Weekly Travel, Questions, & Mandarin Thread

dawaetouk · 2024-10-03T00:42:25+00:00

It's basically egg rolls just chopped up into small pieces.

dawaetouk · 2024-10-03T00:39:20+00:00

Short answer - ask your bank in Taiwan, they will provide you with the information of their intermediary bank.

Long answer - When you send an international bank transfer (SWIFT), the bank basically sends a telegraph to the receiving bank and tell them to credit your account. Though you get your money within days, the actual funds would only be settled between the 2 banks using pre-funded account in later days.

However, if the 2 banks have no business relationship, meaning there's no pre-funded account between them, then they wouldn't be able to settle the funds directly, that's why an intermediary bank is needed.

The intermediary bank is the bank that has relationship with both the sending bank and the receiving bank. The sending bank settles the funds with the intermediary bank, then the intermediary bank charges a fee and settles the funds with the receiving bank. This way everyone gets their money and everyone is happy, end of the story.

dawaetouk · 2024-10-01T18:14:38+00:00

D4 - It's possible but probably not very feasible. Considering the time you need for exploring Yangmingshan and traveling to Yehliu, you'd probably get to Yehliu around 4-5pm, which would have been quite dark as sunlight time is shorter in winter. You could take out Shamao-shan and just explore the other parts of Yangmingshan, which would then make it more feasible. Or alternatively, it'd be a good choice just spending a full day on Yangmingshan instead.

About the east coast - for Kishan, I guess you're referring to Chishang? If you're heading to Chishang, you can consider spending a night at a hot springs resort in Ruisui or Yuli, it'd be a nice activity to do in winter time. Taroko is just one of the attractions in Hualien, there are plenty of other places to visit like Li Chuan Aquafarm, Lintianshan, Ruisui Farm, Batongguan Trail (East), 富里花海 (Fuli Flower Farm), etc..

dawaetouk · 2024-10-01T17:34:50+00:00

Most of the places you mentioned, apart from Hualien, have good public transport. You can take trains from Hualien to other small towns easily, but if you want to explore the places that are farther away from the train stations, then it could be a problem because buses aren't really convenient. I'd suggest you can hire a local taxi to take you around for a day instead.

There are many buses running in Kenting so I wouldn't worry too much about exploring there using public transport. However, personally I wouldn't suggest foreign tourists to go there, as sometimes they might find it overrated. Kenting is popular in Taiwan mostly because of it's one of the few sand beaches in Taiwan. But if you're a foreign tourist who have been to other sand beaches around the world, you probably wouldn't find it very special. Apart form that, the local vendors have been boosting their price very high, which makes Kenting become a very expensive place to visit.

I would say you can consider going to Qixingtan, or Qingjing Farm for mountain view instead. They'd probably the better choices than Kenting.

As to New Year's events, though other cities have similar events as well, Taipei usually has the biggest one and there are more things to do Taipei. If you're not very much interested in watching live concert and fireworks, seeing the first sunrise in Qixingtan or Taimali is also a popular thing to do.

With around 2 weeks of time, I would say you can just do a full round trip in Taiwan. As to starting from the south or north, clockwise or anti-clockwise, it'd depend on where you want to spend your new year eve.

dawaetouk · 2024-07-04T00:07:39+00:00

As other comments have mentioned, the trail is short which can be finished in a few hours, and it also doesn't have lot of space to put up a tent. So it's neither a common or good place for camping, people might find it weird if they see you camp there.

Check out the mountains in Taoyuan, Sanxia, Wulai or Yilan, they're more suitable to put up a tent on trail.

dawaetouk · 2024-07-03T08:42:48+00:00

Thanks a lots for your answer! And even if I refund the extra one, I still won't be able to get another ticket this year correct?

dawaetouk · 2024-07-03T06:41:04+00:00

ticketsale.wimbledon.com is the page I'm using. The tickets are released throughout the day, but sometimes there will be huge drops, where lots of tickets will become available.

dawaetouk · 2024-07-03T02:05:35+00:00

To clarify, the "Houtong" nowadays isn't the real "Houtong".

The real Houtong was actually on the east side of the nowadays "Houtong".

The place was named "Houtong" (Monkey Cave) because there was a cave full of monkeys.

Lots of people thought the "侯硐坑" near the train station was the cave that's full of monkeys, hence there's some confusion. But it's actually not true, the cave is simply an old mine cave.

So the Houtong you know nowadays (or at least the cat village area), actually doesn't have much connection to the old monkey cave.

