Taiwan is full of enterprising people who hold a diverse tapestry of employment positions. Most however are overworked, underpaid and in the face of rising living costs, increasingly struggling to make ends meet. And then there’s this guy: You can’t really see him in the photo, but tucked away in that blue truck is a [...]

I hate using public toilets for number two as much as the next guy… but when the unavoidable time comes and there’s no other way – the last thing on my mind has been ‘do I have any toilet paper?’. A question that, if I’d bothered to ask myself, would have time and time again [...]

I read an interesting article last week on the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters (COSWAS) calling on the Taipei government to be mindful of the preservation of historically significant buildings when considering urban renewal projects. Their calls came after the building that houses their headquarters, known as the Wen Meng Building (文萌樓), was recently [...]

Late last year 7-11 kicked up a furore in Taiwan when they teamed up with Taiwanese author Mark Lee to sell merchandise featuring a character based on Hitler. Naturally the Israel embassy weren’t too impressed and after first claiming Hitler’s moustache was a tooth and then claiming that there was no resemblance of Lee’s character [...]

Personally I’ve never really understood the concept of watching porn in a group. To me, it just doesn’t make sense. You sit down, watch for a few minutes, do your thing and then get on with your day right? Watching porn in a group on the otherhand, what’s the point? I mean it’s not like [...]

Apart from solving crime and catching criminals, police serve a number of additional functions within the community. Traffic management, patrols, responding to disturbances, witnessing the signing of documents, escorting high-profile persons and the list goes on and on. Here in Taiwan, aside from the usual tasks performed by the police around the world, they are [...]

When I think working holiday, apart from money there has to be opportunity and some degree of functionality. Picking mushrooms and working the orchards might not be the most tantalizing work… but at least it pays well. And if you don’t like the outdoors there’s always the hospitality industry, tourism and if your English and [...]

A few months ago I was hiking around the base of Mt Shamao when I happened across the visually appalling scene of what was literally a mountainside of rubbish overflowing onto the hiking path. Curious as to the source, I followed a sidepath up to the top of the mountainside rubbish dump only to find [...]

I didn’t catch wind of this story till last night or I probably would have run with it yesterday. It headlined the Taiwanese local news but didn’t make an appearance in English until the late hours of the evening. Usually my girlfriend sends me stories like this (in Chinese) as she knows I’ve got a [...]

I’m by no means an environmentalist but I do try to do my bit for the environment. Saving plastic bags for re-use, riding my bike around instead of the scooter, fixing things instead of just throwing them out, turning down bags when every vendor in Taiwan seems to want to give me one, use a [...]