August 17, 2012

August 17th, 2012

Hi...gonna try to convey what driving is like here based on the exposure we've had so far. We had been driving around in a (nice) Toyota Camry loaner, but got our new leased rig on Monday...a Lexus 350 RX. Have never been a "car" guy per se, although as with anyone conceived, born and raised in a car in SoCal, love love love driving, but always felt that it was the driver, and not the car, that mattered. As anyone that drove with me in our beat-up '03 Dodge Caravan, we tore it up and always got there faster than anyone else by a longshot. Have never had a vehicle as slick as this one...I would have gone for a Honda Fit so really didn't care what we got, but in talking to the locals, they all said that a Lexus was the car to get. They agreed that European cars were the best, but hard and expensive to get parts, and took a couple months to get the car in stock. I'm a Honda lover, but were talked out of all the other "Japanese" cars as they said they were made in Taiwan and only the Lexus was assembled in Japan. Nice pride in your country, but had to appreciate their honesty. I was pretty happy with the Caravan as it had super modern features like remote sliding door opener and a DVD player. Half of you will be as amazed as I was when you see the Lexus features, and the other half will yawn and think that I'm some burn-out from 60's (guility) that time traveled into the 21st Century. The most impressive feature is the back-up camera. This video shows it well...look at the Toyota demo...basically no need to swivel your head anymore, just watch the TV and you can not only see where you are going, but where you will end up based on the position of the steering wheel. Took a couple days, but have now put my families health in its hands completely. There is no longer a key, just this. Basically, a credit card that sits in your wallet. It locks/unlocks the doors when you get in range and allows you to start the car with the push button starter. The front seat headrests each have a video screen in them for the people in the back seat to watch DVD or live Taiwan TV. The display in the front is straight outta Top Gun. Bluetooth and USB compatible, can also turn on the Taiwan TV to watch (super distracting). Plug in the iPad and play the Gomez megamix (which everyone else hates) while also mapping our destination on Googlmaps is just brilliant. The only (and major problem so far) is that it's all in Chinese, so have zero clue as to how to work a good 90% of the features. Triall and error all the way. Heated and air conditioned seats, fold down everything, storage compartments ingeneously placed, and sensors around the whole vehicle that indicatte when you are close to an obstruction. When tooling around town, the scooters are zipping all around you constantly. They are insane. I don't think t possible to really convey how bold and dangerous they are, and how much I admire, respect and love them for it. Anyway, they zip so close to the cars that it sets of the warning sensors alomost constantly...kinda like being in the China Syndrome. So I intended this post to be about driving in TW, but it turned into an add for Lexus. Have run out of time today to get into the details of the road. However, I think that I am close to a major breakthrough on why they Asians drive like they do and need some more time to have these theories fully vetted. Quickly though, have become a dedicated viewer on Facebook since the move. Helps one to keep better tabs on people when you don't get to see them or hear updates from friends, so if you are reading this and are on Facebook, but aren't a freind of mine, friend me please. However, there are two types of Facebookers that bug the crap outta me and wonder if you feel the same?. The first is the one that sends links to things they like constantly...like 10 a day. Can we all agree to a two per day maximum? And those types are usually the ones that get off posting politcal crap. Look, I get it that you hate Obama, or think the Republicans are tools, but the truth lies somewhere in between, no? Being so dogmatic about ANYTHING proves (to me anyway) that you have little to no ability to think on your own and forwarding someone else's venom to help justify the things you hate, mainly your own prejudices, seems ugly to me from both sides of the aisle. The other poster that bugs me (personally of course) is the humble-bragger. Newsflash...no one gives a shit that you rode your bike to the gym today and that you are now bummed about how tired you are. These people go hand in hand with the cryptic, woe is me, crowd. Would love to hear about what's new or exciting in your life, or that you found something cosmically interesting from time to time and had to share, but mix it up and don't feel that you have to share every successful solid BM.