Man, I Already Miss Taiwan

It is about two weeks for me to move back to the United States; and I l already miss Taiwan very much.

I miss what I usually eat in the breakfast in Taiwan. I miss mantou 饅頭, or まんじゅう in Japanese. This is a steamed lofty-like bread made of flour and yeast. Its low density texture made it very easy to chew, and digest. It is usually eaten in combination of regular milk or soy milk. I also miss yakult, 養樂多 or ヤクルト in Japanese, a kind of drink that made of much good bacteria to help food digestion.

I miss the variety of fruit available on plates every meal when I was in Taiwan. Of course, there were regular fruit such as apples, pears and oranges. But, there are quite a few fruit such as fire-dragon fruit 火龍果, four-season fruit 四季果 which most American even had not heard of the names.

I miss the morning and evening Taiwanese exercise enthusiast crowds in the park or school campuses from Qi-Kong to Tai-Chi, to dance. Americans only drive kids to the park after school for soccer or baseball games. On weekends, occasionally, American families may play baseball together in the park.

I miss the crowds of the dusk-market in every Taiwan cities. There, not only you shop for the bargain, you also had opportunities to chat with friends.

I miss the year of no car and no driving. I could walk to my office in 5 minutes when I was in Taiwan. At noon, I could also walk back and took siesta in my residence. The public transportation in Taiwan is so convenient that I can rely on bus, and trains to go most of the places I like to go.

I miss the health care system in Taiwan. I could walk to a doctor's office in the evening while most American doctor's office will close after 4:30 PM. The doctors in Taiwan are competent. Some of the Chinese-Medicine trained doctor offer patients alternative treatment in which US patients had no such luck.

Of course, there are few things I don't miss in Taiwan. I don't miss rude motorcyclists roaming everywhere even on the pedestrian paths. I don't miss and heat and the humidity of Taiwan summer.

Overall, I still like Taiwan, the place where I came from; the name of Taiwan, someday will become the name of a nation.