If there's just one reason to be jealous of Taiwanese students, it's the National Sun Yat-sen University (國立中山大學, Guólì Zhōngshān Dàxué) here in Kaohsiung. The campus is built into forested mountains that slope down directly into beaches, not far from Kaohsiung's main port. The setting easily trumps Millsaps' Bowl.
A few minutes from the university is a small open-air coffee shop hanging over a cliff. From the tables and bar there's nothing visible except the ocean and the roofs of a few houses and a temple. The owner immigrated from Ecuador after marrying his wife, a Taiwanese citizen, and the two of them run the shop and sell imported coffee, the strongest I've had since moving here.
The most entertaining thing about driving to and leaving the cafe are the buses that fly down the mountain roads. Not only do they add an element of danger that makes driving here at any given time exciting, crossing paths with a bus always throws me off for a moment as I come face to face with their giant eyes and smiles. Every one of the buses has a grinning kitten's face painted on its front.
Everywhere I look in the city there are disgustingly cute figures. Dentist offices have dancing and smiling molars on their signs. The mascots for this summer's World Games were a pair of blue and pink teletubbies (event winners took home plush dolls of each instead of a medal or trophy). There are motorcycle helmets with Powerpuff Girls, and turn in any given direction and you'll see either Spongebob or Stitch (from, of course, Lilo and Stitch).
Cuteness is not an age specific obsession - I see business women in power suits carrying pencil bags covered in crudely drawn laughing daisies or dandelion puffballs. If it has huge eyes and a swollen head then it makes for the perfect accessory.
If I want to see the ocean, or have a cup of real coffee, I have to run the risk of getting hit by grinning buses. It's a hell of a challenge trying to stay focused on the road while knowing a cat-bus is staring right you, reminding you that an entire population is in the grip of an adorable obsession.
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