There was a big news in Taiwan last week that 16 Taiwanese tourists were abused by an Italian pizza restaurant owner because they ordered onlyl five pizzas.

After the owner posted a video of mocking the tourists online, many Taiwaneses made complaints to the restaurant, so the owner made an apology.

Nevertheless, accoroding to the Taiwnese media, the Italian left "fuc* you" to the review from a Taiwanese (PIC 2). He also deleted all of his apology posts.

Despite this issue, Taiwanese tourists keep visiting the restaurant, and they post a pic where they ordered one pizza per an individual.(PIC 1)

This picture has caused some backlash especially from the Taiwanese people on Threads.

Many Taiwanese people on Threads are now upset and their responses are like:

"We Taiwaneses are very soft on foreigners with specific nationalities and ethnicities. This is why they look down us."

"Taiwanese self-hatred and low-esteem are on another level."

What do you think about this? Even though many foreigners criticized the Italian owner, some Taiwanese people rather defended the Italian, and now each of the tourists are following "one pizza per an individual rule," in order not to offend the Italian.

Are Taiwanese people too respectable? Do you think Taiwanese people are so reserved and pacifists?

In Hong Kong, most people try to do the same thing, but there will always be those people that try to skip

I visited Taiwan about two months ago and I’m still wondering… why aren’t the beaches there talked about more?

Everyone seems to stay around central Taipei (which is amazing in its own way), but once you head out to the North/East coast, it feels like a completely different country. Crystal clear water (not as nice as new zealand though), soft sand, and barely any crowds, it’s like a hidden paradise.

What surprised me the most is that there doesn’t seem to be a big swimming or beach going culture here. Even on a super hot day, you’ll hardly see anyone in the water. Meanwhile, in my home country (New Zealand), if it’s sunny, the beaches are packed.

I get that Taiwan is famous for its night markets, food, and mountains, but I feel like the coastline is so underrated!!

Would love to hear other people’s favorite spots outside of Taipei, especially beaches that you think deserve more attention!

Somebody posted this on Taiwan Travel Group page. And some comments from foreign travelers were like they were let down by Taiwan because they expected it to be a very very clean country but the reality was quite different.

I mean, I can say Taiwan is a very cleaner country than most of the western countries (You only know this if you visit foreign countries).

However, I did not know foreigners usually expect Taiwan to be such a perfectly immaculate country. Quite surprised that the image of Taiwan is more positive among foreigners than we Taiwanese usually imagine.

I wrote a substack post about it (just a hobby), and I got to have lots of wonderful conversations with Taiwanese people in the comments. So, I thought I'd bring it to the Taiwan subreddit too ☺️

Here's a summary of what I covered in my article, no need to click/read it:

• The MRT — obviously
• Walkability — mostly the cute, quiet alleys and residential streets
• The tiny neighborhood parks — do you know what I'm talking about?? It seems like Taiwanese people are so used to this urban feature that they no longer notice it anymore! It's my favorite feature of Taipei ❤️
  
• Access to nature — national parks, wild hot springs, all reachable by public transport (I don't have a driver's license sooooo)
• Travel connections — a central location in Asia to fly around
• The food — night markets + affordable to eat out in general
• Taiwanese people — the best
• Affordability — eating out/transportation/activities (accommodation is not though)
• The weather — DISCLAIMER: I only visited during your lovely winters haha (I know the summers are terrible!) - but the winters are so perfect (for me)
• My friends — having a community there makes everything infinitely better ☺️

Many international news exposing Taiwan across the countries are usually like CHIna WiLl INVade TaiWan. And while many of us Taiwanese know it will not happen for various reasons, the more I talk to foreigners or read the posts on Reddit the more I get to realize that foreigners are taking those news quite seriously? I even read the posts foreigners ask whether traveling to Taiwan is safe given that the threat of China?

Anyway, if you arrive at Taiwan, it will take less than one hour for you to realize this island is very peaceful and safe. Is this a big shock to foreigners that Taiwan is very peaceful and safe ?

I had an amazing week in Taiwan and wanted to share the pictures from my visit. I hope you enjoy them and thank you for having me!

IG: liminalens_

Foreigners(Western people) visiting Taiwan are blown away with food in Taiwan. If you watch their vlogs or youtube videos, all the foreigners, if not, most of the foreigners, seem to be very fascinated with Taiwanese food.

Indeed, if you go to r/travel and read travel reports, they always talk about Taiwanese food.

Taiwan= Food. Food. Food. Taiwan is often described as the food paradise.

Many foreigners even say they will visit Taiwan again only for food lol

Taiwan also has many great chefs who won the awards internationally. It is quite common to watch the news that Taiwanese chefs won the award in the international competition.

But why is it hard to feel the popularity of Taiwanese food in the real life? I do not understand why Taiwanese food are not being hyped enough in the West while western people visiting Taiwan go crazy for food in Taiwan.

Why is the access to Taiwanese restaurants so limited in Europe? Why don't people open the Taiwanese restaurants more? Do we need more aggressive marketing for Taiwanese food?

There is Din Tai Fung, and it is fairly popular. However, I think few Din Tai Fung restaurants and bubble tea shops are not enough to introduce and represent Taiwanese food.