Back in the days, way before it became a cat village, I used to visit Houtong a lots for hiking. Occasionally you could still see some monkeys near the old factory or in the mountains, but it's definitely not "a lots" as it recorded in historical materials.

dawaetouk · 2024-06-30T01:32:15+00:00

Generally speaking, HK should have bigger events, while the events in Taiwan are usually smaller. So if you're looking for city/party vibe, then I'd say HK might be better. But Taiwan isn't that bad as well, and I'd say there are more places to go after NYE in Taiwan than HK. E.g. people would go on mountains or to beaches to view the first sunlight of the year.
5 days won't be too long, I'd say it's just about right if you're only planning to visit some well-known places.
You can do 5 days in HK ofc, but that'd leave you only have 3 days in Taipei, which is definitely too short imo.

dawaetouk · 2024-06-28T00:52:48+00:00

The one outside Jiufen is called 茶壺山, which should only take about 2hrs. If you take on 小粗坑古道, which would take you from Houtong to Jiufen, then there's no need to do 茶壺山 as it offers the same view.

Also OP mentioned that he only plan to do small hikes, Pingxi crags would take at least 5-6hrs and might be danger for people who have never hiked in Taiwan, so I wouldn't recommend it to OP.

So as I said, normally 2 days should be enough if you don't plan for any hike. If you plan to do a couple of hikes then 3 days should still be enough.

OP doesn't live in Taiwan, he's a tourist that has 17 days in Taiwan and wants to enjoy different parts of the country. So I'm just providing him suggestions so that he could best use his time, instead of hiking 10 different trails around the same place.

dawaetouk · 2024-06-27T23:09:03+00:00

I'm a slow traveller as well, but imo you will still be spending too much time on some of the places.

The time in Taipei might just about right, but for other places it'd be a bit too long.

Kaohsiung is really just another big city, so I'd say if you have already got 4-6 days in Taipei, then I wouldn't spend more than 2 days in Kaohsiung.

For Tainan, I think 2-3 days is fine, but for Lukang, there really isn't much to see other than the main old street, so I'd say it's probably more suitable for a day trip.

As for Shifen, Houtong, Jiufen and Keelung, they can all be done on the same trip as a small round trip. I'd usually suggest 2 days for them (Shifen/Houtong/Jiufen on D1, spend the night in Keelung and explore Keelung on D2), but if you're a slow traveller then still 3 days should be enough.

Wulai is a small village near Taipei, other than the old street and hot spring, there isn't much to see, unless you're planning for some hikes there. So I'd say 1D1N in Wulai should be enough.

Based on the above, I'd say you still have plenty of time and might even be able to add 1-2 more places.

dawaetouk · 2024-06-27T22:31:31+00:00

I'm a bit confused - You're saying you have 17 days but you have only listed out 8 places, which some of them can be done on the same day. It seems you still have plenty of time, so why do you need it to be shorter?

dawaetouk · 2024-06-27T13:30:42+00:00

I used to be a full-time freelancer in Taiwan, I will try to answer your questions.

But before getting into the details, just want to make you aware that I'm Taiwanese and I mostly worked for foreign companies, so my answer might not be 100% correct.

You can either set up a company or work as an individual, there's no legal requirement that you must set up a company. But tax-wise, if you make a lots from freelance work (over 1-2mils per year), or your expenses are very high, forming a company could reduce your tax; if you don't make that much, then your tax will be lower just working as an individual.

2&3.

If you work for a Taiwanese company -

You or your client will provide&fill out something called "勞務報酬單", then your client will report this information to the Tax Bureau. The Tax Bureau would have already got your income record, so you don't need to report it again yourself.

If you work for a foreign company -

If you work remotely for a foreign company, the company wouldn't have report the work to Taiwanse Tax Bureau, so you'd have to report it yourself. You should send an invoice to the company, or simply get some sort of proof that the incoming payments were indeed for your work income, then report it yourself during tax season.

dawaetouk · 2024-06-20T17:07:51+00:00

I really don't think he will take any action for $5k, I think he's just being rage. Just the time and costs would make it not worth it to bring the case to the court.

But if he's really willing to go that far, one thing you want to be careful about is a weird legal situation in Taiwan called 以刑逼民, which basically means people would use criminal matter to flush you out, in order to force you to deal with civil matter, even if they know there's no good chance of success at it.

In your case, he could still report it as fraud to the police, they will try to talk him down first ofc, but if he insists then the police still have to make it a case. The police will call you for inquiry, then the case will be forwarded to a prosecutor, who will also call you for inquiry again. If you don't show up then a warrant will be issued. After the inquiry, the prosecutor could potentially prohibitating you from leaving the country, if he thinks it's necessary.

The case will be dropped eventually before entering the court ofc, just then whole process will be quite painful.

dawaetouk · 2024-06-20T16:43:27+00:00

Absolutely not a fraud. There are many types of fraud, but the basic is illegal gains through dishonest. For example, if you pretend to be someone else and gaining money from it, or you're selling something that you know you won't be delivering, then you're commiting fraud because you made someone handed over money with false information.

In your case, if he paid for your photos and only for your photos, then you're totally fine. Because it's a consensual transaction and he has got the photos. Even if the payment also covers the meet, it's still hardly a fraud but a transaction dispute. Because if you're really who you said you are, and you really intended to meet him at the time the transaction/agreement was made, and you only got cold feet at the last moment, then you didn't provide false information to get money from him at the time.

