Some thoughts on getting around

Tomorrow I switch hotels, which means I'll have some time to kill, which means I'll have time to write about the last two days. For now, I am offering my thoughts on (explanation for?) some of the issues I've had finding stuff. I say this after, for the second night in a row, having to use GPS to find a restaurant in a particular 'lane' which may or may not have had a sign delineating said lane. (I write this while eating a custard bun that I got for dessert, but also because I knew if I didn't eat more, I'd be famished in the middle of the night.)
First the challenges: I had thought that there were street signs missing but then I realized that the streets are not labeled in a way I'm used to.
This is the street sign for the street that the sign is in the middle of:

This sign is pointing to the street running perpendicular through the street this sign is in the middle of:

There are sections of streets, and N/S, E/W sides of streets. I can barely figure it out.
And you can see the Mandarin is often significantly bigger than the English (I don't read Mandarin. I just today figured out how to say 'thank you' in Mandarin.)
So these signs look okay. But then you have a intersection like this:

In case you're wondering, the sign I was looking for is vertical, above (what looks like) the dark gray minivan/station wagon type vehicle. It's smaller in this picture than my vantage point as I was standing there, but still impossible to read. And a lot of intersections are like this. And the signs aren't always where I expect them to be. Perhaps a local knows about some other signs I haven't learned to see yet.

Now the good stuff: Here is a picture of my MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) map.

I've been getting good use out of it. The MRT is clean (probably because no one eats or drinks (or dare I say pisses) in it, except me, this morning, as I was drinking Starbucks while obliviously standing opposite the sign telling me the size of the fine I would have to pay if I was caught doing the thing I was doing while being oblivious to the sign telling me not to do it.) I don't think I have waited more than three minutes for a train. I haven't gone too far, but wherever I have gone, I've gotten there quickly.
And then, there is the thing that has enamored me to the Taiwanese people more than their starchy buns or their willingness to deal with the woman who just learned how to say 'thank you' in Mandarin. Some of you know this is a issue that is near and dear to my heart.

What we have here is a strict adherence to, what I refer to as, 'Escalator Protocol.' If you have been on an escalator with me, you have heard me spout profanities at the casual disregard for the protocol, in addition to possibly, probably, verbally fantasizing about punching people in the kidneys when they stand on the left side. But here, they a very considerate about letting people pass, even when no one is passing, even when the escalator is much more crowded than this. These are my people!
Okay, enough of all that. I'll tell you about my recent shenanigans tomorrow.