Noise

Taiwan is not a quiet, peaceful country. There may be parts of it that would pass for peaceful, but not for very long. Overall, the country is filled with life and noise. Lots and lots of noise. Some of it is very welcome. Taiwanese have an expression called renao – literally, it means "hot and noisy"– that is a positive adjective to describe something that is lively and bustling. The whole culture seems to be steeped in this concept.
The most notable and peculiar noise-makers are garbage trucks. Each day, these vehicles roam around the city playing music– really really loud music - coupled with announcements -reeeeeeally loud announcements– to let everyone know the garbage truck is coming. The cacophony of sound is hard to describe, but imagine a satanic ice cream truck with unintelligible rants being played over a PA system over and over again.
There are also roving advertisement trucks that creep at a glacial pace along the street blaring out advertisements for grand openings, roasted nuts, karaoke joints, and what-have-you. Sometimes the trucks park on a busy corner and play the message over and over and over again; all the while with the driver sleeping in the cab.
Election season is the worst. Vans for any and all candidates (from president down to ombudsman) employ trucks to roll through residential neighborhoods at the speed of molasses blasting campaign platforms and exhortations to vote. At 6am!! As a side bonus, these trucks will randomly throw strings of fireworks out crackling into the streets. The first time this happened near me, American that I am, I thought I was being shot at and so I leapt off my scooter.
These are just the worst three. There are many many more. School bells and announcements (sometimes on Sunday mornings and late in the evening) can be heard from miles away. Convenience store doors play a melody EVERY time they automatically open. Wedding and funeral celebrations are often tents in the middle of the streets and their sounds (often old men shouting incomprehensible songs over a MIDI-melody) can be heard well into the night. Fireworks are a year-long thing and you never know when they are going to go off. Temples are always having celebrations, and this usually involves complex, noisy parades with over-amplified drums and hideously loud electric trumpets wailing unmelodic off-key ditties. Add all this to the fact that the Taiwanese love to talk really loudly. If you were to hear a normal conversation between two old ladies, you would think they were settling a centuries-old blood-fued, when in fact they are just discussing what the other has eaten today.
Having said all this about auditory annoyances in Taiwan, I must admit I love it in many ways. There is very rarely a dull quiet moment, and while this does frequently make me long for the peace and serenity of my hometown, I can't say that it isn't interesting.