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Spanish Matlock posted:I know of a place that meets most of those requirements, but rather than serve girly drinks (i.e. cocktails without the ingredients in the name) they serve straight whisky. Proceed.
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Sep 21, 2012 09:07
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Spanish Matlock posted:I know of a place that meets most of those requirements, but rather than serve girly drinks (i.e. cocktails without the ingredients in the name) they serve straight whisky. Oh do tell.... And I take offense to having my Rusty Nail or Godfather referred to as a girl drink and hereby invite you to drink with me if you can find me such a place as described.
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Sep 21, 2012 11:33
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I like girly drinks because they taste good. I really like those mo-jittos or whatcha call dem things.
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Sep 21, 2012 11:37
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dtb posted:Looking for a good bar/lounge: There's a place that looks just like this only a short walk south of Technology Building Station on the Brown Line, in the middle of the city. Despite living near to the place for almost three years I still haven't bothered going in, most because I keep forgetting that it's there. If I pass by there later tonight, I'll make a note of the name and exact address.
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Sep 21, 2012 12:29
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Rusty Nail isn't so much a "girly" drink as it is a "grandma" drink. I also want to know the name of this pub, because I've been dying to find a watering hole that isn't a oonts-oonts club or tiny dive bar since I got here.
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Sep 21, 2012 14:41
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There was something like that in Taichung before they shut all the bars down...  .
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Sep 22, 2012 00:52
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duckfarts posted:I like girly drinks because they taste good. I really like those mo-jittos or whatcha call dem things. Hemingway drank mojitos, therefore they are the exact opposite of girly. 
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Sep 22, 2012 03:34
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Spanish Matlock posted:I know of a place that meets most of those requirements, but rather than serve girly drinks (i.e. cocktails without the ingredients in the name) they serve straight whisky. Interest piqued. Haraksha posted:Go on. My dumbass is all hunky-dory, work is making me earn my money (how dare they) which is why I've been been off the radar. Chinese is progressing, I think I"m gonna take the entry level test in November, I doubt I'll pass, but I just wanna go through the process. Are you guys registering so you can vote back in the US? I forget the process but I thought there was a thing where you turn up at the AIT and vote, or some postal ballot thing.
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Sep 22, 2012 04:10
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I have a mail in ballot and it's loving crucial for me to vote in Minnesota. It'll probably vote Obama as usual, but there are a couple of constitutional amendments on the ballot that need to be shot the gently caress down.url posted:Chinese 6 hours of conversation a week has done wonders for me. I'd be nowhere near I am now if I had stuck with Saturday only lessons in a McDonalds.
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Sep 22, 2012 08:31
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Haraksha posted:I have a mail in ballot and it's loving crucial for me to vote in Minnesota. It'll probably vote Obama as usual, but there are a couple of constitutional amendments on the ballot that need to be shot the gently caress down. Good job. Glad to hear your lessons are working out for you. I'm still on 6 hours a week too, and while it's demanding, I do feel like I'm making some progress. I'm only half way through chapter 8 of the book, but I'd say that I recognise 90-95% of the characters as correct when grinding them out in ZDT. My pronunciation is still off-kilter but I think that's more a practice thing than anything else. I do work through the grammar sections, and while I don't make an effort to remember the stuff, the repetition and routine helps a bunch. Pro you for making the effort to vote.
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Sep 22, 2012 09:12
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What I find fascinating is how much more motivated people in Taiwan seem to be to learn Chinese even if they're just English teachers. I think it says a lot about the Taiwanese and how they treat anyone who gives Chinese a bit of effort.
