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Cool, thanks, one less thing to worry about on my trip!
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# ? Sep 22, 2018 19:04 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 08:33 |
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Someone told me the high speed rail is more of a medium speed rail in the grand scheme of rail. So should I not expect Shinkansen speeds?
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# ? Oct 14, 2018 10:10 |
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French Canadian posted:Someone told me the high speed rail is more of a medium speed rail in the grand scheme of rail. So should I not expect Shinkansen speeds? It’s literally a license-built Shinkansen line
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# ? Oct 14, 2018 10:13 |
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It's more that there are a million stops so if you're not on the direct train it still takes awhile.
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# ? Oct 14, 2018 10:23 |
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Pirate Radar posted:It’s literally a license-built Shinkansen line I'll text him mid ride to tell him he's full of poo poo
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# ? Oct 14, 2018 10:26 |
A pair of my expat friends in Taiwan are making GBS threads on their IELTS employers because they elected to change the registration regions to say "Taiwan, China". I've noticed a lot of airlines changing their regions to identify Taiwan as a part of china, jerks.
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# ? Oct 14, 2018 14:20 |
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Kommando posted:A pair of my expat friends in Taiwan are making GBS threads on their IELTS employers because they elected to change the registration regions to say "Taiwan, China". IELTs is a poo poo test that no one ever wants to take anyway. gently caress it.
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# ? Oct 14, 2018 16:55 |
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Related to that stuff, I noticed all the pictures I took in Taiwan the other week were automatically categorized in my iphone as in “台灣省” which was weird on a lot of levels cuz: 1. Despite living in China, it is an iPhone I bought in the USA 2. My phone is only ever in English or simplified Chinese, but the label is in traditional?????? Apparently some newer Samsung phones do a similar thing (All Chinese-made phones obviously do it), so it's just the hardware side setting this crap up based on your SIM card operator. The taiwan flag emoji being a huge "??" symbol instead has been around for a while, but this one seems pretty new.
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# ? Oct 15, 2018 01:40 |
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Who even knows with Apple and their location mapping, in English their default Maps app still uses Tongyong for romanization, and other oddities like displaying locations as "Xinbei City" on my iPhone but then having it correctly display as "New Taipei City" on my Mac.
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# ? Oct 15, 2018 02:12 |
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Magna Kaser posted:Related to that stuff, I noticed all the pictures I took in Taiwan the other week were automatically categorized in my iphone as in “台灣省” which was weird on a lot of levels cuz: I also noticed my iPhone changed the location of all the photos I took in Taiwan to “Taiwan, Province of China” when I was visiting China a few years ago. It switched back to “Taiwan” when I left China. From that I’ll conclude it’s based on the phone’s location or maybe the SIM card’s country of origin. I can’t remember what SIM card was installed when I was in China, unfortunately. Apple certainly doesn’t want to do anything that could cost it its Chinese customers. It’s lame. Although only labeling Taiwan part of China to people inside of China is a lot smarter than how many other companies have recently capitulated to the PRC’s fantasy world.
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# ? Oct 15, 2018 02:42 |
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lmao did it say actually say "Taiwan, Province of China" in English? On my phone it might say 四川省 in Chinese, but in English it'll just say "Sichuan" or like "Shanghai" so that's some next level poo poo if it's specifically for that one
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# ? Oct 15, 2018 04:14 |
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Magna Kaser posted:lmao did it say actually say "Taiwan, Province of China" in English? Yup, it made me do a double-take.
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# ? Oct 15, 2018 04:18 |
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IIRC, 台灣省 is not a reference to the Taiwan province of China, it's a reference to the Taiwan province of Taiwan, as opposed to the Fujian province of Taiwan, ie Kinmen
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# ? Oct 15, 2018 04:29 |
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POCKET CHOMP posted:displaying locations as "Xinbei City" on my iPhone but then having it correctly display as "New Taipei City" on my Mac. Xinbei City is correct too fyi
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# ? Oct 15, 2018 05:15 |
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It is? I mean, I know it's the correct pinyin, but I thought the government-approved "correct" name is only "New Taipei," though I'd love to be wrong as I have previously railed in this very thread against weird non-standard romanization except in cases of historical precedent. As I recall it was actually a big deal when the switchover from "Taipei County" happening with people protesting that names starting with "X" in English looked bad and a whole bunch of weird complaints which is how we ended up with New Taipei.
