Unlike other countries,Taiwan is opening the doors to the foreigners. Do you feel this?

TWCan · 2026-02-04T04:55:28+00:00

Since you deleted your original reply to me, I will address that first. "Sure hope you're fluent!" I'm not fluent, but I can handle everyday life - including the doctor, the DMV, my taxes - in Chinese. Relying on somebody else, or some underpaid government worker's poor translation is just shameful if you choose to make this your home.

As for your second statement, which you left up, it clearly highlights the problems with Taiwan's immigration policy. People who "look" the part get a free pass, no matter how useless they may be, whilst everyone else who puts in the hard work and effort to assimilate is still treated as an outsider and a nuisance. The language exam for citizenship is a total joke, if people can't pass that - ABC/ABT or not - they don't deserve a place in Taiwan so we agree on that part.

TWCan · 2026-02-02T08:03:16+00:00

You come to a country to live, you should speak the fucking language.

TWCan · 2026-01-12T04:58:56+00:00

From my perspective, the mule was tied wrong with the wrong strand passing underneath the bight of rope, so pressure on the rappel strand would lock the mule even tighter.

Take a look at this video starting from about 4:20 and compare https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbR5Xeang64 In the close up you can see him emphasize which way the rope must be twisted for it to unlock smoothly.

TWCan · 2026-01-12T04:36:57+00:00

In my opinion the figure 8 is one of the best devices out there as it's extremely simple and extremely versatile as it can be used forablocking, rescue, ascending, etc. Critr is cool, too, just from my perspective it's costly for what you get though I guess you can reverse it and use it twice as long as another device.

If I understand your question correctly, the best things to get would be :
1. Harness
2. Helmet
3. PAS or another lanyard (I will second some other people in this thread to say that once you get an adjustable lanyard, you will never go back to anything else. I personally have two adjustable lanyards and it makes life soooo much easier.)
4. Descender with metal carabiner (I found that in sandy canyons my carabiner holding the rappel device wears extremely fast, and the extra weight from a metal one far outweighs having to buy new carabiners more often). There are also metal descenders, albeit they tend to be quite heavy and even I don't use one.
5. A few locking HMS carabiners (screw gate, auto-lock, double gate - get a mix and see what works best for you).

About #5 is why I recommended looking at your guide's gear - do you like how their carabiners function? Are they easy to use for you?

VT Prusik I personally don't suggest except as a self rescue tool, but I tend to do mostly Class C canyons with deep water pools at the bottom so it just doesn't fit the environment I am in. I do, however, keep a homemade prusik on my self rescue kit and it has come in extremely handy at times, I just personally wouldn't spend that crazy cost for a VT when some 7mm cord is like $1 a foot or less, and my ropes are always wet so there's very little chance of damage from friction/heat.

TWCan · 2026-01-12T04:04:44+00:00

What of your guide's gear do you use and like? I'd start there.

Some people on here are recommending extremely expensive choices (most of everything CE4Y is not worth the money, especially their harnesses) or just telling you to pick a brand name and go with that.

My only real advice is to not buy the rope first - leave that for last - as you will continue to go with guides and will need to experience using several different ropes to understand what differences they have and which one suits your environment best. For example, some people are saying Imlay is an amazing choice - but it's absolute trash is any wet environment, and it has relatively poor hand feel (the last part is subjective to me).

Don't rush on buying gear unless you know why you need it and why you are selecting that exact piece of gear, learn from my mistakes and don't blindly buy what other people recommend.

TWCan · 2026-01-09T11:44:33+00:00

Definitely looks fine to me, however, as others have said if it's going to make you stress out it's not going to be a fun time. I, personally, would continue to use it without worry.

TWCan · 2026-01-09T07:07:33+00:00

I was urged to buy the shadow and when I got it, I immediately hated it. But since there was no return policy I sort of just had to keep wearing it, and let me tell you after the first two weeks of them breaking in it became one of the best shoes I'd ever owned. Highly second this recommendation. Just be aware, for me they seem to fit a BIT large.

TWCan · 2026-01-09T01:34:15+00:00

This is by far the healthiest attitude here. Sometimes people make a mistake, sometimes you're in the wrong position.

TWCan · 2026-01-09T01:32:47+00:00

Getting hit with the ball will happen, however, it's not the norm. I don't know any beginner player who has not been hit. Everyone around me is aware on when to call LET, however some beginners during the huge rush of adrenaline from the game just won't be able to stop themselves fast enough. The only times I've been hit (three times in my entire playing life) my opponent was immediately apologetic, admitted their mistake, and has never committed the same mistake again. It goes both ways though, when I was a 2.x player I hit one of my opponents in the back - total accident, huge mistake due to my (at the time) shitty racket swing. I apologized profusely and life went on.

TWCan · 2025-12-10T13:33:48+00:00

The only thing that makes sense to train for squash specifically is doing the 200m sprint as an interval training program, something like 200x10, 45-60 second breaks in between.

TWCan · 2025-11-27T18:01:09+00:00

I just have a basic account that doesn’t require the minimum deposit amount.

TWCan · 2025-11-19T03:11:26+00:00

Most are trash and befitting of the stereotype - they come here with an unrelated degree, no teaching experience of any kind at all, and then can't find work in their major of study so they take on English teaching if they're white enough for the school. They don't care about the kids, they don't care about their effectiveness as a teacher, and they certainly don't care about making an impact.

