When you leave the United States and come to Asia you really start to notice that things are drastically different outside of the US. Sure we have more shared traits than differences but a crap load of things are just different.
One thing that really shocked me when I came to Taiwan (and Japan), is that there is no such thing as a personal check here. Everything is either credit card or cash. And as you might expect, in Taipei, cash is king. People walk around with huge wads of thousand dollar bills to see to their daily needs. But the lack of personal checks has had a somewhat curious effect.
Here in Taiwan, and to a lesser extent Japan, there are convenience stores EVERYWHERE. And this is because here people depend on convenience stores for more than Slurpees or late night alcohol purchases. The convenience store is where you pay the bills! it’s crazy, you hand your bill to the guy behind the counter, he scans it and then you pay him. There is some behind the scenes transaction and both companies get their money.
But the funny thing is that the most dominant convenience store out here is 7-Eleven. That’s right! the same 7-Eleven that sells us our slurpees in the USA. And if I had to guess I would say that out here 7-Eleven makes a lot more money than in the US. If I was to drop you off any place in Taipei, you could walk about a quarter of a mile in any direction and I can almost guarantee that you would run into a 7-Eleven. It is quite insane and a little funny. But yeah, that’s traveling! You learn new and interesting things.
You should come out to Taiwan. But don’t stay as long as I have because you start to miss the US. Mostly you’ll miss the gadgets, like the palm pre, and the movies. Disney Pixar’s Up isn’t going to be released here until July 31st. But oh well it has been worth it.
peace out ya’ll! Míng tiān jiàn! (see you tomorrow)