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# ? Oct 15, 2018 06:13 |
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POCKET CHOMP posted:It is? I mean, I know it's the correct pinyin, but I thought the government-approved "correct" name is only "New Taipei," though I'd love to be wrong as I have previously railed in this very thread against weird non-standard romanization except in cases of historical precedent. Oh are they the same thing? I always thought they were distinct places
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# ? Oct 15, 2018 07:24 |
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simplefish posted:Oh are they the same thing? I always thought they were distinct places They decided to translate it in English sources (thus “New Taipei”) because of people not liking saying Xinbei for some reason, and iirc also some people thinking it would lead to people calling it Xin City
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# ? Oct 15, 2018 07:37 |
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Pirate Radar posted:They decided to translate it in English sources (thus “New Taipei”) because of people not liking saying Xinbei for some reason, It was genuinely that loving stupid. Like they actually consulted with "representatives of the international community" whoever the gently caress they are, got told "no definitely Xinbei" and then buckled to morons who might actually be illiterate.
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# ? Oct 15, 2018 09:39 |
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New Taipei is a good name. It's either that or Hsinpei. Anyway, had a couple nice day trips last week to New Bamboo County. Ate Hakka food. Recommend.
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# ? Oct 16, 2018 08:52 |
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I imagine this sort of place is all over, but I found a cool artist/hipster array of shops, beer, and cafes here... 暖星空 403, Taiwan, Taichung City, West District, 民生路368巷4弄4號 +886 972 186 677 https://maps.google.com/?cid=14107428786306703621
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# ? Oct 16, 2018 11:52 |
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kenner116 posted:Hsinpei.
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# ? Oct 17, 2018 03:15 |
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French Canadian posted:I imagine this sort of place is all over, but I found a cool artist/hipster array of shops, beer, and cafes here... Oh yeah, I checked that place out last time I was in Taichung a few months back! It was p nice, v Instagrammy too if you're into that. There was a really nice little shaved ice place opposite it on Zhongxing St too: Miss ‧ Meet 冰品 飲料 文創商品 No. 10, Zhongxing Street, West District, Taichung City, 403 https://maps.google.com/?cid=11975323392713955570
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# ? Oct 17, 2018 03:35 |
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A train derailed and killed a bunch of people in Yilan county https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3557499 My wife and I were planning to head down to Hualien on Tuesday morning via train.
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# ? Oct 21, 2018 13:41 |
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well i hope the two of you managed to make it down by bus or something, hualien is p nice
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# ? Oct 27, 2018 15:32 |
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sub supau posted:well i hope the two of you managed to make it down by bus or something, hualien is p nice They had the trains running by then, so the trip went accordingly. But we went past some of the remaining wreckage at maybe 15mph.
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# ? Oct 27, 2018 23:31 |
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Does anyone have any experience/know anyone who has actually bought a car here? I've been thinking about getting a used supermini.
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# ? Nov 12, 2018 06:49 |
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GoutPatrol posted:Does anyone have any experience/know anyone who has actually bought a car here? I've been thinking about getting a used supermini. I did in fact own a car and I hated every wasted moment of it. The biggest problem I had was I just loving hated driving in Taiwan. It's definitely better than some other countries, but you have to be watching for scooters all the goddamn time. The only time it was really enjoyable was just cruising down the freeway where there are no bikes. It's expensive. There's a ton of poo poo that is constantly adding up. What's your plan for parking? Remember, you're probably going to have to pay for parking every single time you take the car out unless you're not in Taipei. And this extends to where you keep the car when you're not using it. I had to pay for a space in a lot that was several kilometers from my condo. I had to drive my scooter to the car and at that point it was like, "Why not just use the scooter?" You also have two taxes a year on it. One is for the plate and one is for gas. This can be fairly pricey. On top of that, you also have to get an emissions check every 6 months. This is not free like it is with scooters. If you forget, you'll pay a fine. Getting a valid Taiwanese license was also annoying if you don't have one already. The test is way more about paying for a course and learning the exact places to line up your car and turn your wheel so you can get through the obstacles than it is about knowing how to drive. Not sure if you really need a Taiwanese license or not or if international licences are considered good enough. I ended up selling it because it sucked and I never had a reason for it.
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# ? Nov 12, 2018 08:57 |
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I'm not in Taipei so that solves that problem. I ask because my wife and I are planning about children in the future and I'm not gonna be one of those fuckers with a dining room child booster seat on my scooter floor.
