If you haven't lived in Taiwan, you don't know what noise is.
It's a lovely Sunday afternoon. I took a bike ride out to buy some food and got stuck in the traffic behind a religious procession. In the west, we picture spirituality as a somber, dignified, personal activity. In Taiwan, the idea is to make so much goddamn noise that the gods can't possibly ignore you. (Well, this isn't exactly true, in Taiwan they bring the 'gods' and the religious icons out of the temples are parade around, so they are actually making all that goddamn noise so that you don't ignore the gods.)
Picture 50 teenager boys with 8foot long trumpets (with 12inch bells for stronger vibrations) 15 10foot drums, 20 10foot gongs, about 100 whiny Asian clarinets, all hooked up to loudspeakers plugged into a massive battery that they wheel around on a cart behind the procession.
Now picture this going by your house at 6:30 am, and winding up and down all the streets of your city until mid-afternoon. There is simply no escaping the noise.
That's not to mention the 'firecrackers' (ie sticks of dynamite) that they set off by the thousands. Just now I swear the were setting off anti-aircraft mortars. I could see the puffs of gray smoke in the air, and feel the vibrations as the shockwave from the explosions pounded through the city blocks.
WOW.
