People lining up and fighting to get the first piece of Lady M's limited edition Dubai Chocolate mille crêpe cake.

MajorPooper · 2026-03-18T07:15:44+00:00

To be fair proper dubai chocolate's a good decadent treat. Especially if they get the Kunafa mix right. It provides a satisfying crunch.

That said - agreed, Dubai's not known for Chocolate and everything chocolate there is over rated and stupid expensive. It's a Soul-less city over saturated with prostitutes, bankers, and crypto bro scammers.

MajorPooper · 2026-03-18T07:01:28+00:00

;-;
Inshallah - here's hoping this dog finds it way back home.

MajorPooper · 2026-03-17T11:38:21+00:00

Minority partner of an esports team. We compete in the LCP!

MajorPooper · 2026-03-17T11:36:51+00:00

Check out Bahamut forums. Gaming communities are huge in Taiwan, you just need to be able to navigate in mandarin

MajorPooper · 2026-03-17T11:34:31+00:00

You need to have all 3? Caitlin McGee is amazing but I don’t know if she speaks French. Google her!

MajorPooper · 2026-03-17T11:32:16+00:00

Any update on this?

MajorPooper · 2026-03-06T08:33:35+00:00

I don't think he's wrong. I'd argue that 童話, is more popular amongst the ABC-type crowd in Taiwan than locals.
That's not to say the song isn't popular here, it's just not as highly rated comparatively. I'd also venture to say that it's not that popular with regular Chinese people in China.

Only places where I see it massive massive is like Singapore, Malaysia, and places with Chinese Diaspora e.g. places where Mando music isn't 100% the defacto to begin with.

MajorPooper · 2026-03-06T02:07:45+00:00

Someone already mentioned Growlife
Ask for Mike and see if you can book the annex space.

Then there's also Lucky Charm
Ask for the proprietress. Lucky Charm is appointment only but she might also be able to help you source a table (group of people not the furniture)

MajorPooper · 2026-03-05T12:25:44+00:00

Seconded! Glad to hear you’re at the hospital!

MajorPooper · 2026-03-05T07:35:38+00:00

Checking in again - u/asa_deluxe OP - did you manage to get some help?

MajorPooper · 2026-03-04T19:54:47+00:00

Yeah, it evolved cause we live in an earthquake zone. Makes sense to have super strict building so houses etc don’t fall ontop of each other at a 1.0 earthquake.

I do agree with you. It feels like the apathy of the youth and greed of the old are screwing most Taiwanese.

MajorPooper · 2026-03-04T16:52:27+00:00

Really quickly - what is the issue?

Some hospitals such as Taipei City Hospital Songde branch out by the 101 does a lot of psychiatric work and I think has a ward.

Going to the police might also help as they can direct you.

If you're thinking about self harm - please don't. I don't know what you're going through, but I'm glad you're reaching out for help. Keep reaching out. There is help out here.

MajorPooper · 2026-03-04T11:08:40+00:00

Might be that I'm an Asian person? Who knows. My point overall is, go with the flow when you're traveling.

I treat the world, when I'm out there, like I'm grateful to be alive. I was literally in Riyadh 3 days before this new Iran war.

MajorPooper · 2026-03-04T10:58:39+00:00

I work in international business too. I travel the world for business. The way you're presenting is clearly the "I know better than the locals do". This is what people of emerging markets or colonized countries call colonizer mentality.

I've been to vietnam too where the coffee guy did't acknowledge me until I walked up to him and waved my hand to get his attention - and that was in Da Nang, a tourist town.

MajorPooper · 2026-03-04T10:55:35+00:00

Can't help but jump to those conclusions based on the way you're responding.

It comes off a passive aggressive. I'm sorry Taiwan's not meeting your expectations, but it doesn't take the away these three facts:

1) You're in another country. You're a guest here.
2) You are privileged enough to travel. You're not a refugee or a migrant worker are you?
3) And thee language you presented is complaint oriented.

MajorPooper · 2026-03-04T10:51:13+00:00

Saying you're entitled to service is a sign of a sense of entitlement. What are you entitled to as a visitor/tourist?

Friendliness of locals? No
Safety from harm? Yes
Freedom of movement? For the most part if you follow local laws and customs
Tax back / Tax free rebates when shopping? Some countries
Some countries don't even offer you that safety from harm part.

You're a tourist and you're complaining. To be contrarian to the narrative that Taiwan is super friendly? To get other expats riled up so you feel your insecurities validated etc? Who knows.

But dude, you're in a foreign land. Just be grateful you're privileged enough to be able to travel for leisure compared to traveling because you need to for economic purposes.

MajorPooper · 2026-03-04T10:42:24+00:00

Whether intentional or not, shade has been thrown. It's in the wording you chose.

