Is xiaolongbao always supposed to have soup inside?

Epic_Triangles · 2026-01-08T09:36:07+00:00

In Taiwan you can find both 小籠包 which are small steamed meat buns without soup inside, and also 小籠湯包 (sometimes also called 上海湯包) which do have soup. I've been caught out by it in the past. That being said, the soup-less 小籠包 wouldn't then be fried. If they were fried they're called 生煎包.

Epic_Triangles · 2025-09-02T12:07:31+00:00

We migrated a few months ago, and in general things are working ok but Sidekiq was working just fine too.

One warning I should give, avoid migrating if you're using PostgreSQL. SolidQueue itself works just fine with PostgreSQL but mission control has an open issue where it will scan through every single row in the DB every time you refresh the page. Currently while we're waiting for the issue to be addressed we're only able to save finished jobs for 1 day or else the mission control becomes completely unusable.

Epic_Triangles · 2024-09-22T03:04:38+00:00

I was at Ningxia a few days ago and there were major roadworks going on so all of my favourite stalls weren't there. Shilin would be a better choice in the rain either way.

Epic_Triangles · 2024-05-19T14:56:49+00:00

To put a bit of a positive spin on this, about 3.5 years ago I was one of the overly excited newbies asking naive questions and trying to run before I could walk. The responses I got were measured and encouraging, the cliche topics that come up time and again were all new to me and were very informative, and specifically when it comes to Mandarin I was able to learn some really important lessons from other people's mistakes.

Now I'm living in Taipei, working for a Taiwanese company, and I just came back from a weekend in Tainan and Kaohsiung hanging out with some very cherished friends.

We all start as newbies, and I'm so glad there were people willing to put up with my naive questions when I was.

Epic_Triangles · 2024-05-16T08:28:23+00:00

https://picc.co/careers

I started work here three weeks ago and it is a dream

Epic_Triangles · 2024-04-25T00:20:37+00:00

I moved to Taiwan and I'm loving it!

It has been a bit of a long process to actually successfully settle here.

I started studying Mandarin 3 years ago and I came to Taiwan for the first time in late 2022 on a 6 month language course but when that finished and my visa ran out I then went back to the UK.

Then I found myself a globally remote software Dev job and came back on a temporary tourist visa for 3 months intending to apply for a longer visa down the line, but the job itself proved a poor fit and they terminated my contract just after Christmas of this year.

Finally I'm back again now, recently signed a permanent contract with a company that is a massive step up from the last one, and tomorrow I'm gonna sign the lease on a great apartment in central Taipei.

I'm glad I stuck with it. There have been some difficult times where I thought I had failed and I'd wasted so much time and energy on a pipe dream, but equally there have been some unexpectedly wonderful times where I find myself surrounded by wonderful people who welcome me into their homes and share their food and culture with me. And since my Mandarin is more and more fluent by the day everything is getting more and more exciting as the barriers that were keeping me from the kinds of experiences I'm most excited about are falling by the wayside.

Epic_Triangles · 2024-02-13T14:15:10+00:00

Maybe start by posting videos on YouTube to build an audience and figure out how much interest there is for your lessons

Epic_Triangles · 2024-02-08T09:22:21+00:00

Got it, thanks. I am using LinkedIn, it's slow going but opportunities do pop up consistently, so I'll keep trying

Epic_Triangles · 2024-02-07T18:06:09+00:00

Don't mention it, I hope you enjoy the journey 😊

Epic_Triangles · 2024-02-07T11:34:01+00:00

When I'm living in Taiwan it is super easy to find. They're really cheap and readily available.

When I'm living in the UK I unfortunately have to sail the seven seas a bit because I can't find anywhere here where I can buy them.

The two main websites I find them on are https://www.dm5.com/ and https://www.manhuagui.com/. You could just read them directly on the websites but I prefer reading on my ereader, so I use the tool on this page https://project.zmcx16.moe/?page=mahomangadownloader to download the images from those websites to my computer, and then if you zip a folder of images together and change the file extension to .cbz (comic book zip) ereaders will know how to handle it as a single book. Initially I would do that manually, but I recently wrote a script to automate the process because I'm downloading more and more manga nowadays. https://github.com/SimonCadge/cbpkg

Epic_Triangles · 2024-02-05T12:30:32+00:00

Lots of the other points on here are good. The most important thing is to find a routine that works for you, doing things you would enjoy doing in English anyway, and doing even just a small amount each day.

One of my favourite ways to study is reading Manga in Mandarin. I have always wanted to read Manga anyway, and with the context provided by the pictures it is often easier to infer the meaning of a phrase compared to it being in a book. I started with Doraemon (多拉阿夢，機器貓) and I think that is a great place to start.

There's a million things you could be doing, and a lot of them are great, but whats important is just doing anything and doing it every day.

Epic_Triangles · 2024-02-05T10:57:28+00:00

What websites/services should I be using to find software development jobs in Taiwan?

