Forget temples, praying to Buddha, burning money paper for good fortune and the whole other host of ways that exist to connect to the celestial world.
In Taiwan, a girl’s parents are god.
Going against one’s parents is unheard of, no matter how absurd or selfish the request. For this reason when it comes to sex a [...]

There are many beautiful mountains across Taiwan. With 70% of the island covered in mountains there by far just too many to visit. Most of them pass you by as you whizz by them either in a car or train.
One of the more accessible Taiwanese mountains to those travelling through central Taiwan is Lion’s Head [...]

When researching software programs to learn Chinese Mandarin with it’s pretty hard to go past Rosetta Stone. The United States Army, Airforce, Marine Corps and Department of State are all Rosetta Stone customers.
For some that might be a reason to skip over the software but I figured if it was good enough for the US [...]

I’ve often wondered how the roads of Taiwan function. Bad driving Asian stereotypes are nothing new but it’s not until you actually mix it up with Asian traffic that you develop a whole new appreciation for it.
Confidence on Taiwan’s roads seems to be a massive problem. People will seriously half pull out of a car [...]

So I walked into the office the other day. It was sunny outside, the wind was still and I’d just returned from a killer weekend up in Taipei.
Life was good.
I plonked my courier bag down on my desk and then I saw it. The most horrendous case of calculator abuse you’d ever hope to not [...]

One of the most common questions I encountered back in Australia when I told people I was moving to Taiwan was ‘have you travelled much?’
The last time I left Australia was back in 1993 on a family trip.
The reaction I got when I told people I was moving abroad was thus usually one of surprise. [...]

Go Karting in Taiwan is a hearkening back to the era of personal responsibility. There’s no helmets, the brakes don’t quite work, no legal liability papers to sign, not a safety track status light in sight and you fly around a track holding on for dear life.
Located in central Taiwan and tucked away in the [...]

I woke up this morning to the strange sensation of my bed rocking.
“Wow, that’s some hangover. What the hell did I do last night?”
“…”
“…hang on last night was Wednesday night… and… I didn’t go out. Wait what the hell just happened?!”

It was late on a Monday night. I’d just finished teaching and had walked into my local 7-11 to grab a bite to eat before the walk home.
A girl I’d seen regularly around the area came up and started to talk to me. She told me her parents lived in Taichung and she’d just come [...]

Unlike the hassle for me that was tracking down a prepaid sim card starter kit without an ARC, purchasing recharge cards for prepaid phones in Taiwan has been pretty painless.
Today I thought I’d post up how to go about it along with some of the local language that might be required if asking in English [...]