Street names

The way streets are named in Taipei is also peculiar. First, big avenues are divided into sections every certain distance, maybe about 500 meters. Just to facilitate things, the street numbering begins anew at each section. So, it's important not to be confused (which is what almost happened to me the first time I was given my apartment's address). Most of these avenues are called, at least in the area where I am living, roads, or lù in Chinese. Then, there are the streets, which are narrower (jie) and do not have sections, I believe, but I wouldn't bet my life on it.

Now the fun begins. Roads and streets have their own names, but even narrower streets, which go perpendicular to the wide streets, are named lanes (xiàng in Chinese) and their name is the door number at the place where they begin in the main street. For instance, in the picture

it is lane 82, Wan Sheng St. The next alley can very well be lane 130, depending where it is found. Moreover, there can be even alleys that branch off lanes. Ah, but that's still too easy. The address can be found at the same street that has its own name or, as it is my case, the door might be found in a small unnamed alley at the back of the building, but because the building is facing the wide street, it bears the number of the main street. Be careful, don't look for the door along the main street, because you will never find it. I have also seen sometimes that the address has extra numbers to indicate that the entrance is in the back street of the side street... A lane may certainly begin in one street, and carry its name, and finish at a different one, and then you have all the possible combinations.

You end up having a long address, only with the street name.