Sir, would you like fries with that...ATM fee?

I figured I would have to pay high fees to take money out of the ATM while in Taiwan but I didn't expect them to be as high as they have been. The first time I took money out of the ATM was at the Taipei airport when I arrived. A few days later when I checked my bank statement I say I was charge a US $5 ATM fee and another 1% transaction fee, all courtesy of Bank of America. After needing to go to the ATM three times to pay my rent, my deposit on my apartment and to buy food and other necessities I figured I needed a cheaper way to access my money. Taking out more money per withdrawal wasn't an option because I was already taking out my daily max. The next thought that came to me was to find a Bank of America partner bank if Taipei to reduce my fees. As we all know Bank of America has no friends so that was a lost cause. Next, I decided to see what would be involved in opening a local bank account and sending a wire transfer from B of A to a local bank in Taiwan.

I went to three local banks and was told I need to get an ID number from the immigration office in order to do so. I did that. When I came back I was told that the application needed to be complete in Chinese. Given that I couldn't even write my name in Chinese I left and came back another day with a friend who could speak and write for me. It was like being 3 years old all over again. "Mommy, what does that word mean? Cat, you f***ing idiot." After obtaining my account information and ATM card I thought I had my solution around these fees, which amounted to around US $12 for each ATM withdrawal. Later that night I went home and called Bank of America customer service and spoke to who had to have been the dumbest women in the entire building, maybe even in the entire world but I'm trying to be nice :-). I would have been more satisfied if they put the vacuum cleaner on the phone instead of this genius. For every question I asked this woman she gave me three responses that were all different. I had to spend so much time trying to figure out which answer was the correct one. I keep asking her "is that your final answer...Ok, is this your final answer?" After getting off the phone with this person I went online to set up my transfer. I enter the information and placed my transfer. When I received my confirmation I realized that the exchange rate they gave me was awful. It was much worse than the rate I was getting at the ATM. It was so bad that I actually would have saved US $65 by just taking money out of the ATM and paying the ATM fee. Needless to say I will not be doing anymore transfers and have yet to find a good solution to my fee issue. I guess I'll just have to stick with the ATM fees until I leave in June. And yes, I would like fries with that!

Sexual Harassment in Taipei

One thing that I am trying to figure out is if Taipei has a serious sexual harassment issue or not. As a man it is hard to know what women experience in terms of sexual harassment because unless I see it or someone I know tells me about it I wouldn't know whether or not women are being sexually harassed. Also, I recognize that just because I'm not told about it or don't see it doesn't mean it isn't happening. All over Taipei, especially in the metro and on buses, I not only see signs telling men not to sexually harass women but I also see public devices such as whistles and alarms that women can use to alert people that they are being or have been sexually harassed.

This picture is of the whistles that hang about every 5 feet on the buses that can be used to alert others that sexual harassment (or pick pocketing) is taking place.

This sign is on every metro train warning about the evils of sexual harassment. I will say I love how this cartoon guy is extra creepy with is tongue hanging out as he gropes this woman.

I have heard many women in the States tell me their tales of being sexually harassed on public transportation and in bars or clubs and I'm not only talking about verbally but being touch and groped in every place imaginable to the point where I wonder how these dudes aren't getting arrested. I am always surprised because I rarely witness it so it begs the question, how often does this happen and men are just completely unaware of it? Unless you're the creeper who did it.

It is true that men get sexually harassed too. I'm know many of you have heard my story of the girls who came into the men's room when I was at a bar in Baltimore and took turns rubbing my back and commenting and inspecting me as I was at the urinal. It was far from welcomed. That being said I'm sure being harassed happens to women much more frequently.

The question that I am trying to get an answer to is, is sexual harassment so bad in Taipei that all these alarms and posters are necessary to curb the existing behavior or is the city being proactive and putting these measures in place so it never become a problem?

Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival

In Pingxi there is a pretty big night market where you can buy food, cloths, and best of all, Sky Lanterns. These are mini hot air balloons, in which you light the base on fire and it heats the air inside the balloon and takes it up, up, and away. You write wishes on the lantern before releasing it and the higher up in the sky it goes the better because it gets closer to the gods so they are more likely to answer your wish.

This goes on all year around but it is especially popular during the Chinese New Year. I wanted to catch all the action so I hopped a bus from the Taipei Zoo after class on Sunday (yes, I said class on Sunday but that's for another post). They have buses running from the Taipei Zoo and Taipei Main Station about every 20 minutes. The ride takes about 50 minutes from the Zoo to Pingxi. I arrived around 6pm as it was just getting dark. That day they were releasing 200 lanterns at a time all night long. If you wanted your lantern to go up in a big group this was day to do it. You could also just release your lantern in an open area whenever, as many people did.

