Almost everyday I come across some things here in Tainan-Taiwan that are strange, funny, and a bit special about the way that the Taiwanese do things. Some previous posts include:
Here are two more cuties.
I call this the “sleeping man”. I’ve seen him, perhaps, 5 times all over Tainan, always in the same position, always sleeping next to his scooter. I wish I was carrying my camera every time, but these two will do for now:
The sleeping man on Dong-Ning road
The sleeping man at a park on Lin-Sen road
I like this man’s style. Sleeping outdoors is an interesting phenomena in Taiwan, especially when it comes to students. If you thought libraries are for reading and working, then come in NCKU’s library and head up to any of the floors and you’ll find out that it’s actually a place where the exhausted over-worked students come to sleep. When it gets really hot or really cold, the fancy library is a cozy place to linger in.
Another interesting phenomena is the people who ride their scooters around Tainan with their pets. Dogs, big or small, are carried in ways that I consider to be a little bit dangerous to both the rider and the animal.
Take this one lady, for example, who doesn’t even bother with a helmet and is into some interesting gothic like fashion. Her dog is standing on his back feet while his front feet are on the dashboard, looking ahead.
I was kind’o trying to keep up with her to take this photo, the only place she slowed down a bit was arriving at the intersection. How that dog kept on spot the whole time I have absolutely no idea.
This next one I really like. Why use people in boring routine jobs? How come we don’t have this in Israel?
Helen
| May 20th, 2008 at 3:40 pm #
I just put some dogs-on-scooter-pics up on my Estonian blog few days ago: http://saarhe.blogspot.com/2008/05/fotojaht-liikumine.html
i also wish i’d have camera with me all the time (and ready to click), i’ve seen two big golden retrievers on a scooter with 3 people on it at the same time. once i saw a huge dog (like st bernardine huge) on a scooter with his paws on the position like the small dog on your first pic … i have no idea how the driver saw where he was going … or may-be the dog was telling him the way
but in addition to being worried about the safety of dogs, i think scarier is the kids without helmets (while parents have helmets on), or when they are put to sit on a chair set on the scooter … i don’t want to think about what happens in case of accident …
fiLi
| May 20th, 2008 at 5:11 pm #
Helen - awesome photos! you got much more than I did.
Sure I’m worried about kids, but they don’t move around as much, and some do have helmets on (even though those 99NT$ helmets aren’t good for much), which makes them less dangerous to me - the other scooterist. But, yeah, you’re right, ofcourse.
John
| May 22nd, 2008 at 2:02 am #
That guy has got it made in the shade. It must be a pain to lug the chairs around. Is that guy in the grass a dwarf? His legs aren’t on the ground…