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Sep 22, 2012 10:36
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That whiskey lounge I mentioned earlier is called Le Fumoir. The name translates to "The Smokehouse" so I can only assume that they also offer cigars too. I didn't get to go inside, but it looked really cozy and chill inside, if a bit on the small side. The address is 353 Fu Xing South Road Section 2, which is a short walk south from the Technology Building Station in the Brown Line. I've got no other plans tonight, so I'm down for checking the place out around... let's say 8 o'clock. If it's pricey I won't stay for long though, since I'm on a really tight budget for a while. There are a handful of other bars around the area too, though. I've always got my phone on me, so I can check this thread if anyone wants to chime in. In other news, there is a  whiskey convention at the Taipei World Trade Center that is finishing tomorrow.EDIT: Maybe I shouldn't be a dumbass and post an invitation minutes before a scheduled downtime. Oz_Bonus fucked around with this message at 21:33 on Sep 22, 2012 |
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Sep 22, 2012 10:55
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Oz_Bonus posted:
My friend works for a place that finds whiteys to do things I guess. He messaged me asking if I wanted to be a bartender for the weekend at the whiskey convention. Guaranteed 20 hours, 500 an hour, so 10k for two days of work. Turned it down though, because I've never bartended, don't want to do it for 10 hours a day, and am generally kinda lazy.
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Sep 23, 2012 04:03
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Haraksha posted:What I find fascinating is how much more motivated people in Taiwan seem to be to learn Chinese even if they're just English teachers. I think it says a lot about the Taiwanese and how they treat anyone who gives Chinese a bit of effort. Indeed, and it makes a huge difference to my motivation. My experience in Denmark was quite the opposite in that when you make the effort (to use Danish) you are treating as if you've just raped a baby in full public view. At that point the conversation will just go to English. I couldn't speak for the rest of Northern Europe, the Danes have a reputation though, and I was sad when it was confirmed. I left Denmark with a firm grasp of the language, but feeling that I had wasted a decent chunk of change because of the effort != reward. It's not an uncommon sentiment among the ex-ex-pats from Denmark (I'd link but it's dull and complaining is easy). url fucked around with this message at 05:17 on Sep 23, 2012 |
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Sep 23, 2012 05:14
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It's less useful in Europe too. I took German for years and was all excited about using it there, but everybody spoke perfect English unless I was way out in bumfuck. Only the Turks would even bother speaking German to me instead of hearing the American accent and going straight to English.
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Sep 23, 2012 05:51
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Sorry, wild drinking knocked me out for a day or so. The place I was talking about is just north of the brass monkey. It's a nice little cigar lounge, they have a massive selection of fine cigars, nice atmosphere, a bunch of overstuffed armchairs. They serve various straight whiskys to go with your cigar.
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Sep 23, 2012 07:40
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In case you're wondering, I've made the official decision that the south is cooler than the north in Taiwan. Carry on about your business.
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Sep 23, 2012 13:11
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I've been to two bars in the south. One was a night club in Kaohsiung that sucked balls. It was all you can drink with massive lines and crappy drinks. The other was a dive in Pingtung run by a Taiwanese guy named Jimmy going through a divorce. He made me do a bunch of shots of kaoliang with him and we listened to Scorpions. It was awesome.