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# ? Nov 12, 2018 09:04 |
This is going to sound really dumb I found myself in Melbourne and went to din tai fung. Oh man I miss Taiwanese dumplings. Actual pot stickers.
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# ? Nov 12, 2018 09:39 |
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GoutPatrol posted:I'm not in Taipei so that solves that problem. I ask because my wife and I are planning about children in the future and I'm not gonna be one of those fuckers with a dining room child booster seat on my scooter floor. Not being in Taipei solves the parking problem somewhat. My in-laws park on the side of the road, but it's cramped pretty badly. Drivers are much worse outside of Taipei and the laws are less stringently enforced, so just be aware of that as well.
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# ? Nov 12, 2018 12:30 |
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I drive in both Taipei and Yilan and driving in Yilan are absolutely horrible, but at the same time you can’t get anywhere without a car since it rains so much and there’s no public transit. It’s not just the other drivers it’s the old people on electric scooters that ride in the opposite direction, so you really have to watch out. The emissions test is every six months for older cars, it’s a year or less for brand new ones I believe.
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# ? Nov 12, 2018 13:07 |
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I live in Kaohsiung and own a car. I pay 1500nt for parking at my apartment and 1600nt for parking near my school. Two taxes is annoying but if you're getting something with a smaller engine the gas tax is cheap. Parking is only lovely thing about having a car. Driving in the summer with AC? Great! Just plan trips with driving time in mind.
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# ? Nov 13, 2018 14:04 |
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thegoat posted:Parking is only lovely thing about having a car. P much this for me; I drive because it turns like an hour and a half commute into thirty minutes. You get used to the traffic and it’s normally not too horrific to deal with, but there’s definitely a learning curve. For most people/expats though, scooters and/or public transit or taxis will do just fine.
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# ? Nov 13, 2018 16:06 |
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GoutPatrol posted:Does anyone have any experience/know anyone who has actually bought a car here? I've been thinking about getting a used supermini. I owned a car in Chiayi for a short period of time until it decided to dump the contents of its radiator on the freeways in Taichung. Even in Chiayi parking was always either further than you'd really like to walk or paid for (so I typically stuck to using my motorcycle except for things like trips to Costco). It's nice to have something to use on the freeways. I think dealing with scooters isn't too hard. You can still get around with scooters; check your blind spots and make predictable maneuvers and you'll avoid 95% of the idiots out there. Otherwise, I would totally get something like a Polo if I were to buy another car. Much easier to deal with parking and the craziness of traffic in cities if you have a smaller car.
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# ? Nov 15, 2018 17:09 |
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Just wanted to say thanks again to this thread. Came back from my vacation being a clueless white guy in Japan and Taiwan and had a great trip that mostly went off without a hitch. I will miss those tasty weird omelette/crepe things you could find for breakfast everywhere the most. Would love to come back some day and do all the stuff I didn't get to.
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# ? Nov 15, 2018 17:42 |
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kuddles posted:I will miss those tasty weird omelette/crepe things you could find for breakfast everywhere the most. danbing fuckin own and rule
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# ? Nov 17, 2018 09:36 |
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Haha, immediately after returning from Taipei the first time I cooked about 100 of those crepes until I got it right. I picked up a serious crepe habit within like three days there. Also the pork belly sandwich this guy kept making for me, I had no idea what to order and the guy just said "要汉堡吗" so I said yes and kept coming back for more of them. Taipei is on point with breakfast.
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# ? Nov 17, 2018 13:30 |
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dougdrums posted:Haha, immediately after returning from Taipei the first time I cooked about 100 of those crepes until I got it right. I picked up a serious crepe habit within like three days there. Also the pork belly sandwich this guy kept making for me, I had no idea what to order and the guy just said "要漢堡嗎" so I said yes and kept coming back for more of them. Taipei is on point with breakfast. pretty sure what he actually said was this
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# ? Nov 17, 2018 17:06 |
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I don't remember his exact words, considering chinese is far from my first language, but it's not like we just stared at each other until he made me breakfast. The point is that the dude knew exactly what would catch my ear/belly. Wierd thing to get your dick in a knot over.
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# ? Nov 18, 2018 21:47 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 08:33 |
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dougdrums posted:I don't remember his exact words, considering chinese is far from my first language, but it's not like we just stared at each other until he made me breakfast. The point is that the dude knew exactly what would catch my ear/belly. Wierd thing to get your dick in a knot over. It's the same phrase. He's giving you poo poo for using simplified Chinese in Taiwan.
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# ? Nov 18, 2018 21:56 |