What we can learn from Taiwan

This blog is started with the objective of allowing Singaporeans to complain objectively all they want and providing opnions in making Singapore a better city/society for everyone to live in. Would appreciate any criticism supported by possible solutions,  ideas or photo that you notice would make a difference.
This is my 2^nd trip to Taipei and I am lucky to learn many things from them and some policies implemented that help to improve the daily lives of their citizens.

This place is our first stop as I wanted to make sure we shopped at the cheapest fashion street before proceeding to other shopping areas so as not to regret on overpaying. This is the biggest garment wholesale in Taipei and many buyers come with trolleys to buy in bulk and sell It in other parts of Taipei. As you can see, the street is pretty narrow and everyone share the same street including the delivery truck, motorist and tourist. Being so close to china, we were expecting to see many Chinese coming over to work or make a living and were surprised that most of the workers are mainly Taiwanese. Singapore has probably more china worker than in Taipei. Taiwanese are pretty creative and clever in keeping their cost low. We observe a huge truck entering the street to do delivery and surprised that there is only 1 middle age man. He drove into the main street and stop nearest to the smaller street where the truck could not access, load a big box over his shoulder and carry it to the retail shops inside the small alley. This was repeated and during this entire delivery, he was smiling and chatting with other stallowners. We were impressed as this will not be seen in Singapore. We normally have 2-3 workers doing the delivery with 1 driver just driving only and 1-2 assistants to carry the stuff. I suppose this is how they keep their cost down. Instead of managing more workers, the management probably ask the driver to also work as delivery man and compensate him a higher renumeration which is cheaper than having 2-3 workers. In this case, it is a win win situation for the employer as well as employee too. I hope Singapore employers can find more creative ways of allocating the scarce human resources instead of getting more and more cheaper workers and creating an overcrowding city.

This first picture is a toilet located inside one of the Metro station, in fact there is toilet inside every station of a Metro and big signboards are provided to direct urgent commuters and I believe Singapore can learn a thing or 2 from them. Look at the big toilet sign, how can anyone miss it even without wearing glasses, especially helpful for old people. We hardly get lost inside their Metro station but wouldn’t say so in Singapore’s MRT system. Maybe our SMRT should conduct more regular survey with tourist and passengers to get their view on how to make our MRT better . The citizens are very civic conscious and toilets are kept very dry and clean.
Public toilets are hard to locate and 1 reason I could think of is to cut down unnecessary cost with maintaining a public toilet. Even in night markets and touristy places like Ximenting,  you need to patronise a café/fastfood stall in order to use their toilet and all the patrons played their role in keeping the toilet clean and hygiene. Providing toilets in every MRT station is a good idea as our MRT network is getting larger and commuters are spending more time in the MRT trains, it provides more convenience for commuters and thus encouraging more people to take MRT. Also, advertisement can be placed inside high traffic toilets to recover the cost of maintaining .  

This picture is taken at the exit of the Taipei Metro. You can see that wheelchairs are provided. Thought this is a pretty good idea and Singapore should implement it too, isn’t it?? Due to increased aging population in Taiwan, many infrastructures and conveniences are put in place for elderly/handicapped people. Personally, I felt  that there should be one located just before the MRT entrance as well. Pretty impressed with the signboard system in Taipei, find it simple and easy to get around and even at the interchange, signs are appropriately placed to guide us to the right train line.

This is the signboard that is placed within the Metro  and after the exit of the Metro. This is very useful especially for tourist because it helps to provide some info for the tourist to avoid them going out of the wrong exit point. It is very detailed, indicating existing location, the various  exit points and a rough plan layout of the surrounding area to assist in identifying iconic building or tourist attraction. including where the toilets are. 

This is much talked about  in Singapore but yet to implement. A train cubicle or allocated area just for ladies during peak hours or late night hours, this could save lots of monies on unnecessary molesting dispute and ladies are probably more willing to squeeze among themselves therefore creating more space for other commuters to board the train too. Targeted advertisement could be placed here, making it more effective for advertisers.

Besides specially allocated handicapped toilet, common public toilet can be equipped with handicapped features too. This might eventually do away handicapped toilet. The urinal in the men’s public toilet was fixed with additional support for elderly or handicapped and at the same time can be used by the general public as well. There is also a washing basin for them too. This helps to provide options for places where a separate handicapped toilet lot is impossible. It also convenient  for male family member to assist their elderly as well as do their own business. Most time, family members might feel embarrassed to be inside the handicapped toilet with elderly watching them do their business. As there is no standard on automatic taps or manual taps, a small stickers placed above wash basin inform the users if this tap is automatic.

Here you can see that everyone play their role and follow the queue, something that we can learn from. Although there are commuters that do that in Singapore but I am really impressed with the way they conduct themselves here.  Singaporeans are generally civilised with good manners but with every 1 in3 being a PR, FT and  foreign workers, 1 way to help integrate them into our systems and society is to provide constant reminders via the public address system or creative info banners/stickers.

