Top 10 reasons to check out Chingchuan’s new Youth Cultural Center

By Fr. Barry Martinson / The Wild East The Taoshan Youth Cultural Center opened in Chingchuan, Hsinchu County. Here are the top 10 reasons to go check it out! 1. CHINGCHUAN ALREADY HAD AN ABANDONED BUILDING… The old Taushan credit union/coop building had been abandoned and unusable for over ten

Read more

How to Move to Taiwan

Trista di Genova (and NTU students), The Wild East The following article is an expansion on class discussion with National Taiwan University students. The topic was “What to tell your ABC cousin about moving to Taiwan.” What to bring: Bring your own, preferably laptop computer because the operating system is

Read more

China’s like Taiwan’s ‘asshole twin sister’

Ron’s an acupuncturist practicing in the U.S. after having studied Chinese Medicine in Taiwan, then China. Follow Ron’s blog, “Adventures of 22nd Century Chinese-Like Boy” My friend Michael in Seattle, who is also an acupuncturist, wrote me an email recently. He noticed that my blog entries in China haven’t been

Read more

More on what ‘rehab’ is like in Taiwan: Alcatraz!

The Wild East / Society What is ‘rehab’ like in Taiwan? From the following account, it’s pretty much like Alcatraz, except for the few hours a day of forced ‘meditation’. This year, a foreigner tested on the margin of error for having smoked marijuana, and was forced to go to

Read more

Is there such a thing as ‘rehab’ in Taiwan? Short answer: No.

The Wild East / Society In Taiwan, the authorities don’t really grasp the concept of a ‘rehabilitation centre’ or what ‘rehab’ is supposed to do, for that matter – to rehabilitate, help people detoxify and get off drink and drugs. In North America, on the other hand, going to rehab

Read more

Taiwan firefighters overworked, pressured not to speak up

The Wild East / Society Taiwan firefighters would like to change the system – by putting firestations, like the police, under local government control Earlier this year, Taipei Times actually had a relevant article about Alex Chu, who called for the improvement of working conditions of Taiwan’s firemen. Chu filed

Read more

Bobwundaye and Revolver: In search of Open Mic nights in Taipei

By Trista di Genova / The Wild East Pubs in Taipei and Taiwan in general seem to have difficulty staying afloat! Several Taipei bars which used to feature open mic events closed doors, such as The Living Room and Citizen Cain, as well as Bliss. But there are still a

Read more

Your Temple Is My Office

By Trista di Genova / The Wild East / Comedy There’s a temple I frequent in East Taipei, but I won’t say exactly where it is for fear other people will come and ‘rush’ it. For when you hear how awesome my office-temple is, you will have the urge to

Read more

Taichung Refuge ‘Writ IV’ event a Mecca for writers this weekend

“The Written Word is Solace, A Sword, A Universe in a World.”— Paul Davies “The Writ: Words Over a Deep Hole” will provide a literary evening at The Taichung Refuge this Saturday, September 29, 2012. Some of the Readers/Performers include: Kevin MacCash, Megan Dooley, Keith Nipper Gypsi, Hopey The Wizzard

Read more

Five of Taiwan’s Best: A Travel Writer’s Recent Discoveries

Steven Crook’s List of Taiwan hot spots A few days ago a friend asked me this question: “Of the places you’ve been to recently, which have been the most impressive or most memorable?” I thought about this for a little while, and came up with a list of five attractions.

Read more