For dinner tonight we decided to go to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant. It's actually the only Vietnamese restaurant we've been to in Kaohsiung. It's really quite good though, so fortunately we don't have to keep searching for any other. After all, finding good restaurants can be such a hardship.

One of the best things about being back on the bike is that places like this are a 10 or 15 minute bike ride away instead of a too-long walk for dinner or a cab ride. The neighborhood has gotten small and manageable again.

The traffic seemed especially aggressive this evening. It's probably because of the time of day but it certainly is tiresome. One incident though made me chuckle. There was scooter ahead of us, waiting for the light to change. Mom was in the front and brother and sister were crammed onto the back of the seat. This is a pretty common occurrence. I've seen as many as five family members on a scooter. They nestle in together like spoons in a silverware drawer.

Anyway, this pair of kids reminded me of countless squabbling siblings who have had to share rides in the family vehicle. But instead of crossing over into each other's space in the back seat these two were picking a fight while basically sitting in each other's lap. The boy in front was giving his sister a quick jab with his elbow while she pounded on his leg. The fight escalated to the point where Mom tried turning around to yell at them. It was a little too crowded to effectively face them while yelling but they got the message: If you're going to hit each other use small enough wind-ups that Mom doesn't notice.

By then the light was changing to green and the brother and sister were over their squabble and ready to point out to each other the "mei guo ren" biking by. That was us, the Americans, still ever-popular with school set.