You are looking at the line for Taiwan's busiest bank...the post office!
Yep in Taiwan the post office is also the bank. Or rather the post office has two parts, one for the mail and one for the government run bank. This bank is SUPER popular because most Taiwanese think that since it's run by the government than your money is the securest there. As if governments have never mismanaged funds...
Because it is so widely used, it's also the worst bank. In that the fee for using other ATMs is the highest and other service fees are higher than other banks and the interest and benefits are lacking. Not to mention the biggest (smallest) problem, the lines are always insanely long. I'm always fortunate to have friends who go with me to my banks (i don't use this bank) to help me out, but it's terrible when I'm with a friend and they say they have to stop in at the post office, but when you get there you find out they mean the banking part. You really want to run away cause that wait can take up most of the day.
That being said, I love when I have to go to the post office bank. this is because you go here when you win the receipt lottery (have i mentioned what that is here?). So when i go to cash in my six buck winnings, I have to wait in line. I'm guessing the long line is there way to get people to not come receive their winnings.
On the flip side the mail part of the post office is always easy to walk in and walk out. I'm actually very please with the postal service, as recently they have been delivering my packages to my home. In the past they were too scared to press the buzzer to talk to a foreigner, so they'd just drop in the paper that says "we tried to deliver it but you weren't home, please to go to the post office to pick it up." Oh special note, if you ever want to send something to Taiwan, use your local postal service to send it. If you use fedex or ups or company like that, the person receiving it will have to pay in import tax, but the postal service doesn't require that import tax.
