it's election time in taiwan now. i'm not sure when the actual election is, but you can always tell when election time is as the level of noise pollution goes through the roof. here, one of the main ways to get your message out is to drive slow moving vehicles through the streets with speakers blaring out propaganda. i've been trying to get a picture of the vehicles doing this, but haven't been trying hard enough to get a decent shot of it. so basically anytime from 9 am to 10 pm you can be assaulted with this noise. sometimes the propaganda will be accompanied by firecrackers going off, or sometimes the propaganda will take the form of the canidate or their supporters singing some song karaoke style(blared out the speakers through the streets). it's not a pretty sound let me tell you. another sign that it is election time is that all of a sudden the streets get paved or new road work gets done. this way the politicians that have completely ignored their constituents can act like they've actually cared about you since the last election. quite a few of my friends and students have told me they won't vote as regardless of who is in office, it'll just be more lies and inaction.