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Notes on the Fluffy Xiaolongbao of Taiwan’s Breakfast Shops
A second lineage rising with the morning steam In front of a soy milk shop in the early hours, white steam rises slowly from stacked bamboo baskets. Commuters pass at a quick pace, scooter engines gather at the intersection, and beside t... -
Notes on Ordering Breakfast in Taiwan
A Practice of Moving at Morning Speed Mornings in Taiwan are loud. Metal scrapes on a hot griddle.Soy milk being poured.Short calls exchanged across a narrow counter. Compared with lunch shops, breakfast places are faster.Because of that... -
Notes on How Taipei Breakfast Shops Survive on 60 NT Dollars
Walking through Xinyi or Zhongshan in Taipei, the numbers feel out of place. Land prices rival central Tokyo, sometimes exceed it.Yet in narrow side streets, breakfast shops display simple signs: soy milk for 25 NT dollars, egg crepes fo... -
Notes on Taiwan’s Layered Breakfast Streets
A morning shaped by rice, wheat, and soy milk In the early hours of Taipei, each street carries several rhythms at once. Eggs crack onto hot metal.Noodles rise from boiling water.Large pots of soy milk sway quietly with heat. A sandwich ... -
Notes on Two Forms of Soy Milk in Taiwan’s Breakfast Shops
Salted bowls and sweet glasses that structure the island’s mornings Soy milk (doujiang) appears in two forms at the counters of Taiwan’s breakfast shops. Almost without exception, the same question is asked. Sweet, or savory. Many people... -
Notes on traditional Taiwanese Breakfast Shops
A street full of breakfast Walking through a Taiwanese city, breakfast shops appear on nearly every street.Egg pancakes, flatbread, soy milk, rice rolls.Each morning, large volumes of food move quietly out through small windows. This sce... -
Notes on YouBike 1.0 and 2.0 in Taiwan
From orange to white, a quiet shift Walking through Taipei, I keep seeing two kinds of bicycles. Older ones in orange.Newer ones in white and yellow. For most people, it looks like a simple design update.Old units remain. New ones replac... -
Notes on Estimating the Number of YouBike Bicycles in Taiwan
With a Few Assumptions I am drinking soy milk at a breakfast shop near the station.It is still early, before full wakefulness arrives. In front of me, people on YouBike pass one after another.Some wear suits.Others carry backpacks. Each ... -
Notes on the Optimal Placement of YouBike in Taiwan
Why It Is Almost Always There In Taipei and in Kaohsiung, the same scene appears again and again while walking.Past a corner, at the edge of a park, in the open space before a station.Yellow and white bicycles are lined up. What is strik... -
Notes on Measuring YouBike’s Fuel-Saving Effect in Taiwan
Or, on the Law of Conservation of Energy On the morning news, a figure from the Taipei Department of Transportation caught my ear. “YouBike, 200,000 rides per day.” It is a large number.But what stayed with me was something else. What do...
