So much to do, so little time...

Already I have probably taken 250 photographs trying to document this adventure. The ones above are from my bedroom balcony. It seems the photographs can't really capture the experience. They capture "an" experience but somehow something is missing. The sounds, for instance. I don't even know where to begin to describe those sounds that are so closely interwoven with the images I experience. Here I am living in a "small" city of 220,000 plus, and I awake as the sun shines through the door to the balcony in my bedroom. A rooster is crowing each morning as I wake. There is a noise I can't identify that surrounds the city from time to time. My closest guess is that it is some sort of huge generator unlike anything I have ever heard before.

Sometimes on weekends there will be fireworks and music off in the distance....celebrations of one sort or another. Once, to the east a storm raged in with lightening and thunder that would make the average storms in Ohio hide in shame. To the west, the fireworks and celebrations continued... a fascinating panorama.
Construction is rampant in this city and the sounds of that construction are heard 7 days a week from early morning until an hour or so before dark (which comes early here, compared to September in Ohio).

The traffic far below is different from what you might expect. There are whistles being blown... the guards to the apartment complex direct morning traffic to allow tenants to drive into the streets from the parking garages below the complex. Occasionally a horn will beep. Yes, that's right, "beep." Unlike in the states, cars are generally smaller here and "beep" instead of "honk" --- sort of a low key "get the hell out of my way or I'll run you down.
And speaking of traffic..... probably everything you have heard about the highways in China and Taiwan are true. The traffic laws here are simply a formality... nothing to take seriously. Drive on whichever side of the road suits your fancy, or take from the middle. The bigger your vehicle, the more liberties you can take. And that includes making a right hand turn when you are in the far left hand lane, screeching through red lights, and even parking in the street if no parking space is available. Hey, I have driven in New York City, Atlanta, Houston and Columbus. But this is a whole new concept for me in driving skills.
That said, I am buying a scooter as soon as next pay day rolls around. I haven't a clue how I will be able to locate it in the parking lots among the other 80,000 scooters. I'm after that 2 wheeled, 50cc independence, even if it means painting the bike day-glo yellow and attaching South Park bumper sticker to the matching helmet.