To loosely paraphrase what a new found American friend told me recently of how he feels about living in Taiwan, and he's lived in Taiwan for a damn long time, probably over ten years or tens of years even...

He used the analogy of a person going to Mars and having this sort of alternate experience, having senses that he'd never had before; and he likened this to how he feels about living in Taiwan. It's as though having lived in Taiwan stimulates the senses in a way very unlike life in the U.S. and now that he's experienced it, he can't go back.

I've been hearing this sort of thing a lot lately, from people who have been living in Taiwan for 5 or more years. I've also been hearing that the standard of living and quality of life in Taiwan is one of the best in Asia- this from people who have lived in other major Asian cities such as Singapore, Korea and Hong Kong. So these people have well-based points of comparison, I think they know what they are talking about.

Is someone trying to tell me something?