Taiwan Diary, Day One
The first thing you notice in Taipei
One of the first things you notice in Taipei is the children — and the lack thereof.
The city gives every indication of being a place where people are thriving, full of luxury shops and Michelin star restaurants, where the threatening presence of the PRC across the strait is an afterthought. People are festooned with European fashion labels as they zip around the city on well-kept scooters and motorbikes. At the hotels, a polite robot delivers your ice bucket.
The effect is jarring after a while. The number of stroller-type implements being used to haul goods and purchases far outnumber the ones with a child inside. Children are treated well — the restaurants make a big show of treating them like little honored guests — but the desire to be fruitful is just not present here.
