Most foreigners who drive scooters do so illegally because just like many other things here, the law requiring licenses does not mean that's what people actually do! So many people drive scooters without the proper Taiwanese license - they just use one from back home. The standard practice if you get pulled over for something is to speak English really fast, since most of the policeman only speak Chinese. They usually just waive you away because they don't want to deal with the hassle of trying to make themselves understood or to lose face, which is big here. Crazy, but that's just the way things are done here.
I thought I would try to do it legally and get my scooter license, but of course a strange rule kept me from being able to. My ARC (resident visa and working permit) is only valid for 51 weeks, and it needs to be valid for at least 52 in order to be able to take the test and apply for the license. We don't really know why the rule is there - but we've also learned not to try to think too much about the 'why' behind some things here. We only found out that we weren't eligible to take the test after we had gone to the driver testing center during our lunch break, taken the necessary photos, and studied what some of the cryptic road signs mean. (There is actually a sign here for Wheelbarrow Crossing, as well as No Motortricycles or Animal-drawn Carts...)
Kenzie was especially keen to get a scooter right away, so since she had the rest of the day off she found an ad online for another foreigner who wanted to sell their scooter. Off she went to meet the person and get her scooter! She picked me up from school and we scootered on home...very fun and so much more direct than the lurching bus (some of which are structurally questionable: I was sitting in a seat one day when it was raining very hard and water was dripping onto my head from the light fixture in the ceiling.) The traffic really is quite something - weaving around the parked cars, bicyclists going against traffic on a 5 lane road, buses quickly swerving from the far left lane to pick someone up on the righthand side of the street...there's always a surprise, and then often it is sprinkling rain as well! There is also a very confusing way of turning left when you are driving a scooter - you have to turn in two sections. Instead of going into the left lane and waiting for an opening in oncoming traffic, you have to first turn right onto the perpendicular street and wait in a special box (white lines painted on the road) for that light to turn green so you can go straight through the intersection...but of course! Just another quirk about driving here.
Since I will be getting a scooter soon, it was a great introduction to driving in Taipei because I helped navigate but also got to experience the craziness first hand.
Tomorrow we are going to go exploring again, and I will take a video of what the traffic looks/feels like from the scooter!
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