Can't we all just Get Along?

The insects here are insane, they keep fighting with me, and dying by the 100s. When its not the mosquitoes, its the ants or fruit flies or fleas. Yes thats right fleas, I think they are hiding somewhere in my apartment because I've been finding little bites on myself :( I am starting to miss the winter, if you could call it a winter. Somehow compared to Canada, 5-15 degrees doesn't exactly seem like a harsh winter, more like a sweet Fall :) The bugs here are odd, even without food they will still swarm all over the place searching or just hiding from the outside environment, perhaps its the humidity, but I found Canada to be far far cleaner.

I am pretty sure this country has almost no labour laws and no union groups, as construction workers here work pretty much 24/7. I don't mean in a business neighbourhood either, but in residential areas. Outside my window there is a giant construction vehicle digging holes and bashing stuff at 7 a.m. The other night I was woken at 5 a.m. because outside my window people were using jackhammers, chainsaws and drills. Its hard to describe how close these ppl are to my apartment, so I took some pics this morning, will post when I get home. Someone is building another apartment building right next to mine, so its also pretty dangerous walking in the small road from my apartment to the main street. There's large construction machinery on the road with no police to direct traffic around it. In fact, I don't think I have ever seen police directing traffic, only giving speeding tickets. Actually, sorry not quite true, the downtown core has an area of businesses catering to Foreigners, where conscripts direct traffic. Some of them might even be police, but in most cases just kids who are forced to join the army due to conscription do the menial cheap civil tasks, as it saves the government a lot of money :)

We haven’t had any major earthquakes lately, so I guess that’s one thing I should be grateful for. Although truthfully, considering the lame architecture of Taiwan, lack of a destructive earthquake would not necessarily be a good thing. The city could really use a change, the houses are too closely grouped together, and there was no residential planning or zoning between commercial buildings, schools and homes.

I guess I have really settled in here quite well, besides the political mess and horrid pollution and lax safety concerns the place is quite nice :P. I guess my biggest gripe would be the pollution though, its really quite ….breathtaking? LOL.

I'll probably be posting again shortly of the invasion of the mosquitoes, stay tuned.