I was sitting there at my desk lost in my own writer’s world and furiously typing away, when the front door burst open. ‘OMG LOOK WHAT I HAVE!’ My girlfriend slammed down what appeared to be an A3 cardboard design of some sorts and I looked down at it, slightly confused. ‘So uh… what’s that?’ [...]

Situated in the Daan District of Taipei City within a stones throw from Taiwan National Normal University, although modest in size Shida Nightmarket is one of Taipei’s most crowded nightmarkets. What Ximending is to young adults and fashion in Taipei, Shida Nightmarket is to food. There’s plenty to eat here and it’s priced for university [...]

I dunno if it’s just my crappy non-Taiwanese stomach or something everyone else goes through, but in the course of an all-you-can-eat hotpot session, somewhere in the middle I find it necessary to have a break. During this time I like to take in my surroundings. The people around me, all stuffing their faces or [...]

If you’re out and about during Chinese New Year in Taiwan, chances are you’re probably going to notice an unusually greater amount of non-Taiwanese guys out and about trying to keep themselves occupied, but still looking like they’ve got nothing better to do. For hundreds (thousands?) of Taiwanese girls every Chinese New Year heralds the [...]

Although I find them nice to look at, my public enemy #1 during Chinese New Year in Taiwan is always going to be the excessive and constant use of fireworks by the locals. Two years ago in a guide to surviving Chinese New Year in Taiwan I wrote, With the exception of the whistling fireworks [...]

Ask any guy who’s entered the dating scene in Taiwan about ‘Princess Syndrome’, and chances are you’ll get that all too familiar slow nodding and appreciative but weak smile of understanding. Taiwanese and western guys alike in Taiwan’s dating scene often run headfirst into Princess Syndrome, the scenario at times feeling like being armed with [...]

We’ve all got our fetishes in bed and undoubtedly from person to person what is acceptable, what is pleasurable, what is desirable and perhaps most importantly what is tolerable, is going to differ. Not so if you’re a Taiwanese wife however. When it comes to the bedroom in Taiwan, it’s either ‘my way… or time [...]

One of the strongest deterrents against getting a family pet when I was a kid was the failsafe reasoning that my parents didn’t want to be left holding the ball looking after it. Notoriously whimsical, parents the world over face the tough decision of bringing a family pet into the home knowing that after a [...]

Despite the recent arctic chill that has engulfed Taiwan these last few days, I found myself walking along Tamsui’s Ferry Pier last night. As I walked along the Tamsui (also known as Danshui) Pier, which has been newly renovated since my last visit, I began to hear an out of place sound. Walking past the [...]

I was riding my bicycle one evening through the sleepy township of Toufen in central Taiwan’s Miaoli County. Looking for somewhere to eat and taking the town my eyes were on the prowl and out of the corner of my eye I spotted what looked like a sweet cream-colored Mini. Pulling up, I got my [...]