i'm staying near ximending, i love that area and it's my third time going to taipei in june. wondering what are some must-try delicacies i should go for? here's my list:

things i have tried:
ah chung mee sua
lao shandong beef noodles
king pork wan nian store (braised pork rice)
xing fu tang (tried other better bubble tea stores)
mala hotpot ximen/new mala hotpot
some shiling night market delicacies

things i want to try:
小肠包大肠 (sausage wrap)
yong he soy milk
god guo hotpot/jhujian hotpot
shi yun ximending
王福芋圓 (taro ball dessert bowls)
raohe night market this time

any other places i should try? open to suggestions, i really eat anything LOL. it's a short trip, but i'm going alone so i'm able to make the most out of it! (:

Solo traveller in taipei for afew days, would like to know where are some places that people in their 20s usually hangout!

I am an international student coming to taiwan this fall for my SAP program and I would be staying here for 1 yr in Taipei, would like to know where I could rent or be buying a PS5 in second hand. I would greatly appreciate some info :).

Hi everyone! I’m coming back to Taipei tomorrow and I am looking for nice outdoors coffee to enjoy the weather this Saturday (allegedly good weather, Taipei be changing every hours), I remember liking the vibe of 2J coffee near Daan and plan B on the blue line but I would like to try other spots.

If anyone have suggestions that would be great~

Hello, first time to TPE and looking for advice.

My flight arrives at 4am and the next flight leaves at 11pm the same day.

Looking for recommendations on where I can:

• Sleep/rest for 10 hours
• Take a shower
• Possibly get a massage or spa treatment

I also have an Amex Platinum card, so lounge access options would be great too.

Thank you for your help!

Hi Taiwanese friends,

How is the Regent hotel in Taipei? Thank you.

I'd like to share my recent experience applying for an academic job in Taiwan, just as a reference for anyone looking into it.

I applied for a faculty position at one of the major top-tier universities in Taiwan. after the application, I was told my hiring was confirmed. but the actual formal offer kept getting delayed for almost 3 months due to "administrative procedures." they kept telling me that if they failed to hire an EMI (English-Medium Instruction) professor this time, the quota would permanently disappear. they expressed their hope that I wouldn't go anywhere else and would just stay with them. since I trusted them completely, I planned my entire future around this without a single doubt.

One professor in the department even assured me the decision was 100% positive. he suggested I move to Taiwan a semester early and actually had me start advising some newly admitted students... so naturally, I couldn't have predicted that the result would suddenly be flipped. but eventually, it all fell through and I was left with nothing.

Taiwan is great for tourists and visiting scholars. but working inside the system is quite different. it's very top-down and authoritarian. when a mistake happens, there's a strong culture of shifting the blame and no one ever official apologizes.

Honestly, connections mean everything here. official hiring procedures often feel like just a formality, with a lot of inappropriate behind-the-scenes communication. if you don't have a strong connection -- like a professor inside who is fully willing to fight the system for you -- it can be really tough for a foreigner.

When I raised a formal issue about the unfair process, the university didn't investigate in detail. they just had the department (the ones who caused the issue) reply to me directly. I even sent my evidence to the Ministry of Education. they didn't review it, just forwarded it to the school, and then sent me back the exact same excuse the school gave them like Post Office!! it seems like Taiwan's ministry of education mistakes this kind of negligence for "university autonomy."

and here is the craziest part... when I kept pushing for accountability, the school actually threatened me. they threw a formal phrase at me saying they had "collected evidence and reserve the right to pursue legal action" (已蒐證並保留法律追訴權).

you should know that Taiwan actually has criminal defamation laws even for stating the truth. so technically, your freedom of expression is heavily restricted. sure, you can argue "public interest" in court, but surprisingly, many institutions in Taiwan are known to use SLAPPs🙀 (strategic lawsuits against public participation) just to harass and bleed you out financially. Historically, there were many SLAPP cases in Taiwan! they know they might not win, but the process itself is the punishment. getting threatened with a lawsuit by a university just for pointing out their broken hiring process... it's completely unimaginable until it happens to you.

