It's not just public transit - everywhere you go in Taiwan you get the distinct feeling that things are getting better, all the time. There's an optimism in the air that is dangerously absent in America.

> "Maybe you need to upgrade your lifestyle and buy yourself a nice set of wheels. That's how we roll in America ;)"

Nah. Grew up in a suburb, drove around all through high school out of necessity. I consider a set of wheels a downgrade in lifestyle. Why would I blow away so much free time behind the wheel of a car, missing the opportunity to connect with the place I'm in by ensconcing myself in a shell of steel, plastic, and glass?

Why would I voluntarily live in a place where the most interesting landmark is a strip mall, and the only people I will ever meet are the ones that I must consciously choose to meet? Whatever did we do to the richness and spontaneity of life to deserve that kind of existence?

Heh, that really bring up another salient point: in Asia urbanism is embraced - the Taiwanese have found ingenious ways to solve many of the problems that are common with city life in the US. America, on the other hand, despite standing amidst the flaming wreckage of its housing market, with inevitably ever-higher gas prices staring them in the face, is still desperately clinging to its suburbs and its utterly unsustainable lifestyle.

While Seattleites are gridlocking their way every morning across the 520 bridge here, the people of Taipei will travel the same distance, car-less, going from doorstep to doorstep in half that time.