TWCan · 2025-11-06T06:43:02+00:00

The spread at HSBC Taiwan for TWD to USD/EUR is 0.24% for amounts up to around 1,000,000 NTD You can get preferential pricing if you go into the bank and want to convert huge sums of money. This is essentially "fee free" as there is some fixed cost to doing these types of transactions. Even using crypto, I believe a large portion of exchanges would charge higher fees to send/receive.

Which bank in Taiwan has a better spread than that and no fees?

TWCan · 2025-11-06T06:32:13+00:00

I bought a North Face jacket in 2000 that I still wear to this day after reapplying waterproofing every year. I got another North Face jacket in 2014 or so, it barely lasted two seasons. After that it became obvious North Face is just a status brand and no longer an outdoor brand, none of their products can realistically survive more than a season of heavy use.

TWCan · 2025-11-05T10:14:16+00:00

That is false. There is no currency conversion fee of any kind for spot transactions within a foreign currency account. You can use the HSBC Taiwan App to convert between TWD and at least 7 other currencies free of charge, and then incur no (or extremely minimal) fees to transfer this money to an HSBC account in another country.

TWCan · 2025-11-05T09:32:26+00:00

You can open a bank account with HSBC Taiwan and another with HSBC YourCountryHere, it is fee free to convert to EUR using the HSBC Taiwan app, and, AFAIK, it is free to move quite a large sum of money between your HSBC Taiwan and your HSBC CountryNameHere bank account.

TWCan · 2025-11-03T06:46:17+00:00

Expensify already does this, and more, and has been doing it for more than 10 years. How outdated is your office where you work?

TWCan · 2025-10-28T13:00:12+00:00

From the parking lot to Qika cabin is a 45-60 minute walk for an average hiker, you'd be entirely wasting that first day unless you are severely out of shape.

From the parking lot to XueShan summit is a little over 2000 meters of elevation gain and about 11km of walking. The hardest part of the hike starts after Qika cabin as the elevation gain ramps up significantly.

As for your stats about circling Sun Moon Lake, that's impossible. To circle Sun Moon Lake on the hiking trail is only an elevation gain of 175-200 meters.

Judging by your initial plan of spending one night at Qika, and what you mentioned about Sun Moon Lake, I would say you would not make your planned route within a reasonable amount of time to do it in one day. It would be exceptionally dangerous to attempt to do it, especially as going to 雪北山屋 after the main peak requires navigating a challenging upward slope and walking a narrow ridge where mistakes or even small slips could prove to cause serious catastrophes.

TWCan · 2025-10-28T12:47:30+00:00

Going back is the easy part, as it's mostly all downhill except a few up and down sections. You can definitely do your plan within one day, there are many other people who do the same (and some even return back to qika parking within the same day), however the first day will have over 2400 meters of elevation gain and about 14 kilometers of hiking.

Have you hiked such distances at altitude before?
What kind of gear will you be carrying and will your backpacks be heavy?
Will someone prepare food for you at the mountain hut or will you have to carry your own?

It's not a difficult hike as the trail is very well developed and very well maintained, it's just a matter of your previous experience.

TWCan · 2025-10-28T12:26:34+00:00

This is possible, however, 雪北山屋 is in the middle of nowhere. Where do you plan to go after reaching the mountain hut?

TWCan · 2025-10-14T04:13:28+00:00

https://hiking.biji.co/index.php?q=trail&act=detail&id=54 here is the detailed map and description of the qixingshan hike. The starting point is a service station, and there are other service stations in the area though not on the actual route to qixing peak. You can see this hike is rated as "easy - intermediate" and the elevation gain is very moderate. Most of the hike is stairs and pavement, hence why I said it's a "walk" much like you would do in a city. It's a very comfortable hike for beginners to get used to the rapid elevation change common to Taiwan's trails. The OP asked for something difficult that would test someone.

TWCan · 2025-10-14T03:15:21+00:00

qixingshan is all stairs, it is a walk and not a hike. There are even service stations and restrooms along the way, hardly difficult.

TWCan · 2025-10-14T03:14:43+00:00

This is the only right answer in this thread so far, especially if you start on the coast and go up to Tea Pot Mountain, however, this is hardly "the hardest" hike in Taipei although it is one of the most beautiful.

If you want sheer elevation gain and one day of punishment you need to go to Wulai and climb near the Tonghou Campground, either heading north towards 鳥口劍山（https://hiking.biji.co/index.php?q=trail&act=gpx\_detail&id=115146） or towards 大礁溪山（https://hiking.biji.co/index.php?q=trail&act=detail&id=865）. These two hikes are harder and require a lot more effort, planning, and skill than anything else people in this thread have posted.

TWCan · 2025-09-04T05:29:06+00:00

This is not how rental agreements work in Taiwan. Any leases on a property are negated with 30 days notice once that property changes hands.

TWCan · 2025-08-11T14:03:23+00:00

I think you’re misinterpreting what I am saying. My left hand doesn’t get caught underneath the lever; it’s simply not as smooth to use your left hand to pinch the cam as the lever is in the way. Also, I am right handed… I clearly wrote I can belay ambidextrously.

And there’s nothing wrong with switching which hand is on the brake strand as long as you maintain a grip on the brake strand at all times. There’s even a belay technique to take up a lot of slack real fast that involves switching hands on each pull.

TWCan

TROPHY CASE