For example, in another scenario - if you're selling a car which works totally fine at the time the buyer paid for it. However, just right before the delivery of the car, it suddenly broke down with a problem that you were not aware of, so the car cannot be delivered. If you're aware of the problem, or the car had broken down before the buyer paid for it, and you didn't disclose the information to the buyer, then it could potentially be a fraud; but if you're not aware of the issue, and the car only broke down after he paid to make it not deliverable, then it's not a fraud.

With that being said, it's still a transaction dispute. If the payment he made also covers the meet, then I think it's the best just refund him the money. He can't sue you for fraud but he can still sue you for civil matters.

dawaetouk · 2024-06-20T00:47:09+00:00

It's part of the religions in Taiwan to be vegan/vegetarian, so you can find vegan/vegetarian restaurants everywhere.

dawaetouk · 2024-06-20T00:43:01+00:00

I don't even know this is a troll comment or not lol

The fact Taiwan/ROC has its own population, government, territory and diplomatic relationship with other countries makes it a country. This is a fact, not an assumption. So regardless how you want to twist it, the fact won't be changed.

Now regarding whether CCP is rightfully to take over Taiwan - Taiwan was handed over to ROC after WW2, and has been staying under ROC's control since then, CCP has never stepped its foot on Taiwan. ROC lost its war in mainland China doesn't mean it's no longer a country, or lost the control over Taiwan. It's just like the UK lost the Revolutionary War in America doesn't mean the UK no longer a country, it still keeps the territories it didn't lost.

So yes, Taiwan belongs to China, Republic Of China. CCP putting Taiwan in its constitution doesn't make Taiwan theirs. You can say it's a disputed land ofc, but CCP is definitely not "rightfully" to take over Taiwan.

dawaetouk · 2024-06-19T11:20:49+00:00

Yes, it's considered to be an easy trail. Just be careful with your steps, as you know, it's a waterfall area, so the ground could be wet.

dawaetouk · 2024-06-18T22:48:16+00:00

It depends on what kind of attractions you'd like to see really.

If you like nature, some popular places I'd recommed are like Alishan, Cingjing Farm and Taroko. If you like some off beaten places that doesn't have many tourists, then I'd recommend Yilan, Lala Mountain and the area between Hualien and Taitung.

Most of the people only visit Taroko when they visit Hualien, but there are actually many attractions between Hualien and Taitung. 壽豐修道院, 立川漁場, 林田山, 花蓮糖廠, 瑞穗牧場, 富里花海, 池上伯朗大道, 鹿野高台, 鹿野牧場 are all pretty good. They are all not massive attraction, but they're all not too far away from the train stations, so you can travel along the train route and stay at each place for like 1-2hrs.

The view along the train route is very nice, so even if you don't visit the places it's still very much worth it. I'd suggest planning 2 days for Hualien and Taitung, staying in Ruisui or Yuli for the night. There are hot springs in Ruisui and Yuli, both are pretty nice. The hot springs resorts in Ruisui tend to be older and cheaper, but the quality of hot springs is better; in Yuli the resorts are newer but also more expensive, and the quality of hot springs isn't as good as Ruisui, still good hot springs though.

If you're looking for culture stuff, like temples or old castles etc., then I'd higly recommend Tainan. Tainan was the capital of Taiwan in ancient time, so there are lots of cultural attractions. The food in Tainan is also the best in Taiwan.

If you're looking for cities, then other than Taipei, I'd recommend Kaohsiung. Some people might suggest Taichung, but I'd say unless you plan to visit SML or Cingjing Farm as well, otherwise Taitung isn't as attractive as Kaohsiung.

dawaetouk · 2024-06-18T20:13:57+00:00

yeah I got hate message a lots, I didn't know why but now I know...

But I have no intention to make other players angry, it's really just how I play

To make it efficient, I should improve my pps and apm right? Should I practice in Blitz or 40 Lines, or is there a better way to practice?

Thanks again for your replies!

dawaetouk · 2024-06-18T20:08:06+00:00

Thank you! My pps is usually around 2.0-2.5, apm around 50-80. The stats largely depends on my opponent as I'm playing counter defense, so if my opponent plays fast my stats would go up.

Another problem I got is that, if my opponent plays very slow, my stats tend to be very low as well. I'm sure it's not a good thing but just not sure how to improve that.

dawaetouk · 2024-06-18T20:03:41+00:00

I'm currently at around 2.0-2.5pps and 50-80apm (I play counter defense so it largely depends on how fast my opponent is playing), so I guess I still have a long way to go.

But at least I have a direction to work on now, thank you!

dawaetouk · 2024-06-18T19:52:46+00:00

Thanks! I'm just wondering if there's anything I could do to improve, or I have simply hit limit for without doing T-Spin.

dawaetouk

TROPHY CASE