People here generally avoid getting involved in things that don't directly benefit them. it seems to be a cultural preference to avoid conflict and just sweep unfair situations under the rug. the weak aren't really protected. if you're a scholar coming from Europe or other developed democracies, the stress from this lack of transparency and basic procedural justice can be pretty exhausting.

I just wanted to put this out there so people know what to expect behind Taiwan's international democratic reputation. 🤮

hi! i am solo travelling to taipei in june and i'm planning on dining in at one of my favourite hotpot places called mala hotpot at ximending area, but i will be eating alone this time, i can't seem to book a table for one so i'm worried it will be crowded when i head over on a saturday. the free flow haagan daaz is what gets me going 😭😭 are there any other alternatives or can i drop them an email to do a special request? please kindly advise and help me out! thank you

My husband is Taiwanese-American, I am Korean-American. We are bringing our three older kids aged 20, 18 and 15. Would love to stay somewhere hip and trending for the kids, but also tourist-friendly. Is Ximending a good place for us to stay? I can't tell if it's young and cool or too Times Square-ish from reading about it. Also, if staying for a week, is hotel or Airbnb better? More luxury than budget, but want to feel good about what we paid for.

Hello Taiwanese friends,

We will be in the lovely country of Taiwan on June. What are your recommendations of:

1. Must eats (dining, street stalls, local hotspot)

2. Must see (amusements, parks, monuments, scenery)

3. Must have (souvenirs, keepsakes, clothing)

4. Must enjoy (arcades, casinos, theatre, orpheum)

Thank you all your love.

Hi everyone,

I recently visited Taipei and accidentally left my iPad in an Uber. The driver was incredibly honest and turned it over to the Sanmin Police Station in Songshan District, Taipei. Unfortunately, I had to fly back home to India before I could retrieve it.

I had filed a lost-item report on the Uber app, and within a day customer service told me that the driver had returned the item to Sanmin Police Station at No. 163-1, Sec. 5, Minsheng E. Rd., Songshan Dist., Taipei City 105. It’s not financially feasible for me to fly all the way back from India to Taipei to collect it in person.

What I need help with:

I am looking for a trusted local or an expat currently in Taipei who would be willing to act as my proxy.

I will provide you with a formally signed Letter of Authorization, a copy of my passport and the Uber tracking details to show the police. You would just need to go to the Sanmin station, show your ID and my paperwork, collect the iPad and drop it off at a local DHL or FedEx branch to ship to India.

I will completely pre-pay or fully reimburse the international shipping costs, and I am glad to pay you an amount of your choosing via PayPal or bank transfer for your time and effort.

Please DM me if you are able to help a stranded traveller out. Thank you so much!

So I'm visiting your lovely city, and while most of my experience has been good so far, I had trouble trying to figure out how to get an EasyCard, despite my seemingly extensive research into this card (I looked at various websites and youtube videos to get every single detail I could)

However, something that I did not see beforehand was that apparently the machines (or at least the machines I used at the metro stations) only accept 100 yuan notes, and also, unless I missed something obvious, these machines only accept transactions of 100 yuan at a time (i.e. if you want to top up more money, you have to do many separate transactions of 100 yuan at a time). Together with trying to withdraw 100 yuan notes from ATMs (which the ATMs did not carry) and finding stores to receive some change, I ended up spending lots of time trying to get an EasyCard

Is there something obvious I'm missing? How do locals top up EasyCard here? Am I using the wrong machines or something? Thanks

Hello! I am looking for a rental, preferably near Tamkang University since I will be having an internship there. Budget is around 4000-5000 NTD/month.

What happens when the most dangerous climb in the world suddenly becomes… fun?

In this behind-the-scenes podcast segment, producers reveal the moment Alex Honnold unexpectedly changed the entire dynamic of a live climbing broadcast.

The show had been meticulously planned with backup segments, demonstrations, and scripted pacing in case the climb slowed down. But once Honnold acknowledged the cheering crowd and started smiling, everything changed. Instead of fear and tension, the audience saw something completely different: Joy.

Do Taiwanese people like China?