I was suddenly informed that garbage pick up was just minutes away and was quickly assigned the task of helping to get the bags down to the collection point. But this was not to be garbage pick up as I knew it from living in the U.S.A. or Thailand. All those in the apartment complex showed up right on time at 6 p.m. with bags in hand as the truck approach playing a jingle on it's loudspeaker. It was a time of friendly conversation as neighbours had grown accustom to complying with Taiwan's way of making their country a cleaner place and free of dogs and rodents ravaging through bags of garbage. This communal event was just one of many improvements that Taiwan has made since our first visit 7 years ago as they try to copy Singapore's lead in upgrading their country to a higher standard.