The Rules

In Taiwan, there are lots of shops and vendors that I've not seen in other countries. But there are two I particularly like:

1. Breakfast shops. Admittedly, they serve terrible coffee, if they have it at all, but they are all over the country, and they do lots of good breakfast food. Some is local, like the steamed bread rolls (mmm...chewy and tasteless!), noodles, dumplings, and the like. There are dan-bing, which are sort of like breakfast burritos, filled with an egg and whatever else they have on the menu. And they have Western-style things filtered through the local culture: i.e. "Hamburgers" with an egg, fried pork, cucumbers, and sweet mayonnaise. All in all, they aren't bad, but the only drinks they offer are hot or cold milk tea or warm goat's milk. This lack of drinks leads me to the other shops I like:

2. Juice shops. These are more straightforward. They have about 30 different fruit flavors, blenders, coffee-machines, and sweeteners. For about 75 cents, you can get a freshly-mixed cup of any imaginable combination of these things as juices, ice drinks, and teas. The drink menu for most of these places is well over 100 items.

And now, the problem.

Breakfast shops are open only in the morning. Every single one in the country is closed and shuttered for the day by noon.

Juice shops are open only starting in the afternoon. Every single one in the country is closed until at least 10 am.

So, if you want a nice refreshing juice in the morning on your way to work, you're out of luck.

And if you want some tasty breakfast-type food in the evening, you're out of luck.

Why? Those are just the rules. Everyone does it that way, because everyone else does it that way.