It's kind of easy to dismiss, but the lack of indoor heating does affect all aspects of daily life, not just your time at home. Offices also don't have heating, neither do schools. So you will often see people wearing a lot of layers at work or in class. It's not rare to see workers wearing big coats all day long.
I do feel for those workers who have to wear uniforms in their jobs. Usually these are the people you will see almost freezing to death in their thin uniforms, unable to wear anything more. Truly winter time and what you can and can't wear are a consideration when choosing a job. I have seen many a teacher and boss argue over being able to wear a coat in the classroom.
The colder weather inside affects your attire in another way. In Taiwan most people hang their clothes to dry. Smart, as it's hot most of the year. Some hang them outside, some inside. But without heat, it can take several days for something to dry instead of a few hours. You really have to stay on top of what you wash and how often you do laundry and plan your clothes days in advance.
Actually the more I think about it, the lack of indoor heating just seems like a way to get people to buy more clothes during the winter, so they can wear more and have more to wear. I guess it's a smart way to sell as much as possible in such a short winter season.
One terrible place during the winter is the bathroom. Public bathrooms and company bathrooms don't have any hot water. Why have a water heater hooked up when people will just be washing their hands. As it's hot most of the year this isn't a problem, but in the winter time you get to wash your already cold hands with freezing water.
Pictured above is a sad change at one of the last beacons of hand washing enjoyment. Costco used to have hot water in their sinks, but now it is always cold. They were also one of the only places that had paper towels, which now has been replaced by this air dryer. It might not seem like much, but that first time i had to wash my hands with cold water and had no paper towels to dry them with, a part of my innocence died.
