Homes in Taiwan that do not have direct natural gas piped in must buy and use liquid propane gas (LPG) from a local vendor. The gas comes in different size bottles/tanks. Once you pay the initial deposit on the bottle, you simple call the vendor (whose phone number is painted on the side of the tank) and usually within a few minutes a motorcycle or small delivery truck is at your door with a full tank, ready to replace the empty one.
We live in an older home so we must go through this routine. We use 2 large bottles: one for the 1st floor kitchen (for the stove and hot water heater), and one for the 4th floor, for the clothes dryer. Most gas companies will charge a little extra for hauling a full, heavy gas bottle up to the 4th floor. I've worked out a routine, however, whereby when the kitchen bottle gets low, I carry it up myself to the 4th floor and bring the fuller bottle back down.
One thing I have always thought funny is that the motorcycles typically seen delivering propane gas bottles are old "Indian" motorcycles, and invariably the exhaust pipe is totally burned out and they make a lot of noise. I've always wondered why they didn't just pay a little for maintenance and get the exhaust replaced. I guess it's just not a priority.
Imagine my surprise then when I recently spotted a local propane gas vendor delivering bottles on a brand new motorcycle!! My first thought was that the economy mustn't be all that bad and that the propane gas business must be doing okay.
Compare the two images below. The top one is of one of the old Indian motorcycles. The bottom one is the new San Yang motorcycle I saw recently. Nice bike, but in time it's muffler will also be totally shot and will add its contribution to the noise pollution of Taiwan.
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