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Sep 23, 2012 16:55
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SqueakyDuck posted:I wouldn't mind wandering away from Taipei for a day or so. Anything cool and historical would be a welcome change to city wandering. The weather in Korea is starting to cool down a bit now. Is Taiwan doing the same at the moment? (Wouldn't mind checking out a beach or two if it's possible and WARM.) A few ideas: 1. Take the high speed rail down to Tainan (~2.5 hours), from the front exit of the train station (West-Central District), walk down Chungshan Road till you hit a large traffic circle. Start ducking into random back alleys around this area all the way . Plenty of temples and traditional culture mostly unspoiled by the large tour groups (aside from the major sites, eg. Fort Provintia, Fort Zeelandia). Eventually make your way to Haian Road and Shennong Street in the evening for more temples and open air pubs. 2. If you want something historical, cultural, and REALLY off the beaten path (Google Maps has nothing here), fly from Taipei Songshan Airport to one of the Matsu Islands. Tiny rocks right off the coast of China that Taiwan still controls after Chiang Kai-shek basically ordered his troops to dig in and tunnel under in the 50s under heavy Chinese artillery bombardment. Worst nightmare for your average Taiwanese grunt was to be deployed out here during the height of the Cold War. If you visit today it's fun backpacking around exploring abandoned (and many still active) military bunkers, pillboxes, and depots. The settlements are tiny, and the main business is still the military and kaoliang liquor. They also have beaches which are supposedly de-mined now. Main islands with air connections to Taiwan proper are Nangan (the big one) and Beigan (small one). Budget at least 3 days as a backpacker. Ignore the gunfire, its probably routine training. 3. If you're stuck in Taipei and don't mind some hiking, I recommend the hills behind the Grand Hotel. Lots of footpaths and informal pavilions and badminton courts locals have built under the forest canopy, and some nice views of the city. Come up early enough and you'll see people practicing their morning exercises / martial arts. Come to think of it, most of the larger city parks in Taipei are like this around 5-6AM. 4. Generally taking the train down the eastern coast is great for scenery. Supposedly there are some surfer shacks down in Taitung, and I've seen some people go rafting in the river gorges here. Again, will require some extra travel time outside Taipei though. 5. Keelung is the harbor city just to the north, which is also fun to walk around. Not nearly as touristy as most places. The city kind of reminds me of what San Francisco would be like if you removed the bridges, yuppies, and pretty much everywhere except for the Tenderloin and Chinatown. Walking through random hillside tenements is interesting. If you don't mind hanging around merchant seamen who have been at sea for way too long, head to the Lucky Star pub just off the harbor. This is also the location of the local red light district. About an hour north of Taipei by train. Also makes a nice starting or ending point if you decide to go off and explore the northeast coast.
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Sep 23, 2012 17:05
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skysedge posted:Taiwan talk
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Sep 23, 2012 17:14
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DontAskKant posted:Where were you a month ago? Recovering from a year of marching around singing military cadences. (And keeping the air defenses running over a fairly significant chunk of Taiwan). skysedge fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Sep 23, 2012 |
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Sep 23, 2012 17:17
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skysedge posted:Recovering from a year of marching around singing military cadences. (And keeping the air defenses running over a fairly significant chunk of Taiwan). Hmm... I'll allow that. But next time it's your brain and my whiskey.
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Sep 23, 2012 17:22
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What are the arguments of going to live and teach in Taiwan instead of mainland China? Do you think there any drawbacks?
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Sep 23, 2012 19:39
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Gumog posted:What are the arguments of going to live and teach in Taiwan instead of mainland China? Do you think there any drawbacks? Taiwan is generally cleaner wealthier more open/friendly I've had people personally give me poo poo after learning I'm American for the declining value of the dollar because it lowered the value of their forex reserves.  People in Taiwan are a little bit better informed (though not by a lot) but even if 'wrong' about something not going to be so overtly hostile and VIVA LA CHINA  like in the mainland.It's cleaner, which is pretty simple. Less trash on the streets, air quality is better but still likely not as good as wherever you're from. For vacations it's not a big deal but for day-to-day living for a lot of people it's a factor. You'll also make more money here (fact) and get screwed around less by bosses (hearsay). China keeping the RMB artificially low hurts your wages denominated in RMB, so that 5000 RMB/month + rent subsidy or whatever in China is lower than 45000 TWD in Taiwan, even after cost of living. Those are the big points that most people decide on. Put together, it all adds up to a quite nice place to live and work. Main drawbacks: It's not 'real' China (re: tourism and job 'experience' mostly) Traditional Chinese is not terribly useful if you go home and put it to work. It is however fairly easy to get up to speed on Simplified. No one knows it (people will say "Taiwan? Oh I love eating Thai food!")
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Sep 24, 2012 03:12
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I was visiting the states after my first year in Taiwan and decided to go to my uncle's favorite gay bar. They were running free HIV screenings that night and the men and the bar were adamant that I should get an HIV test because of how dirty Bangkok is.
