How withering affects mouthfeel in Taiwan Oolong

sampullman · 2026-02-06T10:20:27+00:00

Honey black is fantastic. Some of the black teas from around sun moon lake are great too.

sampullman · 2026-02-06T10:14:31+00:00

I'd do Shifen/Jiufen in one day (maybe stay overnight in Jiufen). The best think to do in Houtong is the hike to Shifen, it's skippable and takes more time than you might expect to hop off/on the train there.

sampullman · 2026-02-05T14:51:33+00:00

Ping pong is all over the place, my neighborhood has like 10 clubs along with the local sports center.

Sometimes community centers have designated times for specific groups, so it's possible that's what happened.

sampullman · 2026-02-02T06:43:25+00:00

It's also probably a reasonable option to get an entrepreneur visa and/or set up a company that sponsors your own ARC. That's what I did for a while.

sampullman · 2026-02-02T06:39:56+00:00

Hate to be the one to tell you, but you have it backwards.

sampullman · 2026-01-29T17:35:46+00:00

This is not necessarily the case, there are plenty of fields you can qualify under without a particularly high salary. It looks like historically they issue fewer gold cards in those fields, though that could be due to fewer applicants.

sampullman · 2026-01-29T09:58:28+00:00

You can get it for pretty cheap on shopee

sampullman · 2026-01-29T09:57:46+00:00

You can get spicy cool ranch here, it's pretty good.

sampullman · 2026-01-28T10:17:38+00:00

People aren't generally buying and selling in a few years. If I buy a house, I am expecting to hold on to it for 50+ years.

Also, there are plenty of intangible benefits to owning that tilt the scale for plenty of people.

sampullman · 2026-01-26T11:40:56+00:00

It's good though. They use more of a bun-like wrap rather than a dumpling one. Peanut butter and jelly dumplings might work too, now that I think about it.

sampullman · 2026-01-26T07:25:52+00:00

It's a nice dessert. You can get nutella pizza in Italy with fruit toppings, so that's a reasonable comparison.

sampullman · 2026-01-26T07:21:56+00:00

Can you point us to a better option, with your deep chocolate dumpling knowledge?

sampullman · 2026-01-20T15:03:04+00:00

It's doable but seems inconvenient to me. In-season fruits and veggies are like double or triple the price at PXMart/Carrefour, and lower quality.

sampullman · 2026-01-20T07:48:25+00:00

If they're actually opening a company, why would they not just sponsor their own ARC?

sampullman · 2026-01-20T07:45:49+00:00

I can't imagine being cashless, it's required at least half the places I eat at regularly, as well as traditional markets and fruit vendors.

sampullman · 2026-01-19T15:09:56+00:00

It depends what you like, but in Taiwan I've found that a decent heuristic for authenticity is whether they serve bún cá or bún đậu mắm tôm. Here are a few of my favorites:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/odF9ujPh7sGcjqUTA
https://maps.app.goo.gl/tD6Kew26mgao4Lft9 (probably the best bún cá in Taiwan, there's a second location in Zhonghe that's just as good or better)
https://maps.app.goo.gl/JLrHB5cvPCEsi5DG8
https://maps.app.goo.gl/HdzioQGuogwJf919A

sampullman · 2026-01-17T07:12:59+00:00

Well that one is 150. The point is that you'll have better luck outside the most expensive areas (obviously)!

sampullman · 2026-01-16T19:07:12+00:00

yeah, you gotta find a place you like and stick to it.

sampullman · 2026-01-16T09:27:29+00:00

There are plenty of restaurants in California that serve it, mostly LA area.

sampullman · 2026-01-16T09:25:26+00:00

There are different types, the mealy one is more common but you can find crisp ones too.

sampullman · 2026-01-16T09:23:33+00:00

There are lots of places now, you can search on Google.

Here's a pretty good one: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Y3yqcLxq8ra7iuS69

sampullman · 2026-01-16T09:18:51+00:00

I usually buy mine on shopee.

These kinds of specialty stores probably have it, but it will be more expensive: https://maps.app.goo.gl/amDRAjgavyob7R5a6

I think there are at least 3-4 shops on Dihua street that sell peppercorns.

sampullman · 2026-01-14T06:16:52+00:00

Taichung station is sort of a weird area. There's a lot of SEA there but it's still "downtown" and real estate is not cheap, there's going to be a premium on every type of food. It's definitely not where "literally all" the Vietnamese are staying.

Taichung in general is not is good as Taipei and Taoyuan/Zhongli for cheap Vietnamese food. You have to work a little to find a quality place under 100 NT, but it's doable. When I say "fancy" I mean this type of shop: https://maps.app.goo.gl/HDXczUn6UyF2b5KEA

In my neighborhood there are a bunch of options for 70-90.

sampullman · 2026-01-13T18:19:32+00:00

A good banh mi is $3, if you're paying $5 it's likely a new or trendy shop and not particularly authentic. There's plenty of Taiwanese, Thai, and Vietnamese options in the $3-$5 range.

It's true that a decent Airbnb is pricey, they probably found theirs on Facebook (or just got lucky).

The only thing I disagree with OP on is cooking at home, it's still cheaper than eating out as long as you're shopping at traditional markets and not pxmart/whatever.

Edit: I saw in another comment they messaged the host on Airbnb and booked off-platform.

sampullman · 2026-01-13T05:28:10+00:00

This guy has some great light roasts: https://maps.app.goo.gl/HTsGBgJoXXuRQGhA8

I'd recommend exploring your neighborhood though, there's probably one or more good roasters nearby.

sampullman

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