I thnk it would be easy to be a vegetarian here but difficult to be a strict one. Tofu and other vegetable means are considered a normal thing to eat rather thana vegetarian alternative; on the one hand, this means lots of options, but on the other you never know when they'll put pork powder on a tofu dish.
I lived in Taibei from 1996 to 2004, with a summer at the Stanford Center in 1995. So my knowledge is fairly in-depth, but getting out of date.
First off, you have a copy of the latest Lonely Planet for Taiwan, right? It's indispensable; the other travel guides are poor in comparison. I still found myself using my LP guide after many years in Taiwan.
The ICLP has a student guide, which you have probably already checked out. Looks like it's not as good as when I was there -- no listings for GLBT hangouts, for example -- but it's worth using.
Check out Forumosa, a forum for ex-pats in Taiwan. As with anything on the net, view all the information there with skepticism; the noise to signal ratio is very high. But there's a lot of useful information there, too
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Wow! Thanks so much for all the info. I'll definitely check those things out and will explore SO MUCH.
I'm not sure what professors will be in my program but I don't mind picking up the Taiwanese accent. I plan to work a bit in the mainland in the future to get a broader idea of the range of accents. Thanks for the suggestion. If it becomes an issue, I will try to seek her out.
I am currently studying traditional characters but can recognize all of their simplified counterparts due to the structure of my Chinese classes this far. Thanks for the tips, though, I do plan to use Chinese in my future career.
How much do scooters generally run for in Taiwan (what is a reasonable price to pay)?
Wow! Thanks so much for all the info. I'll definitely check those things out and will explore SO MUCH.
Good to hear. There's a lot of cool stuff to see in Taiwan; I didn't get out enough, really, so there were a lot of things I never got to see.
Just to be clear, Chén Lìyuán is a teacher in the ICLP. (In the picture, she's in the front row, wearing a red, somewhat low-cut shirt and a black skirt.) Whether or not she'll be available to you is a different question; I'm not clear what the selection criteria are. I don't think I got to choose who my teachers would be when I studied there, but that could conceivably have changed.
I honestly don't know how much scooters are! This is a "do what I say, not what I do" situation -- I never owned one while I lived there. I was just too afraid of driving on the roads. You might ask at Forumosa to find out what prices are running.
Also, by the way, something tells me my page on gaming in Taiwan might be of use to you. :)
Ohhh I see. I'll definitely try to look out for her, then. I will be going into 4th year equivalent of Chinese when I go there (if I don't bomb the placement exams) so hopefully she is available for that.
You guessed correctly, haha! Thanks for the link, lots of extremely useful information to feed my addiction. >:D
There are a couple of vegetarian tiny restaurants in the restaurant street behind NTU. If you're attending Chinese language programmes, they're situated by the back entrance, so you'll be super close to all the vegetarian treats you may wish for. In addition to regular vegetarian shops there are also the Buddhist buffets. None of my vegetarian friends had much problems.
I'm currently at Shi-da studying Chinese but I'm not too familiar with the Tai-da area. My favorite spot has to be Salt Peanuts, it's right near the Shi-da night market, the people that work there are hipsters but totally nice(oxymoron?). I often go there to study and drink endless pots of tea.
Anyway, I know of atleast 2 vegetarian places near Shi-da so I imagine there be tons more near Tai-da. I think I saw 2 or 3 when I was walking in between Gongguan and Taidiandalou, they were mostly off of the main street.
Um...what else...The streets are pretty safe, people generally won't bother you, if you don't bother them. I'd suggest learning bopomofo, if you don't know it already. It really helps if you're talking with locals and asking them to pronounce words.
I definitely plan on checking out the Shi-da night market so I'll look out for that place.
Thanks for the safety reassurances... I heard a couple things from friends about being safe but was just wondering if that's just something worried friends say, haha.
Didn't think about learning bopomofo, great suggestion! Do you know of any good websites/books/other resources to learn it?
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First off, you have a copy of the latest Lonely Planet for Taiwan, right? It's indispensable; the other travel guides are poor in comparison. I still found myself using my LP guide after many years in Taiwan.
The ICLP has a student guide, which you have probably already checked out. Looks like it's not as good as when I was there -- no listings for GLBT hangouts, for example -- but it's worth using.
Check out Forumosa, a forum for ex-pats in Taiwan. As with anything on the net, view all the information there with skepticism; the noise to signal ratio is very high. But there's a lot of useful information there, too ( ... )
Reply
I'm not sure what professors will be in my program but I don't mind picking up the Taiwanese accent. I plan to work a bit in the mainland in the future to get a broader idea of the range of accents. Thanks for the suggestion. If it becomes an issue, I will try to seek her out.
I am currently studying traditional characters but can recognize all of their simplified counterparts due to the structure of my Chinese classes this far. Thanks for the tips, though, I do plan to use Chinese in my future career.
How much do scooters generally run for in Taiwan (what is a reasonable price to pay)?
Thanks again!
Reply
Good to hear. There's a lot of cool stuff to see in Taiwan; I didn't get out enough, really, so there were a lot of things I never got to see.
Just to be clear, Chén Lìyuán is a teacher in the ICLP. (In the picture, she's in the front row, wearing a red, somewhat low-cut shirt and a black skirt.) Whether or not she'll be available to you is a different question; I'm not clear what the selection criteria are. I don't think I got to choose who my teachers would be when I studied there, but that could conceivably have changed.
I honestly don't know how much scooters are! This is a "do what I say, not what I do" situation -- I never owned one while I lived there. I was just too afraid of driving on the roads. You might ask at Forumosa to find out what prices are running.
Also, by the way, something tells me my page on gaming in Taiwan might be of use to you. :)
Reply
You guessed correctly, haha! Thanks for the link, lots of extremely useful information to feed my addiction. >:D
Thanks again for all the help. ^_^
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Anyway, I know of atleast 2 vegetarian places near Shi-da so I imagine there be tons more near Tai-da. I think I saw 2 or 3 when I was walking in between Gongguan and Taidiandalou, they were mostly off of the main street.
Um...what else...The streets are pretty safe, people generally won't bother you, if you don't bother them. I'd suggest learning bopomofo, if you don't know it already. It really helps if you're talking with locals and asking them to pronounce words.
Reply
I definitely plan on checking out the Shi-da night market so I'll look out for that place.
Thanks for the safety reassurances... I heard a couple things from friends about being safe but was just wondering if that's just something worried friends say, haha.
Didn't think about learning bopomofo, great suggestion! Do you know of any good websites/books/other resources to learn it?
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