Just a thought.

Everytime I travel, I think about things a usual person don’t. One go overseas to play and enjoy. I do, but I am more interested in finding out how different it is from the place I called home. I am on the plane typing this now, cause I can’t sleep and I don’t know how I am gg to wake on time for my Great Eastern Woman run tml. LOL.

Le sigh, i cant really say Taiwan failed me, but its just wasn’t the same as what I expected it to be. I expected much more. Xi men deng is just, like that lor. I could have easily mistaken I am in Guangzhou China with the designs and outlook of the buildings, and the familiar zinc red rooftops. I thought its almost an urban chaos for a global like city. Well, I can accept the fact that China is too big to develop. But Taiwan started industrialization way earlier.

You will realize each house has a little “chimney”; its their hot water tank for bathing. I thought its very cute. I wonder what will happen if earthquake comes and one of the tank topple. LOL. Their houses are a sharp distinct contrast to those in Singapore. Their houses looked very old and ill maintained; the same for the houses in Hongkong and China. Dirty and greyish. The flats in Singapore are refurnished with a fresh coat of paint every few yrs. My little red dot Singapore has such a beautiful city landscape, I am grateful.

One need to travel to fully understand the meaning of that. Nonetheless, I am someone who enjoys visiting a new place; to learn about their culture and see for myself how different it is from my way of living. If everywhere is the same as Singapore, there is no pt in travelling. I might as well just stay in Singapore.

Taiwan is full of friendly ppl. Even though in my short 6 days here, I met 3 unfriendly folks. (I shall not mention abt this anymore. they are minority.) Le sigh, but overall, Taiwan ppl are super friendly. They are so friendly, I wonder why as Chinese, we didn’t learn from them. The world is gg to be a much better place to live in. In many ways, Taiwan could have done better. In many ways, Singapore could have learnt from Taiwan to improve better too. If only we can fuse them both to make it a perfect place to live in. HAHAHA.

I could talk like a Taiwan-ese, after hearing how they speak. With the accents and the yo and oh in their sentences. LOL. Just like our singlish, la and lor. Mama thinks I could just stay here and enjoy my favourite bitter gourd drink every afternoon. Yes, bitter gourd juice. Freshly extracted. Its so nice, why Singapore don’t have?!?!?!

I like how each MRT exit is clearly labeled; all written explicitly, the major landmarks within the proximity. Yes, each exit. Do your homework, and I am quite sure you wont lose your way around. No, signs in Singapore are not that idiot proof.

OH!!! Toilets in Taiwan are super clean. Singapore, why you didn’t employ more foreign talents to clean the toilets?

I like how the Taiwan govt is encouraging their ppl to go green. Their recycling culture is so strong, I am ashamed. I don know which can be recycled, which cannot be recycled. I don’t know the plastic packaging of the plastic bottles cant be recycled. I don’t know straws cant be recycled. You got to separate it from your cup. I don’t know a lot of things. Singapore schools should just educate our next generation to go green, in at attempt to save the almost cancerous terminally ill Earth. Our only home planet is sick. Singapore, why you nv teach us this in school? Why didn’t you have a campaign for us to all go green and do our part to help our earth? It may take years, but nv too late to start. Do you know Taiwan has got recycle bins for batteries too? Cause throwing straight into the rubbish bin is detrimental to the environment. Singapore, YOU ARE SO SLOW. Taiwan probably started this campaign many MANY yrs ago, considering the fact each and every single person is making an effort to go green.

The city is very clean. You can hardly find any rubbish on the streets. Its also partly due to the government policy of fining ppl should one litter. Do you know any citizen/stranger can report to the police if you anyhow  litter? They are rewarded 500NT for each successful attempt. HAHAH. Taiwan even has classes to each you how to catch ppl. Some made a living with that. HAHAHA. A pen or a water bottle can be a mini camera. So pls, don’t litter in Taiwan. They fine 1500 NT for litterbugs.

Do you know, their elderly seats coloured in blue in the metro are really meant for the elderly? No one is feigning to be sleeping, no one is acting blur and turning into a blind eye when someone who needs the seats more than you is standing in front of you. That’s how friendly and considerate Taiwanese are.

