"Keep Your Head On A Swivel!"

“We adore chaos because we love to produce order."
~M.C. Escher, Dutch graphic artist

Like most travelers arriving in a new place, we attempt to assimilate as much of the newness as possible; we take a ton of pictures and try to absorb the highlights. Yet no matter how much sightseeing you fit in or how many snapshots you take, there will always be that one special thing you’ll take away from a place, one unique aspect or impression that sticks, one thing that will always come up when you look back on the time you spent there.

In Paris, it could be the comfort of the cafes with their strong coffee and fresh pasty served at small round tables with wrought iron chairs, where even the terrible service of a surly waiter is part of an enjoyable experience.

In London, for me it was how the city felt in the days after the world lost Diana and the pungent sweet smell of the endless flower shrines set up for her.

Berlin still holds lingering images of riding bicycles through a park in the American District watching East German guards high up above, patrolling the wall with their machine guns.

Barcelona brings back trips to the Ramblas, Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell and the understanding that, as an American, I would never fully understand the ancient Catalan culture.

And Argentina inevitably makes me think of the incredible carne asada (beef) and the massively crowded, but beautiful beaches.

In Taichung this week … Yes! It’s the scooters!! They’re literally everywhere, lining every street and parked on every sidewalk! There are thousands and thousands of them in every shape, size and color. They are, by far, the number one mode of transportation in Taichung, and they travel in armies – we’ve quickly learned, if you’re not fully aware every moment, you’ll be run down in an instant!

They hurl at you out of the darkness on a nighttime street; they crowd the rush-hour intersections, revving their motors, gunning their exhausts, impatiently waiting to charge through the green light; they lie stealthy and silent in the side streets, waiting to whip around corners in a frenzy of speed, suddenly powering into the turn, sliding around cars and squeezing through unsuspecting pedestrians.

The scooters rule the road and the city accommodates them. They park without restriction and seemingly without charge. Although they generally adhere to the rules of the road, Chris and I have almost been knocked down several times by riders who insist on taking shortcuts by driving the wrong way down one-way streets. They follow the speed limits when forced to, but let a scooter loose on an empty street and watch it fly!! The blur is impressive and the sound is deafening!

Law enforcement makes sure they wear helmets – which is good news and a big improvement over their neighbors on Mainland China. You’ll still see entire families whizzing by on a single vehicle, but at least the children are wearing protective gear. The scooter has long since replaced the bicycle as the primary mode of family transportation in Taichung – it’s cheap, it’s fast, it’s easy to park and it’s durable.

However, despite their snappy get-up-and-go, scooters are not allowed on the highways, which means they’re for inner city and local transportation only. I can’t help but think this law effectively prevents long-distance family road trips and is a well-thought-out safety plan for long-haul scooter enthusiasts.

When we got here last week and Chris started to show me around the neighborhoods of Little Europe, he warned me about the scooters. At first I couldn’t imagine what he was talking about, but as we left the hotel and hit our first intersection, it quickly became apparent! He had told me there was only one thing that was going to insure our survival on the streets of Taichung, and as we weaved and dodged our way across the street, I could hear his warning loud and clear: “Keep your head on a swivel!”