Overview thoughts on Taipei

Having wandered around for 3 days now, I must say that I am enjoying Taipei, with its mix of modern and old.
After doing laundry last night, and still not being adjusted to the 12 hour timezone change, here are some thoughts:

Likes:

• English on many signs (esp in metro (subway)) and a little spoken by many people
• Great modern metro (opened in 1999) which apparently has improved air quality significantly, as well as making travel around the city and suburbs a breeze
• Technology
• Cheap tasty (maybe not so healthy) food
• Weird food (cola flavored Mentos anyone?)
• Funny/interesting signs
• Polite, orderly conduct
• Scooters taken into consideration on roads (and parking)
• A surprising amount of greenery – mountains right next to the city (or should I say, the city expanded right to the neighbouring mountains)
• Few westerners – at big tourist sites, I see maybe a dozen foreigners; otherwise, I see less than a dozen a day around town
• Taipei 101 – 2nd tallest building in world, designed to look like bamboo

Dislikes:

• Sudden wafts of sewer smell (I noticed it frequently the first day, but it hasn’t hit me as frequently the past 2 days – maybe it depends on the area)
• Humidity (as Taipei isn’t on the coast, you don’t get a refreshing breeze nor can you just hop in for a swim)
• Hard to find cheap healthy food
• Too many rules (can’t take my coffee on the metro!)
• Crowded

Many of the points above could use their own post and accompanying photos, more to come…