Taipei is a very interesting city. It started as a very traditional Chinese city, then it was modernized by the Japanese, then destroyed by the allies, then rebuilt by CKS with a near infinite amount of soviet style apartments built to support the large influx of Chinese immigrants. Finally over the past decade it has become more westernized.
With all this constant change in style and focus, I'm always amazed how well the infrastructure has held up. Granted I mentioned the floods caused by poor drainage, but given Taipei is a city still running off of a near century old infrastructure, it's been doing pretty well.
This has also caused Taiwan to be a bit behind the times when it comes to various means of communication and data facilities. internet, cell phone services, HD cable (normal cable here is still SD and mono sound), etc. have all been a few years behind the rest of the world, but it's catching up.
What is the most shocking though, is how all this handles earthquakes and typhoons. Having been through almost eight years of typhoons and earthquakes, i think only once has the power gone out. I think the cable and internet went out a few times, but the last few years it hasn't at all.
This is made even more impressive when you see just how willy-nilly various power, phone, etc cords are strung up around the city. The area above your head can seem like a rat's nest of cables. Yet I've never seen a downed power line. It practically doesn't make sense, it must be some sort of black magic.
The picture is of a typical mess of various cabling strung up above the street. Although it's pretty impossible to see it in the picture. It's ok, you can close your eyes and use your imagination. When was the last time you let your imagination out to play?
