If I had $100

Thank you Janina. Thank you my darling sister for the $100 you gave me for Christmas. It was the most you’ve ever attempted to give me and I am blessed. Unfortunately, the teller at TD didn’t quite understand the sentiment.

What Janina MEANT to do was give me $100 Canadian dollars in Taiwanese currency (NT). The teller on the other hand thought my sister wanted $100 NT, which is equal to about $3.70 Canadian.

Taiwan is a cash economy (only Western stores and major purchases are done via credit or debit cards [and even those are usually handled in cash]). I have cherished that $100 bill with my life, not spending in on something small. The great thing about Taiwan is that $100 can actually go pretty far here, if you spend it wisely.

The question is… where to spend it? Let’s look at my options…

...7-11

7-11 has EVERYTHING. You can buy your basic 7-11 stuff, but you can also find full blown meals, internet plans, and lots of crazy looking drinks. 

You can also pay for things using your EasyCard, which is their transit card.

...MRT

Speaking of which, here are some cool things to know about their transit system called the MRT:

-       You pay per distance and it’s cheap. Riding on the subway for about 30 minutes will cost you ~$30 NT (less than $1 CAD). Busses are even cheaper.

-       It’s super clean. We just learned the other night that you will get fined if you eat, drink, or chew gum on the subway. Other passengers can report you to the authorities and get a “bounty” for doing so.

-       There are more than 3 lines.

But no, I didn’t spend it on transit or at 7-11. Lets see what else I could buy with $100 NT:

cheap haircut? 

Benenenenenenene Betman! (85NT)

This delicious pulled pork, peanut, cilantro sandwich? (50NT)

These hotpot meals? (100NT each)

We decided to give my $100 bill to this guy...

One night in Taipei we were walking though the streets with a bag of food and stumbled across this man creating paintings using only spray paint. Look at these things! Check THIS out:

Each of his paintings are $200NT so I had to use a second bill to purchase it, but it was definitely the right place to spend Janina's. Sharon also got one.

We hope all is well at home.

- RS=T