The food at the night market was pretty standard stuff: stinky tofu, BBQ squid, skewers with various types of meat, bubble tea, big intestine wrapped in small intestine pork sausages and the infamous penis shaped waffle sticks. When I first arrived I said I would try stinky tofu but that I would wait a month to get acclimated to Taiwan first. Yesterday, I saw it and figured, why not. I will have to admit, of all the carts selling stinky tofu I picked the least stinky one to ease my way in to it. It didn't really taste like much of anything. It sure smelled funky but didn't really have any flavor. From what others tell me the stinkier it gets the smell gets stronger but the flavor is about the same. For those who haven't had the pleasure, it smells like old garbage. People in Taiwan love it. I can't say it's bad because it doesn't really have much flavor but the smell certainly makes it hard to put near your mouth, let alone in your mouth. Maybe it's an acquired taste. I hated the first beer I ever had so...

Getting to the festival wasn't much of a problem. Leaving was crazy. Taiwan does a good job of offering constant bus service to the thousands of people who show up for this event. When I went to get in line for the bus I realized the line was a few THOUSAND people deep. It was so thick and went back so far I thought I would be in line for the rest of my life so I tries to do things the Taiwanese way and just cut in line. I tried three time and was caught each time by the festival police and kicked out of line. They weren't having it at this event. Either way, I figured it was worth a shot...or three.

They split the bus line up into two lines. One for people who wanted to sit down and another much faster line for those who didn't mind standing on the bus ride back. Given that the standing room only line was moving about 4 times as fast as the sitting line, I opted for the standing room only line. I moved through the line in about 1.5 hours and I figured what was the difference between standing on a bus for 50 minutes and standing in a line for at least two to three extra hours just to sit down. Well, the difference was I was sitting down at home before those people sat down on the bus. Actually, what ended up happening was, there were still seats available on the bus when I got on so I sat down the whole ride anyway. Suckers!!!

Zoca Pizza, Fourplay & Carnegie's

I heard about this pizza place called Zoca Pizzeria a few weeks ago so I figured I'd check it out today. When I arrived I was told there was a long wait but I saw an empty small table outside so I asked if I could sit there and they said, cool. I ordered a Stagioni Pizza, which came in about 10 minutes and was pretty good. I can't say the food was the best pizza I have ever had (shout out to Iggies in Baltimore)  but it is up there.

Next, I went to a bar called Fourplay that was recommended by a friend. This bar doesn't have a menu but it does have a few staple drinks that others have posted about online, which you can order. They do all custom drinks so you just tell then what you like and the mixologist will make a drink to fit your tastes. The drinks range from about NT $250-400, so not too bad. It can get really crowded so making reservations ahead of time is recommended. I was only able to stay about 45 minutes because I didn't have a reservation and the seats my friend and I were sitting in were reserved. In my opinion it's more of a good date night spot than a place to go out with friends.

After that I went out to Carnegies, a western style bar with a ton of creepy old British dudes and some questionable women. I didn't stay there long but long enough to see some girls dancing on the bar Coyote Ugly style, a guy propose to his girlfriend on the bar, and the Kris Kross 'Jump' music video play on TV. Classic.

Taipei 101

Taipei 101 used to be the tallest building in the world but now it is ranked number 2 behind the Burj Khalifa building in the UAE. Nevertheless, the building is still impressive, especially considering that there are no other building near it in Taipei that are even half its size. The building itself is mostly office space with a pretty high end mall attached to the side. You can take the speed elevator up to the observation deck and check out the view or grab some food at the restaurant on the 88th floor. The building is in the Xinyi District, which is full of restaurants, bars, clubs, high-end apartments, young professionals and plenty of shopping. Yes, it's much nicer and more modern than the area I live in. Hahaha :-p! If I were to move to Taipei this is the area I would live in. For now, I just visit.

Vietnamese Pho

Today was my first time out solo where I ordered food from a menu that was all in Mandarin and it didn't have any pictures. Fortunately for me I had my Pleco optical character reader. It's a pretty cool app that works offline and can identify characters visually. I ordered my food and had an inexpensive lunch that was pretty good.

I spent most of my day at Starbucks studying for my classes that start this week and then met up with a friend for lunch at a Vietnamese Pho restaurant. This place was on Yong Kang St. and was my first experience eating Pho. I enjoyed the meal and the attractive hostess who was standing not too far from our table who kept looking over at us. Hey lady! Sorry, I didn't take a photo of her so you will have to use your imagination.

Mod Whiskey Bar

Yesterday I went out to a pretty good breakfast place near the Shandao Temple Station. I ordered a few items and had a good breakfast for NT $82 or about US $3. I will be heading back here again. Plus, I heard they have another location right down the street from me so that is even better.

For Dinner I took the train to the Zhongxiao Dunhua station and walked around that area until I found a little noodle spot. The area is full of expensive hot pot places but I wasn't in the mood for a US $40 dinner. Instead, I found some wonton noodle soup for NT $75 or US $2.5. It got the job done and was pretty tasty.

Next, I walked to a whiskey bar in the area called Mod. It was a bit hard to find but once I arrived I was glad I found it. It had a cool vibe, jazz music, decently priced fancy drinks and ice cubes shapes like large spheres and rectangles. It was an experience and I will be going back there again.