It's Getting Weird Here in Taiwan

The bubble burst last week.

After more than a year with mostly 0 to 2 cases a day, almost all of them imported, one of the least infected countries in the world lost its way.

The number of cases rose from 1 to 11, then to 34, and in recent days to between 200 and 400.

Most of the cases have been concentrated in the north in and around the capital, but lockdown measures have been implemented nationwide.

No bars, no gyms (pretty much my only two hobbies), no schools, and masks are now mandatory nearly everywhere. We also have to register at any restaurant, grocery store, or government building you go in.

“Welcome to the rest of the world,” I can hear you say from my lonely perch in a nearly empty coffee shop.

And that’s probably very true.

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Is this the new normal?

The last year has been mostly normal, for all intents and purposes. Sure, I subsist on a diet of 7/11 fresh food, rice, oodles of protein powder, and my occasional extremely tasty peanut butter tuna sandwich, but that’s normal here.

Then there’s the whole “everything is written in Mandarin” part — also normal.

And I suppose seeing scooters fly by at breakneck speeds ignoring all the proper traffic signs 25% of the time could be odd to some people. But that’s normal for here.

But then there’s the new non-normal for Taiwan.

The multitude of jets flying over my house every day on their way to defend the country against CCP incursions — which have risen to record levels during the pandemic.

One of the major power plants here has suffered a strange malfunction, leading to daily blackouts this past week all around the country. Something I’ve never seen before in my 6 + years in this beautiful country.

A record drought has dried up beautiful lakes, resulting in an alarmingly low water supply for the entire country. The government has warned people that limited water measures will have to be taken soon, depending on the area. At least the north has gotten some showers in the last few days. But here in the south — where it’s usually an amazingly stormy monsoon season — it’s a freaking heatwave.

But hey, at least the Instagrammers can satisfy their narcissistic need for rare pictures. Like this canoe they found at the bottom of the normally fully enveloped and gigantic Sun Moon Lake:

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Where to go from here?

As I sit here trying to contemplate how this will affect my life over the next few weeks, while hopefully it won’t last much longer, I can’t help but think this is a bit odd for this place.

We’ve had a major shortage of vaccines available since most countries don’t officially recognize Taiwan. But we’ve also had it on easy street. Only slightly more than 1,000 cases for 23 million people in 14 months — it was a bubble life here.

But now that it’s burst and the vast majority of the population remains unvaccinated, it’s spreading like wildfire.

I can only take comfort in the fact that most people follow the government scientists’ rules here — and they enforce them as if people’s lives depend on it. (Hint: They do.)

Even though yesterday saw a slight drop in cases from the day before, I’m still prepared for much worse to happen.

And since this year has had such an eclectic combination of fantastically rare and strange events — I have no idea what “worse” could actually mean.

A big part of me really, really doesn’t want to find out.

But a tiny part of me actually does. ‘Cuz hey, adventure, right? Life can be pretty boring if things aren’t shaken up every once in a while. 

I just hope this shake-n-bake isn’t fatal. Thankfully Taiwan has one of the best healthcare systems (and socialized — shocker) in the entire world.

So at least I know if I get too dehydrated during one of these outdoor humid-as-shit workouts, I’ll be on a free ambulance ride to a free hospital. Oh sorry, not quite free. I might have to pay a $3 deductible like I did yesterday at the dentist.

If my power goes out, I won’t have to worry about a minorbill shock of $16,752 on my next invoice.

If my mask slips and I contract what is still pseudo-jokingly called the Wuhan virus locally here, I won’t be stuck with thousands of dollars in fees or have to worry about being sued by a hospital chain.

If different colored jets return over the flightpath-that-is-my-house and drop off their house-warming presents, I won’t have to worry either.

But that would be a tale for another generation…

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On the Lighter Side of Things

1. If the topic of Taiwan interests you, you might be surprised to know you can already speak around 200 words in Chinese thanks to transliterations (loanwords). It’s a cool little aspect of the language that I love learning about from time to time.

2. Before the semi-lockdown, I was playing a friendly game of Asshole when it occurred to me it perfectly describes late-stage capitalism…to our detriment.

3. This line of research got me thinking more about money’s involvement in politics, and I went down a rabbit hole that was a bit deeper than I expected. Turns out, it doesn’t actually affect election outcomes in most races.

4. I also went on another deep dive into the economics of modern bookselling—and why the online industry is actually bad for authors—even with the highest book sales in 10 years.

5. Lastly, for you history buffs—A strange connection between Nazis, witches, and Catholics. Bam.

That’s it for this week!

If you want to imagine me dancing for joy like a schoolgirl, then please like, comment, or share the post.

As always, thanks for reading!

J. J. Pryor

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PS. For those wondering, the first picture above was taken by me near a lovely canal where the surrounding area is beautified. Taiwan is full of quirky little things like this.

PPS. The credit for the other picture goes to liliangwang_tw on Instagram. It was taken at the beautiful Sun Moon Lake, which is a tourist destination—normally for the serene water and temples.

PPPS. The first outdoor workout this week went well—for me. My friend ended up puking after. Believe me when I say it’s humid here.