Photos, stories, and articles from cultural events, and places in Taiwan

This week I travel to Fo Guang Shan Monastery, and this temple is one of the biggest temple in Taiwan. This monastery has been in Taiwan since May 16, 1967. The place is more than 30 hectares in Ta Shu Township, Kaohsiung County. Taiwan is the first establishment of Fo Guang Shan Monastery, and right now [...]

This is another of the assumptions we make: Taiwan is going to give you a leap up into a great job back home, valuable work experience you failed to get back home. For those who come to Taiwan because they failed to get on that graduate training scheme, it is an easy hope to hang [...]

Instructor : Thierry Cuvillier
Link : http://www.myspace.com/thierry9
1- Lessons @ XIMEN DIN
wednesday : 10am to 12pm
Friday : 10am to 12pm
sunday : 5pm to 7pm
Group class : 2500 NT$/Month [12 classes ]
2F., No.2, Ln. 133, Chengdu Rd., Wanhua Dist., Taipei City 108, Taiwan [...]

There are a number of stages you go through in Taiwan. This one was called: Taiwanese don’t write perfect English so i am going to set up a marketing company.
“Just look at this, buddy,” said Josh holding up the brochure for his student’s hose-pipe company, and blocking access to my food which was sizzling away [...]

Taiwan has something like the highest percentage of small businesses per capita of any where in the world. They also didn’t worry too much about renting a spanking new office; if you can plug a fax machine in you can start a company.
When I first arrived I taught business English and it was a revelation [...]

The Taiwan Tourism Bureau launched the ‘Taiwan Best Trip’ competition and invited experienced travelers worldwide to share their creative itineraries for a four-day trip in Taiwan.
Emma and I were part of the 50 teams that were chosen and we represented Australia. Our trip primary focused on Taiwan’s diverse range of music and dance culture. [...]

As foreigners in Taiwan we had the opportunity to play above our league. It may seem straightforward, but Taiwanese girls are different (see Culture Shock: Women) and there is alot of adjusting to do. It is difficult for all of us but for Eric particularly so.
Eric looked around at the people sat around him in [...]

Today is the 15th day of the seventh Lunar month, otherwise known as Ghost Day, a day people gather to burn incense and hell money, and lay out lavish amounts of food to feed hungry ghosts. During the seventh lunar month, the gates of hell open up to allow ghosts of the deceased to [...]

At the time i really committed to learning Chinese. I was going to two classes a day. This was the afternoon one.
“Good afternoon everyone,” the teacher would say in English every class and i would start to grit my teeth.
“She is quite hot! Maybe, I’ll do you a favor and ask her out,” replied the [...]

I decided to skip my order of business and go to a really important issue for foreign guys in Taiwan. The following is not meant to be a replacement for legal council.
A friend of mine down south got into some big shit that almost cost him his freedom. To make a long story [...]

From our friends @ Monkeetime
Kinmen Island, 150km west of Taiwan and only 2km from the Mainland is where the Taiwan-China split took place. We fly in for a few days to snoop around and see the remains of the civil war.

They are nearly here.   I can honestly say I am relieved this event is almost started (and finished).   If you don’t know about the World games, the can be looked at as the bastard son of the Olympics and contains an assortment of pseudo-sports.   Have you ever played tchoukball?  Tried your hand at korfball? I [...]

I’m comfortable being alone. Prior to arriving in Taiwan decades ago I often walked or biked the streets of California communities where I grew up and went to college in joyful solitude. During my first months here I was in a residential language teaching for a summer, and I soon found myself wanting “solo [...]

Christmas came and went and I got to thinking, how was it that I came to learn the true meaning of Christmas in Taiwan?

When I was little, there was hardly any mention of Christmas in Taiwan. Maybe a few decorations were put up at the department stores but that was it. No one [...]

Western holidays are slowly taking over in Taiwan. I have a student, a high schooler, who said he was tired of Chinese New Year (nong li nian) because it was “stuffy, boring, and too long with too many rituals”. He said he liked Western New Year (yuan dan) because it was happy, upbeat, [...]