The drug of choice in Taiwan is called Betel Nut, and vendors selling the nut are as common as 7 Elevens around here. If you look up a typical street in Taiwan you will see loads of bright neon signs that look like palm trees, which identify a betel nut vendors' store. You can't see that in the store above, though it is apparently endorsed by Donald Duck.
The betel nut stores are generally staffed by scantily dressed ladies (though most of them where I live are run by normally dressed normal women). People pull their scooters over on the side of the road by the store and place their order. The stalls have also branched out to sell beer and cigarettes.
So, about a month ago we decided we would try betel nut. Hey, when in Rome, right? We went to a shop at the night market by our apartment and bought 2 bags of 20 for 100NT ($3.00 CAN). After buying the nuts, I went next door to the Two Peck Fried Chicken shop to get a snack. When the guy working there noticed that we had some betel nut with us he was pretty surprised. He told us it was "very bad" and flashed us a big red, rotten toothed smile as proof. Betel nut can increase the chances of getting oral cancer by 10 times. It stains your teeth red and makes your teeth fall out. Nice!
Here were are, about to try our first (and last!) betel nut.
The prepared nut, up close. The nut is wrapped in a leaf and you just pop it in your mouth and chew the whole thing. It was gross as hell. It was really fibrous- like chewing on a tree branch and the salty/chemically taste was so strong. We all spit our betel nuts out pretty quickly. The effect is supposed to be similar to a strong cup of coffee, with a jolt of energy and your body getting red and flushed. None of us felt any effects though, because we couldn't chew it long enough... I really thought I was going to throw up. My neighbor later told me that you're actually supposed to spit out first juices that develop and after a minute it will become more mild, but I don't think I could stomach trying it again, either way.
Oh, and one more thing. As you chew the nut and your mouth fills with red juiciness, you need to spit out the extra juice in your mouth. So, as a result, Taiwan's streets look like this:
So now, if you ever visit Taiwan, you will know that the streets aren't covered with blood- it's just some betel nut.
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