Everyone are aware and seem to understand that they need to keep to right so as to allow others who are rushing to go on the left side of the escalator. As our economy is getting very dynamic and everyone seems to be always in a rush, we get carried away when ignoring small gestures that will make this tiny island a better place to live. Some might say that putting up big banners are propaganda shit, personally I find it very useful in reminding me to be conscious of my action and behaviour.

In Singapore, eco friendly, green environment are much talked about but little done by the mass public. You hear a lot of the most eco friendly city square  mall and some government buildings but in reality much could be done to drive the mass. Recycling effort is widespread to every part of Taiwan, in night market, hostel & public areas. Posters are placed everywhere to remind everyone to do their part in recycling and saving the environment. The left photo is a basket inside the Metro to collect used paper, which commuters might bring along to read while commuting, isn’t this a great idea? Even in the small hostel that we stay, everyone makes an effort and this has a domino effect.

Many Seniors bring their own chairs, praying beads and socialise with fellow seniors in this famous Longshan Temple. The temple accept them as part of their community even though they have high traffic of tourists. This provides a venue for the elderly/retirees to socialise, worship their beliefs and keeping them active. Research show that if elderly have many friends and are active, it keeps them healthy and in sober mind. In a way, this will help save medical cost for the government, isn’t it??

On the left photo, is an illegal street peddlers watching out for police and at the same time selling her hotdog to the tourists. They do not complain but find they own way to earn a living. They have to serve customers as well as keep watch on enforcement officers. Ironically, when the enforcement officer arrives, they do not really catch them. Instead, they stay to make sure these street vendors pack up and move away. The whole scene repeats after the officer leaves….. it is part of an interesting tourist attraction in most night market or street market. An interesting sight on the right where the enforcement officer is waiting for the illegal street vendors to pack up. Once a while, they issue fines to these illegal street vendors if they are caught again in the same night. Interesting cultures

This is a very interesting shop counter(without internal seating areas) that sells the popular oyster mee sua. The price is very reasonable even though the counter area is quite huge. There are no waiters to serve or cleaners to clear the rubbish, how did they do it? Creative ways of accommodating customers by providing loose chairs without tables so that customers can find their own space and get hold of chairs and form a small circle to eat and chat while holding the bowl. After eating, all customers will pour any remaining gravy into the rubbish box and place their bowls in the respective pails. Signboard are paste on walls to inform customers. A good way of saving manpower, maintaining cost and keeping price affordable. 

One thing I notice in Taiwan is their toilet. It is very clean and very dry whether it is in Metro or restaurant or night market.  The people are very conscious and do their part in keeping the toilet clean and dry. The first photo features an adult and children WC inside a ladies cubicle. Interesting and cute stickers can be found to inform users to keep the toilet clean in a very humour way – “Come urgently, flush before you go and remember not to leave behind any valuables”. The sign above the urinal inform the guys to come closer aim accurately. Simple reminder stickers help to keep their toilet neat, dry and clean even without any  attendant,  imagine how much labour and accomodation space we could save if all the public toilets do not have any attendant in Singapore.

These pictures are really interesting. On the top left, is a rubbish truck. We were shopping along a very narrow night market in Tamsui and heard a nice melody music from behind and there was a lot of commotion  coming from the stall owners. After observing for a while, we realise that these stall owners are queueing outside the street with bags of rubbish. As the rubbish truck moves along, the stall owners will throw their bags of rubbish into the rubbish truck while holding another bag with them. No wonder, we never see any public rubbish bin along the street. Behind the rubbish truck, followed a few recycling trucks. Each truck carries a banner indicating the organisation it supports from the collection of these recycle products. Some trucks support Cancer foundation while others support some charitable organisation. The recycle bags from these stall owners will be given to whoever organisation they support. I was very touched and really impressed with the ways how each and every citizens play a part in the country’s recycling effort. This is indeed something we can learn from them.

Signboard, small stickers and big billboards like this can be seen almost everywhere in public places in Taipei and China to constantly remind people. I think creative ways of educating and reminding Singaporeans can be done to ensure each and every one of us play a role in keeping this small city a nice place to work, live and play. Many times, our actions are directed by our unconscious mind and constant reminder can help to reinforce good values into these unconscious minds.

I was quite amazed that most Taiwanese are generally slim and could not believe how it could happen to a country with so much good food and most of them are very reasonably prized. I bought a winter melon tea which comes with three different types of sago and cost around $1.10. In Singapore, it will cost about 3 times the price. On the side of the board, it indicates the amount of sugar and ice that you can select without any additional charges and I think MOH should implement throughout all foodcourts and hawker centres to allow consumers to have a choice on the amount of sugar, salt and MSG level  to go into their food. As more and more household are getting out, isn’t it a good time to ensure that foods served at these food centres to be more healthy.  Even tried their local Ice cream and found that it is not as sweet compared to our Walls ice cream.