James Report - driving and racing

Working and living in Taiwan has been getting much better over the past month.  I think we both are getting in to our grooves at work and we are learning the ins-and-outs of living here.  As you may have seen from our last post we are finding more and more places to have lots of fun ;-)

I am happy to report I am FINALLY a one hundred percent legal scooter driver in Taiwan.  I was almost a legal driver before, but it was kind of a gray area.  Rachel and I both got our International Drivers Licenses prior to leaving the US but they are technically not recognized in Taiwan.  We still needed to get them 'certified' by the Taiwan Dept of Transportation (which we never did).  Anyways, I went through the process (which I will explain next) and got my real Taiwan Drivers License.

The majority of foreigners that we have met do not have a Taiwan drivers license.  They are all driving illegally.  Even people I have met that have been living here for 4, 5, 6+ years.  I think that is ridiculous.  I don't understand why anyone would take on that additional risk.  Especially driving around these roads.  I do know a couple people that do have their licenses and they each gave me some pointers as to how to study for the written test, what to expect on the driving test, etc.  I do a brief study, gather the necessary documents, and head to the DMV one morning to get my license.

attempt #1 - At the counter of the DMV, I realize I don't have my ARC (work Visa).  My manager needed it from me the day before and forgot to give it back.  Rats.  Will have to come back and do this a different day.

attempt #2 - Back a few days, maybe a week later and the woman at the counter informs me I need a medical check to get my license.  I just had a medical check to get my work visa.  Unfortunately its not the same.  Rats.  Will need to come back and do this a different day.

attempt #3 - About a week later I got the medical check in the morning.  Go back to the DMV and pay the money.  Go up to the written testing room and will need to wait 2 hours before I can take the test.  There are specific testing times that I forgot about.  I don't have time to wait before needing to get to work.  Rats.  Will need to come back and do this a different day.

attempt #4 - Another week goes by and I am back to the DMV with all the necessary documents, my medical check, and at the correct 8:30am testing time.  Pay the money and go to the testing room.  They won't let me take the test wearing flip-flops.  ?????  The cleaning woman overhears the dilemma and gives me her shoes to wear.  Kind of gross, but I took them and put my un-socked feet inside.  I was willing to do whatever it took to get my license.  The Taiwanese are ridiculously nice by the way.  Long story short, I failed the written test.  Rats.  Will need to come back and do this a different day.

attempt #5 - Study lots and lots.  Put in about 5 hours total over a few weeks.  Made it back to the DMV, paid my money again, passed the written test, passed the driving test (not easy by the way), and got my license.  Yeah!!!

So maybe that's why so many foreigners don't get their license?  Regardless, I can now CONFIDENTLY make illegal left-hand turns and only be concerned about an inexpensive traffic ticket instead of who knows what.  I am now legal to do illegal things!

  

This weekend we ran our first race in Taiwan.  It was a 15k 'trail race' put on by famous Taiwanese ultra-runner Kevin Lin.  The race was Saturday morning so we had to get to Taipei on Friday night.  Rachel doesn't get out of work till 8:15pm so I met her at her school with dinner and we LEGALLY drove straight to the bus station.  We arrived to our hostel in Taipei about 10:40pm and got ready for the next morning as quickly as we could.  We had to be to a specific location at 05:00am Saturday morning to catch the shuttle bus to the race start.  I think we were finally in bed around midnight.  Our 4:15am alarm clock was not a nice sound!  We made it to the shuttle bus in time and were on our way to the race.

At the race we met up with two runners I had met online (no jokes please).  It was nice to make some other runner friends in Taiwan.  ***Rachel reminded me about the port-o-potties at the race.  They were all squatter toilets!  Haven't seen a squatter port-o-pottie before.  Also, there were no long lines for the port-o's in the moments before the race.  Every race we have ever been in the US has had LONG LONG lines in the moments leading to the race start.  I guess nobody in Taiwan has pre-race nerves?***  The race started at 7:00 and was a straight-up road hill climb for 5k.  The second 5k was on a 'trail' (very manicured path) and the last 5k was straight-down the road hill.  It was actually a pretty brutal course.  I was pleased with how I ran and finished 7th place overall.  Unfortunately there were 3 people ahead of me in my age-group so I finished 4th in my age-group.  No award for me.  Rachel on the other hand destroyed all the other women in her age group and got a massive gold plate.  Good job Ray Ray!  And if you can see in the picture, the 2nd place female is wearing an Atlanta Marathon jacket and a Raliegh, NC running hat.  She is from Atlanta, GA, graduated from GA State, and has been living/teaching in Taiwan for 2 years.  Small world!

Kevin Lin is the famous Taiwanese ultra-runner.  He ran
across the Sahara desert once.  Yeah.

We met a German guy at the race who was in town for business.  He took a bunch of pictures of the race course and shared them with me.  It was a very pretty place to run.  Shoot, everywhere in Taiwan (outside of a city) is a pretty place to run!

Rachel with her award.  And me with my backpack.

After the race we cleaned up, ate lunch, and went to the zoo with a new friend we made at the race.  The zoo was very nice and we enjoyed the Africa section, the penguin house, and the koala bears the most.  The panda exhibit was quite disappointing.  The baby panda that has been all over the news won't be on display till it's 1 year old.  Bummer!  And there is only one panda at the zoo to see and there was a long line to see it and the zoo staff hurried you through the exhibit so you could only see the panda for about 45 seconds.  Oh well.  Atlanta, GA has a great panda exhibit!

The zoo was fun but we soon realized we were extremely tired!  After walking around for a few hours we headed back to Hsinchu to eat dinner and go to sleep.  I will leave y'all with a few pics from the zoo.