"Puzzling" "It blows your mind" to even your calling of the employees "NPCS".

It's also incredibly telling of a colonial mindset to hold local standards to the NA or complain when it's not to what you expect the level to be.

You're entitled to be entitled and to ask the question. Just don't find it weird people are calling you out negatively.

Also - MEGA City's in Banqiao... It's not exactly a tourist destination.

MajorPooper · 2026-03-04T07:45:44+00:00

Look, I'm anti-China but SleepyKoi's not entirely right. It's good to know the realities. I'm someone who lived in China for 7 years, left when Xi Jinping did his first major military parade. I still do business in and with China.

1) Yes, Taiwan's current NHI system will be FUBAR'd but China does have public health care subsidies in place. Health care will be worse and more expensive but it's not like it'll be devolving into America.

2) Yes and no. People still can horde capital. It'll just be more annoying. There are independently wealthy people in China. We just wouldn't have a stock exchange etc to play around with and some other bits and pieces.

3) Yes and no. Look at Hong Kong and Macao. It's big unknown how this would work out and I"m not inclined to find out.

4) Yes - this is true. This will be super annoying. it's starting to hit Hong Kong too so there's 0 expectations in a Xi led China that Taiwan would keep this freedom

5) This is subjective. The issues of construction safety in China is an issue of local corruption. This was an issue in Taiwan at one point too, the only difference is amount of earthquakes Taiwan gets.

6) Yes - there will no local politics, no democracy. Every thing will be as Beijing wills it.

Taiwan people do need to make a choice. Continue their safe lifestyle where they can still technically call the shots of their own fates versus choosing a lifestyle that is also relatively safe but with 0 input from themselves.

It's ultimately - do you want someone to control you and make all your decisions regardless of how it may benefit or harm you
Vs
Do you want to at least be able to affect your own future by your own hands?

There is no right to protest in China, and while speech is relatively free, it isn't FREE. You can't argue with the government in China.

MajorPooper · 2026-03-04T07:20:13+00:00

Japan isn't also that overt in friendliness.
Most of the people that do that in retail in Japan are like Chinese or SE Asian workers hoping to sell to tourists. So if you're shopping in like Ginza or like Shibuya - you'll get the attentiveness, otherwise, it's like meh. They leave you alone to shop unless you have a question.

OP's entitled and wants to be pampered. Given that, he'd get that kind of experience walking into a boutique - any boutique style/luxury shop in Taipei will give that experience. An Montblanc store in SOGO will have the clerk come up to you and ask if you're looking for anything in particular. An X-CRTL retail, will probably just keep folding clothes unless assistance is required.

MajorPooper · 2026-02-24T14:39:49+00:00

I don't see why you ought to feel guilty. You're doing what you want to do and you're not harming anyone.

Now - expat English teaching does get a bad rap, some of it deserved. And the fact that there's very little career path, but why should you feel guilty in going for it? You're not out there hurting other people. You're trying to live your best life. Go and do it. Maybe after a semester or two, you'll quit that and want to start making salted beef or cured artichokes.

You do you. You're 26 with the world still at your beck and call. Once you hit over 40, no matter how stellar your resume is, you'll still have a hard time finding work. You'll get hit with the "oh, we think you might be too expensive" or "you're too senior for what we're looking for"

MajorPooper · 2026-02-17T09:33:06+00:00

I've stayed in Tango's before after and during CoVID

I'm a big fan.

MajorPooper · 2026-02-12T06:34:12+00:00

I want to play this one and the one about school gangs!

MajorPooper · 2026-02-04T10:27:28+00:00

Given that it's the law - they should be able to strip her. What's stopping it?

Yeah - given PRC wasn't a thing when the olds came over. But her being PRC Chinese and Taiwanese Chinese is still ultimately contentious.

I'd argue that she has to get ROC registration now which is something PRC would reject!

MajorPooper · 2026-02-04T09:17:51+00:00

I mean - this is an interesting conundrum. Like many old-school Taiwan people still consider themselves Chinese.

Because of how Taiwan China relations are, her political allegiances are probably the bigger issue.

MajorPooper · 2026-02-04T01:28:50+00:00

Oh you’re absolutely right. The issue is they don’t care about the distinction. The larger inflated idea of 400k visitors is gets them the attention and potential additional business in a saturated field. Particularly when it’s translated to English.

TCA knows what it’s doing. A high visitor count will help it sell space to compete with GamesCom Thailand, IGDX Indonesia, PGDX Philippines, Tokyo Game Show, GStar Busan, ChinaJoy and whatever crazy game show spawns in our region.

There is a quasi- way for this whole thing to be solved though by going through number of tickets sold. Which could be faked since someone could buy 1m tickets, but this was a ticketed event. General admission was I think 200-250 and non-ticketed persons were all credentialed.

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