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Sep 24, 2012 03:21
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Haraksha posted:I was visiting the states after my first year in Taiwan and decided to go to my uncle's favorite gay bar. They were running free HIV screenings that night and the men and the bar were adamant that I should get an HIV test because of how dirty Bangkok is. I was here when there was some military coup stuff going down in Thailand 5(?) years back. I got messages asking if I was ok.
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Sep 24, 2012 04:26
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Hello Taiwan thread, I'm going to be visiting this Satuday 'til Oct 2nd, and I also wanted to ask if you guys had any suggestions for someone who likes to eat food and take pictures of interesting things but mostly eat food. All I know for sure is I want to go to Shih Lin Night Market and probably Sun Moon Lake and Taroko National Park. I'll probably try to do some of the stuff skysedge posted too. Also if anyone wants to get together and go drinking with me and my friends I think that would be pretty fun.
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Sep 24, 2012 06:30
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Onion Knight posted:Hello Taiwan thread, As far as night markets go Shilin is the big one, but I personally like Ningxia and Raohe, which are more laid back. Also if seedy is your thing, Huaxi Street is the usual go to place (also for history... its where the settlement that turned into Taipei started). Shida Night Market used to be fun as a student, but I haven't been back there for a while... I've heard things about the city selling chunks of it to big developers?
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Sep 24, 2012 09:24
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skysedge posted:As far as night markets go Shilin is the big one, but I personally like Ningxia and Raohe, which are more laid back. Also if seedy is your thing, Huaxi Street is the usual go to place (also for history... its where the settlement that turned into Taipei started). Shida Night Market used to be fun as a student, but I haven't been back there for a while... I've heard things about the city selling chunks of it to big developers? On Shida, they haven't sold it yet, but they're bloody trying. sub supau fucked around with this message at 10:16 on Sep 24, 2012 |
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Sep 24, 2012 10:11
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USDA Choice posted:Taiwan is generally e:fb i posted these things soon after waking up this morning, but forums were closed  Me and a colleague have been swearing to do the snake alley thing, and as a team we're overdue on inducting a new colleague too. I'm wondering if I shouldn't just ask the boss if we shouldn't do snake alley as a team event, beacuse doing shots of snake snot/venom/jizz (like I care) isn't a team bonding thing then I'm not sure what is. 
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Sep 24, 2012 14:47
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skysedge posted:A few ideas: Cheers man, some of this stuff looks great. If I had known about the Matsu Island stuff well in advance I would have totally booked a ticket. I think it would be too late now. As a matter of interest how much would a flight from Taipei to the Matsu islands cost? Would I need Chinese visa to go to one of those islands because I would totally do something like that if I come back at some stage. I will definately be taking some trips out of the city and down South. Any recommendations of bars and clubs would be welcome. Wouldn't mind trying to see some of the local night life.
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Sep 24, 2012 14:50
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SqueakyDuck posted:Cheers man, some of this stuff looks great. If I had known about the Matsu Island stuff well in advance I would have totally booked a ticket. I think it would be too late now. As a matter of interest how much would a flight from Taipei to the Matsu islands cost? Would I need Chinese visa to go to one of those islands because I would totally do something like that if I come back at some stage. Flights to Matsu are by Uni Air, an Eva Airways subsidiary (which amazingly doesn't seem to have an English language website). Prices vary, but are usually something like NT$2000 give or take a few hundred NT$ for a one way ticket. You can buy the ticket in person at the airport day of flight, but the planes are small and fill up fast. Reserving in advance is highly recommended. Your other option is by ferry (accepts web reservations for foreigners using your passport number, but again, no English website... its that out of the way). This is an 8 hour trip from Keelung, departing late at night, arriving first at the tiny northernmost outpost at Dongyin, then at the big island of Nangan two hours later. IIRC... the fare for an economy cabin is about half that of flying. Runs every other day. In both cases, flights and ferrys are subject to cancellation in the event of inclement weather, so yeah, a flexible schedule is helpful. Matsu is ROC territory, so your normal Taiwan visa is sufficient. EDIT: Ferry prices Keelung -> Matsu First Class Cabin (2 per cabin): NT$1890 Business Class Cabin (4 per cabin): NT$1575 Economy (single bunk): NT$1050 Economy (parent-child berth): NT$840 Economy (seat): NT$630 Matsu -> Keelung First Class Cabin (2 per cabin): NT$1800 Business Class Cabin (4 per cabin): NT$1500 Economy (single bunk): NT$1000 Economy (parent-child berth): NT$800 Economy (seat): NT$600 skysedge fucked around with this message at 19:09 on Sep 24, 2012 |
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Sep 24, 2012 15:11
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I guess Taiwan has decided to send fishing boats up to Diaoyu. I don't see how this can end poorly at all.
