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Emily the Award-Winning Photographer

Michael's Posts, Our Taipei Life, Taiwan, Taiwanese Culture, Travel & Exploring 3 Responses »

Mar 162011

100 Fun Things To Do In Taiwan

A few months back we heard about this contest for expatriates living in Taiwan. The idea of the “100 Fun Things To Do In Taiwan” contest is to have foreigners living here share experiences they’ve had and pictures they’ve taken and memories they’ve made. Each entrant creates their Fun Thing To Do page and then tells everyone they know to vote for it. Then after the entry cut-off, judges pick the winners. According to the rules, number of votes accounts for 40% and what the judges think accounts for 60% in terms of who wins. The top fifty entries receive cash prizes ranging from $50,000 NTD to $5,000 NTD.

Well I heard about this contest and took a few minutes to throw up a few of Emily’s amazing photos and a few lines of text describing the highlights of our scooter trip around Taiwan last winter. Then I linked our Fun Thing To Do page on facebook to tell our friends to vote for us. I thought we’d get a few votes and that would be the end of it. About a month later, a few weeks after the contest ended, we received an email informing us that we won 14th place and a cash prize of $10,000 NTD (About $337 USD). We were so surprised and excited.

Yesterday I attended the awards ceremony to receive our prize. If anyone has ever been to a Taiwanese awards ceremony you know exactly what I’m talking about when I say it was comically formal and informal at the same time. Hype’ing consisted of the host asking all of us award-winners if “Taiwanese people are the friendliest ri–igghhht?” and all of us responding “Yes” and clapping a little and then a few minutes later him asking us if “Taiwan is so beautiful ri–igghhht?” and all us responding “Yes” and a little more clapping. A representative of Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau in a full-suit with a corsage gave a speech in Mandarin and the host kindly translated the very best lines like “Taiwanese people are so friendly to our foreign friends.” All of this with cameras snapping and camcorders capturing the amazing moment and tons of the organizers moving about in what looked like mass confusion. The best part was when they had one winner from each category get up on-stage for a photo op while holding an Ed McMahon sized check. Also throughout the event we were repeatedly encouraged to tell all our friends about how amazing Taiwan is and that they just have to come and visit. So without further ado, let me tell you all that Taiwan is very amazing and you all just have to come and visit.

Seriously though it was a great contest. I think the idea of having tourism encouraged by those who have experienced the product themselves is a great idea. I’ve looked at some of the other entries and they make me want to visit Taiwan, like this one that took second place, and I already live here. I really hope that the organizers consider the contest a success and build on the idea in the future.

I’d also like to thank the sponsors:

Free Tip: For all you expats who missed this contest, Tealit was telling all of us to check their website for more of the same in the future.

Lastly, for all of you who voted for us a big and hearty 謝謝!

****EDIT*****

If you were wondering, and I just know you were, here are some of the aforementioned photos for your viewing pleasure:

For Kush

Michael's Posts, Taiwan No Responses »

Jan 272009

“Hi,
I am a British university student graduating this year! With the world depression I am finding it hard to find a job next year in the UK! So i was thinking of heading to Taiwan to teach english for a whole year!

Could you tell me what its like living in Tiapei and how much an apartment in the city center would cost?
Also how did you cope with the language barrier

Thanks!!!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Good questions Kush.

As far as what its like living in Taipei I’m not sure how to answer you since thats a pretty broad question. I would suggest reading blogs. Another good source of information is www.forumosa.com where people write about a ton of different topics on life here. Life is life though so to answer your question in a nutshell I’d say life in Taipei is just like life anywhere else, it is what you make it. Sorry to be so cliche.

Apartment prices really vary. It depends on what you want. We found our apartment on www.tealit.com which is where we do a lot of things. Its a great resource for foreigners in Taiwan.

Prices range on the cheapside at about 5000 NTD if you can find it upwards. Realize that space in Taipei is luxury so what you pay in rent is usually dependent on how much space you get and also has to do with where you live. I’ve found it much cheaper to get a “house” sized apartment and then split it with roommates. If you want to live alone then its hard to find something very big thats affordable.

The language barrier really isn’t hard to deal with. Many Taiwanese young people know English fairly well and many are anxious to practice. This coupled with the friendly and helpful nature of people here makes not knowing Chinese doable. Many restaurants, banks, shops, businesses, have English menus and services so its really not bad at all. Just to give you an example, when I go to Subway to get a sandwich I order in English.

You can definitely live in Taiwan without knowing Chinese just fine. Its also a great place to get employment at a fairly decent rate teaching English. Go for it!

New Roommate

Michael's Posts, Our Taipei Life No Responses »

Nov 172008

About a week and a half ago Emily got an email from this British guy that had seen our ad on Tealit for the room our old roommate had vacated when she went back to France. He said that he wanted to take the room but that he hadn’t left the UK yet and would arrive on November 15th. Emily told him that if the room was still available on the 15th he could have it. However if someone took it before then tough bananas.

Well the past week and a half came and went with several people who came over to check out the room but none of them took it. On Saturday, Nov. 15th, true to his word our new British roommate Darren arrived from his home of Swindon!

Darren, from what I can tell, is ‘a roight proapa Brit’ish lad.’ A really nice guy and we’re, so far, excited by God’s gift of another good roommate. Right after he arrived he was eager to see his new neighborhood (much different then me after 16 hours in a plane who just wants to sleep) so Emily and I took him over to the Shida Night Market. We bought him some milk tea, he didn’t like it, and took him to a restaurant we like where he had some beef fried rice for dinner. He, like we were when we first arrived, was excited and energized by how much life there is here in Taipei. With 8 million people populating a small geographical space there are so many vehicles, pedestrians, shops, signs, everything. It was fun to watch him with his head on a swivel! It reminded me of how much fun it was to be new in Taiwan.

We then popped into a pub not far from our house and Darren was kind enough to buy Emily and I a drink. On the way back home we showed him our neighborhood grocery and helped him buy an MRT card so that he could continue exploring the city on Sunday while we were at church and doing homework.

Showing him just a tiny bit of Taipei and turning him loose reminded me of how much fun it would be to show people back home around here. If any of you wants to come for a visit please feel free!