The other day an erstwhile colleague invited me, another colleague too, to have a lunch together in a seafood buffet located at Dunhua South Road.  There were a vast variety of delicate cooked food, raw fish slices, dessert, beverage, coffee, and so on: all you can eat.  All patrons must make reservation beforehand, but their bookings will be cancelled 10 minute after the prearranged time if they fail to show up.  Therefore, when I got there I noticed that all dinning tables had been sold out regardless of the dear price per head: nearly TWD1,000.

To my observation, over 50% of the patrons were senior citizens like me, and about other 30% were young guys who obviously not old enough to afford such a prohibitive meal.  There were about only 20% of patrons looked like ordinary working class, but how could they have such a long break at noon to enjoy an all-you-can-eat buffet? 

When I stayed at South Bay Area, San Francisco, I used to have a lunch at some diners in a plaza not far from my place.  People repaired to the diners were almost all the employees of the (IT) companies nearby, and most of them just ordered a lunch special less than $10. 

So is Taiwan still prosperous, or it is just a superficial phenomenon to disguise the widening gap of poor and rich?