Goodbye, Sleepyheads

It is not worth going into how long I waited to snap a picture like this, one that would capture a key element of Tawianese society. And it happened on my third to last day. Defenseless victims of my photography, a mother and her charges take advantage of the comforts of the Danshui MRT line for some shut-eye.
One of the most charming features of Taipei is that everyone trusts everyone else enough to fall completely and utterly fast asleep on the public transportation, or on public anything really. At least that's the interpretation I have decided to adopt. And I swear, morning noon or night, you may find yourself on a subway car where you are the only one awake. That's a lot of responsibility, Sally, cause they're counting on you to watch out for them while they just rest their eyes for a minu....

Some might say this country just needs a bedtime, but I prefer to see the mass somnolence as a beautiful tribute to careless sleep and happiness, and a fingerpoke to the eye of our hyperanxious and vulnerable modern lifestyle.

I leave tomorrow. I will miss the friends and habits I have developed. I will miss certain beverages, certain dumplings, and certain other kinds of dumplings--you know who you are. Sometimes the sky is pretty. I will miss the Taiwanese people, and I like to think they will miss staring at me. But enough about me.