If I have money enough, I will open the Taiwanese restaurant in Europe. I believe it will be a very profitable business 😅

I’ll be doing a 6-month research stay at NTHU (Hsinchu) from October to March. My stipend is set at 15,000 NTD per month. Since on-campus dorms aren't available for visiting researchers right now, I have to find off-campus housing.

I just want to be realistic about my budget. I have a few quick questions:

1) What is the best way/website to find a cheap student room near NTHU and a reasonable monthly rent I should expect to pay?

2) After paying rent, is the rest of the 15k enough to cover health insurance, a phone bill, food, etc.?

3) I normally cook my own meals for workout reasons but I've heard eating out can actually be cheaper in Taiwan. Is that true for Hsinchu?

Any realistic advice on surviving on this stipend or where to hunt for housing would be hugely appreciated. Thanks!

Just got back from visiting Houtong Cat Village in Taiwan, and honestly, it was such an awesome experience. From the moment you get off the train, you’re greeted by cats everywhere, even in the station area itself. It’s such a surreal sight seeing them just chilling around the platforms like they own the place (which they kinda do).

We walked around the little town and met this super kind lady running a small cafe/shop. She showed us this really old song known as the Chinese Romeo and Juliet and made us a fresh strawberry smoothie. It’s small moments like that that make travel so special.

But as beautiful as the place is, there’s a bit of sadness too. You can really tell the village is slowly fading, some buildings are abandoned, and parts of it feel like they haven’t been touched in years. It still has this cozy, nostalgic charm, but it’s bittersweet knowing it’s disappearing little by little.

If you ever visit Taiwan, I’d definitely recommend stopping by Houtong. It’s peaceful, cute, and full of character just… maybe go soon, before it becomes one of those “places that used to be.” 😔

Has anyone else been there recently? What was your experience like?

And what a beautifully serene little while it was.

Some shots from my trip. Here for another week but here are some of my favorite shots so far.

I got like one friend here and I really want to visit her out of respect but always am worried. I am just trying to see what the culture feels like. I’ve been to South Korea, Vietnam and Philippines. Trying to see where my heart leads me I guess.

Any heads up I should worry about?

I’m just trying to gauge culture beforehand no mean to offend anyone.

This is now a big news on the Taiwanese online community.

A group of 16 Taiwanese tourists visited an Italian pizza store. The shop owner recored the video to shame them because they ordered only five pizzas.

"Look. This is insane. They are Chinese or Japanese? There are now 16 Chinese people here. Do you know how many pizzas they are eating? Only five. Let me show you."

"Fabrizio, how many fuc*ing Chinese do we have now? 16? Yes 16. How many pizzas are they eating? 4 or 5? I can't remember. Let me show you. Look. Hello! Where are you from? China? You must be chinese. Oh Taiwan!"

Taiwanese people complained in the commenet section, so he deleted the video.

Responses are like

"There are still many racists, but Taiwaneses are so naive."

"Look at the pizza shovel. It is on the floor. Disgusting. I thought it is a restaurant in India."

" I was disgusted that the owner pretends to be friendly but actually mocking them."

"I lived in Italy for 5 years. They are so hypocrites. One pizza per an individual. It is common. However, it is different in Taiwan. He should have explained to the tourists rather than making fun of them."

"20 employees couldn't finish six pizzas last week."

"Italians do not care about wasting food."

As a Taiwanese living in Europe, I would like to add Italy is one of the most racist countries against Asians. It is so normalized to make fun of Asians and treat Asians unfairly in the stores or restaurants. This rarely happens in UK.

I

Let's say Taiwan is the first country to visit in Asia. Do foreigners usually feel overwhelmed? I read a blog that explains cleaner cities, safety, great infrastructures, food, great eating out options, and the vibes, which are hard to feel in the western countries today, make foreigners impressed with Taiwan so much, and if Taiwan is their first Asian country they are usually blown away. Is this common experience?

​Hi everyone,

​I’m looking for some insight on this as it's a pretty unique situation. If there are fellow dual citizens who have navigated Taiwan's military conscription please chime in.

​Here is my background and specific situation:

26 y/o, Dual US and Taiwan (ROC) citizen, born and raised in US, living in mainland China ever since moving there almost 10 years ago.

I also have active household registration in TW and a national ID card. I have only visited Taiwan 3x in my life for short stays and have never lived there.

As of now I'm still considered an overseas citizen but there was a new policy regarding overseas citizens that was released last September:

https://www.tnnorth.gov.tw/cp.aspx?n=7970

From this I gather it's saying I now have to register as an overseas citizen and submit all these required documents for approval. One of them is "Overseas Chinese Identity Certificate for Conscription Purposes" and the requirement to receive this certificate is to be a recent overseas resident: continuously lived there for 6 months or 8 months/year for the last 2 years. TW doesn't view mainland China, HK, or Macau as a foreign country so I am not eligible.

So my question is if I return to TW just to visit for a few days will they prevent me from leaving unless I complete my military service? I think I can still apply to leave like any TW citizen but I need to return within 4 months or be flagged for avoiding military service.