By Trista di Genova

The ‘Taiwanese 4-seater’ phenomenon such as this wonderful shot taken from a car in Kaohsiung in January this year, is seen less and less frequently in the capital Taipei, but you can still catch glimpses of this classic Taiwanese image in the burbs. Note only the mother is wearing a helmet (and surgical mask); however, stupidly, they only fine people about US$20 for not wearing helmets so loads of kids die every year. But I still fondly recall in 2002, after being in Taiwan a month, I asked a man waiting outside a kindergarten where a key shop was. His two kids came out and he gestured for me to hop on and drove me to the shop! That’s how supercool Taiwanese people are.