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Sep 25, 2012 05:15
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Eh, it's just more dickwaving. Give it a couple of weeks until the CCP have had time to calm down all that recent talk about the Amazing Disappearing Xi Jinping, then they won't have to keep distracting the population with "hey look over there" poo poo. More or less immediately, everyone else will stop giving a gently caress too, and it'll be like it never happened.
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Sep 25, 2012 05:30
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TetsuoTW posted:Eh, it's just more dickwaving. Give it a couple of weeks until the CCP have had time to calm down all that recent talk about the Amazing Disappearing Xi Jinping, then they won't have to keep distracting the population with "hey look over there" poo poo. More or less immediately, everyone else will stop giving a gently caress too, and it'll be like it never happened. This being Taiwan and with Ma being in charge, we wil have to wait for some arguably positive economic indicator, or Ma figuring out a new case to prosecute Chen Shui-bian on, before this whole Diaoyutai thing gets dropped. ... or alternatively, when someone in Foggy Bottom makes a call to the Presidential Office asking if Ma is out of his mind.
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Sep 25, 2012 18:16
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Woot I wish I had something more constructive to say, but today was an unexpectedly good day.
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Sep 26, 2012 15:54
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url posted:Woot Dear livejournal, today was sooo amazing! Get a girlfriend? Go to snake alley? Dance on the stage of Luxy? Stop being coy.
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Sep 27, 2012 03:33
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Ravendas posted:Dear livejournal, today was sooo amazing! Yeah, i couldn't type last night. Work was busy and more stressful than normal and that has resolved fairly nicely for the time-being. Went to a local place to wind down, ended up being fed stacks and stacks of food. I had more drinks pushed in my direction than I could possibly hope to manage. So yeah, unexpectedly blind drunk, and very well fed. I'm still not sure what the liquor is that we were drinking but it's pretty decent. For some reason ground pearls are being added to it.
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Sep 27, 2012 03:49
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Last minute question, I know, but for four days four nights in Taiwain (and of that, mostly Taipei) how much money should I bring to be comfortable? I only really care about eating. Maybe some nice booze once or twice.
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Sep 27, 2012 06:53
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I think $2500 (~US$85) would be pretty okay, even a little on the generous side. Maybe $1000 for food, $800 for booze, $700 for tchotchkes and cab fare. You could keep it much lower if you eat like a broke resident, but you can get some pretty nice food over four days for $1000. e: might as well tack on a question to this post. I think a small fraction of my next paycheck is going to go towards building a gaming rig, because all I have right now is a lovely ThinkPad. Anyone have any tips on where to buy parts (in Greater Taipei) and what my budget should be? I'm pretty well-versed in building PCs (although I haven't built one in a couple of years) but I am curious if things like the BIOS set-up and OS set-up will be in Chinese. I have a monitor already but I need everything else, including the OS. I'm thinking I'd like some nice quad-core CPU and a mid-high end graphics card, nice and fresh but not so new that it's 3x as much as the last rollout. Think I can make a nice rig for $20000? quadrophrenic fucked around with this message at 10:02 on Sep 27, 2012 |
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Sep 27, 2012 08:45
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