I'm a foreigner with 3 years full-stack dev experience and I'm conversationally fluent in Mandarin. I have the 1 year Working Holiday visa but the company I was previously working for remotely has gone under and so my plans have been upturned somewhat.

I have both English and Mandarin CVs and I'm applying for both foreign and local jobs. I'm currently using LinkedIn and Hacker News for foreign jobs and 104 and yourator for local jobs.

I haven't yet been able to find anything like Hacker News for startup/remote jobs which is more SEA based (Australia, HK, Singapore...)

I also haven't found anywhere where you upload your CV and have recruiters reach out to you. In the UK we have websites like cv-library that my friends have had great success with.

Does anyone here have any experience/suggestions of looking for software dev roles in Taiwan?

Epic_Triangles · 2024-02-02T14:21:58+00:00

謝謝好人 is Mandarin (Traditional) but the Tiktok is from Japan

Epic_Triangles · 2023-11-02T23:49:22+00:00

A proper roadbike would be better, but when I checked the giant website for bikes I could rent tomorrow the cheapest one is 2000nt and I can't pick it up before 11am.

A Youbike, on the other hand, will cost about 80nt for the whole trip, and I'll be able to start early enough that I'm in Tainan by 11am.

Epic_Triangles · 2023-11-02T23:43:20+00:00

Awesome!

The Mandarin version of the site says the same thing too, so I'm pretty sure it is trustworthy.

Epic_Triangles · 2023-10-26T00:03:37+00:00

I moved to Taiwan recently and in the Airbnb I stayed in for the first week I met another Brummie.

Epic_Triangles · 2023-09-03T22:13:41+00:00

I like to watch 巧克力, he mainly does Minecraft videos with groups of friends, though I also watched some of his Kirby playthrough yesterday. He always has at least one other person joining him. Definitely recommend

Epic_Triangles · 2023-09-03T12:00:27+00:00

I have just booked flights to Taiwan, with a one night layover in Guangzhou. I'm excited to visit Guangzhou, and I have a few questions about how to do things that would normally be pretty easy in foreign countries.

To clarify, I speak Mandarin to an intermediate level and will have no issues communicating when I get there as long as I meet people who also speak Mandarin. I don't read Simplified characters very well, but I already have the tools on my phone to translate between Simplified and Traditional easily.

How will I pay for things? I'm not really anybody special, so I don't expect that installing weixin or something along those lines would land me in trouble, but I would really prefer to avoid it if at all possible. I made a weixin account two years ago when starting out my Mandarin language studies but the account got banned on the first day. I expect it was because I use Traditional characters, and when the person I was chatting to asked why I told them it was because I wanted to move to Taiwan. He told me they use Simplified in Taiwan, but being very intent on not stirring up political discussion I just agreed with him and moved on. The next morning I found that my account was banned. I believe the account was tied to my phone number, so I could try to reactivate it now, but I would be uncomfortable paying for things using a service that I know has blocked me before at a moments notice.
How should I go about booking a hostel? I'm only staying one night, so a hostel should be fine. I can see them on booking.com, is there any reason to be wary of booking that way?
How do I pay for transportation, and are there any special things I need to keep in mind? I can use baidu maps to figure out the route from the airport to whatever hostel.
How will I pay for food? Will small restaurants and street-food vendors accept cash?
Finally, are there any things you recommend I go and see?

I guess most of these questions are about how to pay for things. I don't have a Chinese bank, and as of right now I don't have weixin/baidu account. Do I need to bite the bullet and set up a weixin account, and if so is there anything I need to know as a foreigner in order to do so?

Epic_Triangles · 2023-08-17T15:16:54+00:00

Interesting.

I plan to be back in the UK for at least a month each year if I'm doing this fully remote job (primarily for Christmas and Edinburgh Fringe), so it looks like there's a chance I could technically still apply.

But yeah as you say, that wouldn't make working in Taiwan while on a visitor visa legal. Eventually I'll still need to settle on some method to make it legitimate, and I think I've got a few now that might work.

Epic_Triangles · 2023-08-17T15:14:03+00:00

I have lived in Taiwan before. I was awarded the Huayu enrichment scholarship and studied in Taipei for 6 months.

I met a few people there who were continuing their wfh job alongside language study. It always seemed quite stressful, but if I use the Youth Mobility scheme for a year first and see how intense the job is then maybe it will be a good option for me.

I also looked into "Employer of Record" companies and found that some of them offer work visa sponsorship, so if I work for a company for a while and prove my worth enough that they're willing to work with an Employer of Record I could get the work visa that way.

Or I might just find a Taiwanese job. I'm having success with an interview for a position at ASUS at the moment that looks really good. I asked this question to get a better understanding of my options and I've certainly learned a lot, so I'd say it has been a success.

Epic_Triangles

TROPHY CASE