The Anderson Vehicle Tradition

The Anderson household in the U.S. has long been notorious for the large number of cars that always seem to be parked there. We have been known to collectively have up to 9 cars residing in the driveway, on the street and even on the lawn. I know what you're thinking... no we're not hicks. At least we don't think so.

I personally have a long history of crappy cars. I have driven some amazing machines in my day, and have had more mechanical failures than I can count. (A few "fond" memories that immediately come to mind include: a blown coolant hose in the middle of Canada on a 16 hour trek to college, a radiator as a (much desired) birthday gift from my Mother and Father in law, and attempting to repair a brake line for three days in a Walgreens parking lot. The list goes on...)

We've decided that it's only appropriate to continue these trends here in Taiwan...

We have a red Honda Civic, leased to us by a friend named Donald. It has been our (semi) trusty steed since last September. We've put many kilometers on it during our travels around Taiwan. We have grown to love and cherish her. Unfortunately, several weeks ago, we noticed that when we turned the key, she wasn't roaring to life in the usual fashion, but instead, struggling to start. The problem increased over the course of a week or two until one morning, she wouldn't start at all, but only make that dreaded clicking sound that tells you, "Crap! My battery is dead!" A friend gave us a jump and were able to drive it around for a few more days until the problem repeated itself. Feeling somewhat stranded we wondered what to do. God saw our dilemma and provided a solution: A couple of our friends were returning to the U.S. and were willing to lend us their car.

For a week or so, we were feeling fashionable in our newly acquired Honda Civic hatchback with the flashy grey paint job (also owned by Donald). Sure it lacked a few amenities, such as a functioning defroster/defogger, but hey, it drove. We were once again happy and free. Until... the passenger side window somehow came off its track and got stuck half way down. Now if we were in the middle of the desert this would be no problem, but this is the rainy season in a sub-tropical climate. It rains constantly. So I, considering myself to be a pretty handy guy, took it upon myself to try to fix it. I asked Heather to push the "roll the window up" button while I pulled upwards on the glass. It was jammed in there tightly, so I increased the upward pressure until, CRACK! The glass shattered into a million pieces in my hands. (Don't worry, it was safety glass - I did not sustain any life threatening injuries.) Nooooo ! 2 cars down.

God blessed Donald with both a large collection of cars and a large dose of generosity. He was graciously willing to lend us a third car - a green Honda Accord. (Apparently he has a thing for Hondas.) So we are once again driving in style. As I was looking at our yard today, the sight of so many cars reminded me of a used car lot, which reminded me of home.



Ahh, home sweet home. We'll be arriving in one week!

Driving on the wrong side of the road

We are currently in Kota Kanabalu, Malaysian Borneo. We rented a car today and plan to drive to Kanabalu National Park to see some cool jungles, flowers and creatures, and then on to Sandakan to see orangutans and proboscus monkeys.

As it turns out, drivers in Malaysia drive on the left side of the road. The steering wheel is on the right, and I shift with my left hand. Thankfully, the pedals are the same as I'm used to. Our inital drives around Kota Kinabalu have been safe, but awkward. It just feels wrong being on the right side of the car, and I can't tell you how many times I've shifted into 4th gear when I really wanted 2nd. I've tried getting into the passenger seat several times, and once I pulled to the right as a car was coming at us. Thankfully, we were both driving very slowly and he went around me, looking at me as if to say, "are you insane!?". Hopefully I won't do that again.

I'm expecting that the driving will be much easier once we get out of the city and into more rural areas where there are fewer intersections, rotarys and other obstacles. This should be fun!

New Wheels

Check out our new car! It's a 94 Honda Civic.



The coolest part is pretty obvious... the magenta paint job. It also sports other amazing features such as 12 horsepower, approximately 5 miles per gallon and extra dim low beams/one working high beam (super handy on those dark nights when there are scooters all over the place). It has a four speed automatic transmission. I do wish it was a stick, but hey, you can't always have it all. It needs a little work, but mostly minor stuff. Replacing the air filter is number one on my priority list. It's coated with dirt and black junk. I'm thinking this may have something to do with the excellent fuel economy. The actual job of replacing it is the easy part. Getting my hands on a new one, well that's a different story. I have no idea where there is an auto parts store around here. I even went so far as to consider having one shipped from the US. This turned out to be impossible as this is a slightly different model than the one they sold at home. (the filter is a completely different shape).

Despite it's few flaws, it's extremely handy to have. We live off campus (about 4 miles away), so it was really necessary. Our international driving permits should be arriving shortly thanks to my parents, so before long we should actually be driving legally! Until then, my boss told me "if you get pulled over, just pretend you don't speak Chinese". No problem.