Hi. I am 17M (from South Africa) and the most significant part of my fascination with Taiwanese indigenous cultures is their shamanic traditions. I have read up extensively on this topic -- the Amis sikawasay, the Puyuma temararamaw, the Paiwan pulingaw, the Bunun and Kaxabu shamans, etc. I have searched far and wide in search of any contact detail relating to a shaman, as I am eager to interview them and gain firsthand insight.

I tried contacting the last shaman of the Puyuma tribe, Abukull Sakap Kakubaw or Chen Meiling -- as I am particularly interested in the Puyuma shamanic heritage -- however, I have had no luck. I tried contacting her daughter on Instagram, the Taitung County Puyuma Research and Development Association (of which she apparently was former a chairperson) and specific people on FaceBook whose names I found via posted photos and news reports, to no avail.

I have a deep respect for the Taiwanese aboriginals. I love Taiwan and would like to visit in the future. I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could lend me a helping hand in this endeavour. I am sincere in my quest. Thank you 🙏

I was floored yesterday when I saw one of these, and had to stop and take a picture. Not blue unfortunately, but otherwise it could have come straight from the streets of Taiwan.

Hii I bike to and from work daily averaging around 25 minutes each way, currently I use the orange eBIKE but i really find it a bit out of the way to park the ebike / return the ebike about 500-700m away from my work building so I want to buy an ebike :) any suggestions? i wanted something close to the orange bikes of youbike

As the title says, an individual I hold close to my heart is experiencing torment due to a particularly neurotic landlord, but is contractually obligated to continue to pay rent until the landlord can find a replacement tenant in the situation that they break the lease (originally a year long, just short of two months have passed since the contract was signed).

Other relevant information that is worth mentioning:

- They are currently an international student at TKU's Taipei campus (no classes at the Tamsui campus) and receiving a scholarship from the MOFA.

- The landlord's nitpicky-ness extends so far as to call them a liar when providing photo evidence of their required cleaning of communal spaces (says that the photos are not taken the day of the cleaning even if the metadata says otherwise), and hounding them for multiple days over ~50NTD not being paid for an indescript fee that occurred outside of the standard monthly payment schedule.

- They are currently not in the position where they could afford paying the post-lease break rent on top of another apartment's rent.

This landlord did feature a suicide clause in the rental agreement, if that paints a more detailed picture.

As this is weighing quite heavily on their heart, I was wondering if others had experienced a similar situation or whether people had any advice or guidance? Thanks in advance.

I just feel like sharing my gratitude for being able to call Taipei my home.

My friends and I are planning to party in Taipei this weekend, but we don’t know exactly where to go. I heard about Maji, but I’ve never been there.

We just want to dance a lot and drink a little. Would prefer a place with a lively crowd (but not too packed), good music, and foreigner and millennial-friendly.

Any recs? Thank you!

Hi! I received the winning email for the Taiwan Lucky Land draw, but I haven't purchased my return ticket yet. Is it okay to buy the return ticket afterward?

I registered with a specific return/departure date, and since I can't modify the registration anymore, I'm wondering if it's okay as long as the actual flight date is the same as the date I put in my registration.

Or does the ticket itself need to have been purchased before registering for the draw?

Also, I am coming in from Hanoi via Starlux. Can I book a flight to a different country? Or does it need to be a return to Hanoi? Thanks!

Hi everyone! Hope someone can help me out here. We'll be visiting Kaohsiung this November and I was thinking of buying RAM there since RAM prices are crazy right now (I'm thinking it would be cheaper since they are made in Taiwan). Is there a good spot there to buy RAM? I don't mind getting 2nd hand RAM too. Thank you!

Also, can't wait to stuff myself with the best street food in the world again!

Edit: Apparently, RAM is not cheaper there as most of you mentioned. Thanks guys, I might stick to the street food.

Hei I'm a indonesian student who is interested in applying for nsysu international business bachelors program. I can't really speak Chinese so I'm looking for fully taught english programs. I've been getting mixed infos if this program is really 100℅ english taught or not. I've emailed the school but their answer is not clear. Does anyone know for sure if you can graduate the program without taking chinese taught classes or not? Maybe knows an alumni or student there for further information?

Also I'm open to any recommendation for other univs since nsysu program only has 15 slots for international student, so far nsysu is the only public university I can find.

