Almost Paradise

Drum roll please ladies and gentlemen, the time that you have all been waiting for is at hand. Today's post is dedicated exclusively to the wonderful paradise that is 7 Eleven.

Okay, so maybe all of you weren't looking forward to that. Maybe you are picturing the sad, pathetic 7 Eleven stores that we have at home, and thinking that the horse pee eggs have addled my brain. But, let me assure you that the 7 Elevens that grace literally every street corner in Taiwan are worlds apart from the nasty little convenience stores that we have in the States.

To begin with, the 7 Elevens here are spotlessly clean. They are gleaming temples of perfection and goodness. You could actually live in a 7 Eleven. Let me show you:

This is a case of warm drinks. Yes, warm drinks. They are in cans, and they are in a container that looks like a fridge, but they are warm. It is mind boggling. The drinks that come in these cans are mostly different types of tea and coffee. For, instance, they have green tea, oolong tea, Mr. Coffee's cappuccinos, and, my personal favorite: milk tea. Which, is like sweet tea flavored milk, and it is incredibly delicious.

typical convenience store fare

not so typical convenience store fare

The selection of drinks is overwhelming

Here are a few of the many drinks that they have available, for a very low low price. The one on the right is called Strawberry Milk Tea, but it really just tastes like strawberry flavored milk, so it is not very unusual. The one on the left, is called black jelly. The people here seem to have a thing for drinkable jelly. You have to shake it before you drink it, to break the jelly up, and then you use a big straw to drink it. It tastes good, but the texture is kind of strange.

Here is another jelly drink. It is full of vitamins,
 so people buy them and then drink the jelly.
 Don't ask me why it is called "Face Drink," I have no idea.

This is an awesome Japanese drink.
 It looks like milk, so I thought that that was
 what it would taste like but it tastes fruity.

Oh, and you use a straw for almost everything here

more fruit and vegetable juices

You can send mail in a 7 Eleven too

they sell toiletries 

If you don't have cash, you can pay with your metro card

Here is the fresh, hot food.

they have corn on the cob, meat, tofu...

and iron eggs, which are eggs boiled in soy
 sauce, so they are infused with flavor

Or you can buy pre-packaged lunch boxes.
Which are way better than the ones in the states, let me tell you.

You can buy Ramen as well, and heat it up in a microwave here

You can sit here to eat the meal. There are also tables in the back.

Did I mention that you can buy produce here as well?

vegetables

More vegetables 

Meat, like frozen chicken legs and pork

Frozen dumplings

more frozen food

Books and magazines

Notice the ATM on the left of the picture

Oh, and some 7 Elevens have free Wi-Fi

 So, in summary, you could eat, do your grocery shopping, send your mail, withdraw cash, read, work on the computer, and if you got tired, you could rest your head on one of the tables. You could live in 7 Eleven, and if you got kicked out of one, you could go across the street to another one. I rest my case. Taipei's 7 Elevens are the best places in the universe.