Taipei Public Transportation

Continuing on my previous post about Taipei, one of the things that really impressed me was the public transportation in Taipei. It is well connected by a very reliable public transportation network. There were no shortage of buses and trains, and they cover almost every part of the city. The buses and trains were clean, fast and on time. The people also take pride in keeping their buses and trains clean. Food and drinks are not allowed in the train. I was sipping on a drink by mistake and a man made sure that I know that I am not supposed to do that. People really care about their city and its public utilities.

I was also impressed by the e-bus system. You can take a look at its website by clicking here. Basically what it is is, you can open the website from your smart phone or notebook, select the bus route and number and it will tell you where exactly the bus is currently on the map and how many minutes it will take to reach your bus stop. I thought this was really handy and good use of technology.

And lastly the Taiwan High Speed Rail. It was so easy to buy tickets, check in and board the train. It was very clean and fast and almost as fast as taking the flight from the North to the South. In fact considering the checking in, security check, waiting, baggage claim, etc the train is faster, more convenient and less hassles. I would certainly prefer taking the train to flying.

In a city so populated, it is still easy and inexpensive to get around. A robust, well maintained and reliable public transportation system surely makes a huge difference in a highly urbanized environment.

Sea shell came alive!!

We were on bed at night in our hotel room and we heard some funny noises. Upon investigation we found out that a couple of our sea shells moved out of the bag and were walking and rolling around. We just happened to pick some live ones by mistake. I took a few close up pictures of them and some videos as well.

The next day we went to the sea side and released those two creatures. There were happy they found the sea once again!

Here's one of the videos I recorded

Taipei Downtown

Taipei downtown was very interesting. Taipei is a busy, bustling city but very well organized and clean. The traffic can be a little crazy, but the public transportation there is very advanced and reliable. It's fun to take the bus and train to move around, than drive or ride a moped.

I'm sure going to write more on this city later, but for now, a video that I recorded of the water show in financial district of downtown. Taipei 101 can be seen as well with the I love ROC sign lit up on the top.