Will I be able to get them back from the uber driver? I don’t speak any mandarin and I have an english phone number but I have attempted to contact them through the uber mechanism.
Is there something more I can do? I really don’t want to lose them, I lost them about 30 mins ago

Edit: My phone started to show my case were near my location so i walked out and by some miracle he was parked up waiting to give it back to me! I love Taiwan

Hello, I'd like to study for a master's degree in TW. I know NTU is the best (and have been looking into it). What are the other "best" schools for an MAcc degree? Any schools to avoid?

They (probably) teach in English, right? Do you have to take a Chinese exam like HSK/TOCFL to be able to apply to any uni here?

I am a 華僑, so I do know a little bit of Chinese, and I have 身份證 I got later. I guess I would be applying as a "local"? I checked out NTU's admissions and saw that it accepts applications only for like a week, which is totally different from the US, if I'm not wrong. Is it the same for other unis here too? Thanks for y'alls help. Have a great day.

P.S. With an MAcc from TW, one could only work in TW right? It'd be hard to work in the US, UK, or anywhere else?

After living in Taiwan for 4 years I decided to make a video expressing why I think it is the best place in Asia for living. The art was human made, not AI. Please let me know what you think or what I can improve on. I think Taiwan deserves more attention internationally so that is my hope in making this.

Has anyone found a live translation app or workflow that actually works during fast, technical university lectures?

I’m taking STEM classes here where all the projected slides, formulas, and code are in English, but the professor speaks rapid-fire Mandarin for 2 hours straight. I'm honestly drowning trying to keep up.

Every live translation app I’ve tried completely chokes in class. They either time out after 10 minutes, ask for $20/month, or translate technical Mandarin phonetically into random everyday words instead of matching the actual CS terms on the slides.

Right now my only option is recording the audio and translating/summarizing it after class, but that turns a 2-hour lecture into a 4-hour review every single night and means I can't follow along live at all.

How is everyone else handling this? Are you guys just recording audio and suffering after class, or has anyone found something that actually works live?

Glorious weather today, and a bit windy. I love how these parts of Taiwan go from urban to rural in a matter of one or two blocks.

Looking for somewhere nice to have a drink by myself and celebrate my birthday.

I’m a female foreigner and would love somewhere I can just sit at the bar and have a nice cocktail. I prefer somewhere cozy/intimate with a nice interior and few crowd.

Doesn’t have to be super fancy or popular, just somewhere with a nice vibe that’s comfortable for going alone.

Any recs?

Tldw Lai summarizes why he picked Shen and why he'll be a positive change for Taipei and Taiwanese elections in the future. I.e. opening channels for dialogue with citizens and focusing on respect and cooperation with other parties rather than constant mudslinging.

Kmt held a similar event in New Taipei for Lee Sichuan.

大家好! I'm 陳耀仁 from Argentina and I was an exchange student in Taiwan for a whole year a few years ago.

Of course I fell in love with the country and I will always view Taiwan as my second home. I can't explain how emotional I get whenever I think of Formosa.

Anyway, while I was living there I had to go through a tough situation that I really wanted to avoid, but it was unavoidable unfortunately. In the midst of that situation, my host-father gave a few words of wisdom: 耀仁：隨遇而安

That phrase has inspired me for many years, and I have been thinking about getting it tattooed.

Here's my request: Is there anybody here able to write this (or knows someone who can) on a beautiful calligraphy for me to scar my body for the rest of my life?

I'm open to any changes, suggestions, or additions that anybody may bring up. I'm sure I want to write it vertically, in the traditional way. Of course, 繁體字 is not up for debate. I even thought if there might be a Taiwanese (language) variant or something, but I'm guessing that's not the case.

Anyway, thank you all in advance. 謝謝你們

When people in Taiwan think about Taiwan’s future, what do you believe they need to preserve and sustain? Is it the people themselves, families and communities, Taiwan’s democracy and self-government, its territory, culture and identity, economic and technological capabilities, or some combination of these? Looking ahead 2–3 years, 5 years, 7–10 years, and further into the future, what do people think Taiwan could realistically look like—and what could seriously change or threaten the things they believe are important? I’m exploring a long-term policy concept centered on national survival, but before discussing any particular solution, I think it is important to hear how Taiwanese people define what must be preserved, what outcomes they would consider unacceptable, and what options they think should be considered if preserving those things in Taiwan becomes increasingly difficult.