Here come the mosquitoes!

Mosquitoes (蚊子wen zi) in Taiwan target foreigners, so prepare yourself!

In the case that you do get stung by Taiwanese mosquitoes, find a pharmacy (藥局yao ju) soon. The bites are irritatingly itchy and may drive you crazy!

Ask the pharmacists for mosquito medicine like this:

請       問  您   有     蚊      蟲     藥 嗎？

Qing wen nin you  wen chong yao ma?

Hopefully, you will NOT get stung! 

A Smiling Bike? 微笑單車

Besides the MRT, you can bike to places as another form of transportation (others include buses and taxis).

With a rental rate of only 10NTD for 30 minutes, there's no wonder why UBike (YouBike) has become popular. This simple bike system adds to the convenience of travel in Taipei City. 

If you see a bike with a yellow thingy on the back wheel (with a smile or a commercial), your looking at a UBike bike. 

To rent one, you must register your EasyCard at a station's kiosk with a  phone (for an authorization code). 

Then you go to a bike dock and put your EasyCard over the sensor, thus loosening the bike dock. 

After... bike for as long as you want. Don't forget that 10NTD/ 30min. will be deducted from your EasyCard.

Later, when your done with the bike, rack it into any station. And swipe your EasyCard. You're done! 

If you can't find a YouBike station nearby to rack or retrieve a bike from, download this app:

臺北好行 or Fun Travel in Taipei

Hope you enjoy biking with UBike!!

Typhoon!! 颱風蘇力

Omg!!! A typhoon (Soulik) prepares to hit Taiwan!

A typhoon is kinda like a hurricane. Well... work and classes have stopped in the Taipei area. So we can all look forward to strong winds and heavy rain! Yay! Jk. 

Look at this MRT station! Wa sai! 

One time while walking with 4 umbrellas in a typhoon, all of them flipped upside down! 

Last Message: 

BRACE YOURSELVES!!! Jk.

---------------
Aftermath:

Many more trees followed suit.












So, typhoons are something to prepare and be alert for.
Please do not rely on convenience store umbrellas in a huge storm like Soulik (several flipped upside down in a previous typhoon- Not fun!).

Take MRT 啦!

To get to places I take the MRT/ subway (捷運 jie yun). It's sooo convenient.

Yet it's crowded!!!

So when one train comes, a big crowd comes out and transfers to the other one , and it becomes smaller. Then another train arrives. And it repeats and repeats... train after train...

        To take the MRT, you simply buy a token from the token station or you can use an EasyCard (yo yo card) 悠遊卡, and put either on the card sensor. The "door" will open. 

        I recommend the EasyCard, because you can use it for the bus, MRT, convenience stores like 7-11, and much more! You can buy one of these at many convenience stores for 200NTD—100deposit, 100usable (esp. 7-11 for their card designs). 

  The green card is a student card, while the multicolored card is the regular one.

        Next you simply just go the side of the platform that your destination is and slide your card or push in your token at the exits. Careful not to fall into the train tracks (most stations don't have platform screen doors)! Refer to this map:

http://web.trtc.com.tw/img/all/routemapDanfengbig.jpg 

In da Taiwan!

Many people like to go to places like Hawaii for vacation, right? Well I go to Taiwan.

          The airplane.

          My ticket to happiness!

While landing, I thought to myself, "I'm finally home!" Right when I got off the plane, a familiar warm, moist air greeted me.

I knew jetlag would be a derp, so sleeping was the priority. On the second day, it kicked in alright.