The minute you step out of the train station in any county seat outside Taipei, you'll find the streets bristling with garish shop signs and all sorts of tacky places to spend your money-pachinko parlors, betelnut stands, karaoke booths, 7-11 stores... The narrow streets running higgledy-piggledy in every direction assault the senses with hordes of pedestrians and careening scooters.
步出台灣縣市的火車站，迎接旅客的莫不是橫七八豎地的招牌與消費場所，柏青哥、檳榔攤、KTV 或 7-eleven，窄且亂的街道爆滿著往來的人群與呼嘯的機車，然而，這些鄉土味濃厚的縣市，對挾帶著強勢資本的台北，有一股難以解釋的情緒。