When you are in doubt and you ask for directions, they reply you nicely, trying to help in every way they can. They hardly scream, they say “thank you and welcome” in every sentence cause it is rooted deeply into their culture; to be polite and treat ppl friendly. That’s Taiwanese. That’s the difference between Singapore Chinese, Hong Kong-ers and China nationals. The sad truth is, we are all Chinese.

I met a very nice uncle who took us to the airport for my hotel-airport transfer. He told me a lot of things abt Taiwan. From what moment, I realized again, I am grateful to be a Singaporean. Every single trip out of Singapore, I am grateful I am a Singaporean. Perhaps, if one has think further, complain less, you would have know how blessed you are to be a Singaporean. Sometimes I wonder why ppl are not contented. Why are we so greedy?

Do you know a fresh graduate from their university earns abt $1000-$1200 SGD per mth? Our local fresh graduates easily earn twice the amt. LOL. And we all complain not enough. Le sigh, I am one of them who complained. Its contradicting. I am thankful and grateful for the higher starting pay cause I am a Singaporean. I don know how to survive in Taiwan if i only receive $1200 pay. But its only natural to seek for higher returns with experience and working capability. (we human like to find lots of excuses to defend our arguments. HAHAHAHA.) Didn’t you enjoy going overseas due to strong exchange rates? ok la, maybe just in Asia. But, you get to go and spend! Many can’t.

Do you know how expensive their housing is? It easily cost $2 million SGD. Simply because the Taiwan government didn’t help the locals build houses. All their housing are built by private developers. Seriously, you may need to pay for your $500, 000 BTO for 30 yrs. But at the end of the day, the house is yours. I wonder if they can even complete their housing loan. One look, our future BTO house is expensive, that’s a lot of money. Sometimes I wonder if its really worth working my ass off just to pay off the loan. Le sigh. $500,000 is 6 digits. Omg. How long must I work to earn that amount? I will be in heavy debt with housing loan, renovation costs and all the money needed for a wedding. $___$ But if you think of ppl living in China and Hong kong, lets just count our blessing. Hong kong-ers don’t buy houses; they rent. Causes the prices of their houses are of astronomical digits. Young married couples from china cant buy houses. With their pay and houses that cost millions, it’s a dream to own them. Its kind of sad knowing that after paying so much after so many yrs, you don own the flat.

The tour guide told me sadly, Taiwan economy is not doing good at all. Their inflation rate didn’t increase much throughout the yrs, but the prices of the housing sky rocketed so much, its crazy. He says, things are so expensive now, Taiwan birth rate is only 0.8. (of which, I say SINGAPORE ALSO!) He continued by saying, Singapore has a lot of foreign talents! I replied sadly, “ya foreign talents cause a lot of problems too.” HAHAHAHAHA.

In fact, their economy is so bad, Taiwan is one of the world’s few countries moving backwards. Not in terms of technology, but in terms of cost of living and blah blah (I didn’t really catch what he is saying. But he moody telling me that. He thinks very throw face.) Le sigh, each country has got its own set of problems. No place is perfect. Its just whether we choose to accept it a not.

Comparing prices of food, food in Taiwan is cheap for the locals. At least, affordable. They have night markets to head to if you wanna find cheap and good food. I always think China has the craziest inflation rates. Not comparing exchange rates, a bowl of noodles from the road side stalls of China cost 6 RMB. (bearing in mind their pay is only on average of 1500 RMB) 6 RMB is very expensive for them. 6 RMB is their cheapest food. LOL. Our fishball noodles from hawker center is $3 SGD, but on average, we earn twice as much as them, when our food cost half as much compared to them.

One to compare wages with living cost WITHOUT taking in account of exchange rates to fully understand that.

China nationals most cham alr. That’s probably the reason why grandpa always gives his china relatives so much money. I also think they too cham alr. LOL. I think of all Chinese, China national has the lowest income and highest inflation rates. (No, those that you see on the streets/Singapore are the richer ones. Most of the ppl in china lead a life you wouldn’t have imagined. Can you lead a life where you only receive $500 SGD pay?)

All in all, after visiting Taiwan, I still love my imperfect little red dot country I call home.

Hello Singapore, I am back! (: