chance to research about the production style, quality, marketing stuff. What is also funny is to listen their presentations in Chinese since even the CEOs of these companies can not speak English. They even provide me a Chinese – English speaking translator. Almost every day, I go to this office and listen these people. We have same stuff in Turkey, this is even much professional than our street presentations.
By the way, I really recognized that I am really good at bargaining. This is really important here, as experienced too much in Turkey, I have no such big problem. Even, I give some appointments to the some foreigner friends here to help them by buying computers or any other stuff with a cheaper priceJ) They can not even say “no”, so always tend to reduce the price. However that is not unlimited. Even a seller was about to hit me, because of insisting too much.
Chinese language, since it is such a shape based language; it is too hard to write the characters. However, I recognized that the structure is even similar to Turkish. That is, maybe, because of the Turkish history in middle Asia. I do not if you know or not that the Turkish language is in the same family with Japanese and Finish. They do not use ‘four ‘ , because it means ‘death’ in Chinese. And by writing msn, they use “881” for ‘bye bye’ because of its similar pronunciation.
I know, I have written too much. As a person believing in sharing information, I want to share more by time. They do not know so much about Europe and America. After I get much familiar with this language, people, and culture, I will go on writing. I hope you enjoy these articles, pictures and videos. Have a good day …
Hope to see all of you
Omurden M. SEZGIN
For videos http://omurdens.tripod.com/
For Photos http://www.flickr.com/photos/30863084@N00/
Aricles http://omurdens.blogspot.com/
Videoroman of the adventure à http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN4Sd4b2d9o
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