Sense of familiarity

Taking the bus from Taipei Taoyuan Airport to Taipei city is a bliss.
Things work efficiently here. Took the bus with the cheapest ticket (90TWD / S$4) to Taipei Station (mrt) in the city. A Taiwanese man seemingly in his 50s boarded 2 stops after the airport. He greeted New Year greetings in Taiwanese hokkien to the driver uncle. I felt a sense of familiarity and at home immediately. I am Hokkien. 

It was a 10 to 15mins walk to my hostel. Generally, Taiwanese don't really give strange look to this tiny lady with her 45l backpack on her back. It pleases me when I notice that all the people in the crowd are Asian (mainly Taiwanese, of course). Hardly any western expatriates seen as like in Singapore or cities in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. 
It does take long for one to be impressed by the Taiwanese sense of civil mindedness. 
Everyone stand on the right-hand side while using the escalator. Young and old.
They line up in a line along the marked line while getting ready to enter a train. It just work faster that way. And, Taipei is truly a clean and enviromentally friendly city. Every where you see recycle bins with a bin just for garbage. My fellow Singaporeans have lots to learn from our neighbour.

Taipei Mrt system works systematically and efficiently. The train interior is also quite similar to Singapore's. The train route covers more area, in different directions. Very well colour-coded and easy to understand for a blur-queen like me. Today is the second day I'm here and I am already understanding the way to navigate and pay via the Mrt. I am now just travelling very leisurely at my own pace. I am looking forward to taking a train to Ping Xi for the Lantern Festival. Ping Xi is a small town about 2 hours away from Taipei.

Weather is comfortably cold but the wind can be chilly and it gets colder as it progresses to night. Today, as I took the MRT, I dozed off during part of the journey. That moment, I felt like I had dozed off in Singapore Mrt on my way to school. This sense of familiarity is quite welcoming. I had been to Ching Kia-Shek Memorial Hall, Ximeng Ting, TanShui and ShiLin. Tomorrow, I shall be taking a short trip to Yangmin Shan, away from Taipei city.

I would love to upload some pictures but may have to do it in an internet cafe. The computers in the hostel have their USB locked. 

It has been pleasant so far in this familiar land. ~_~