If you are a man and over a size 11.5 for shoes I’d bring as many pairs as you can carry…Ditto if you are a woman who wears a size 9 or above.
Hmm, I’m sure the OP is now thinking, ‘Hmm, better take that kilo of coke out of my bag now: I might DIE!’. [/quote]
I had the misfortune of working with a hardcore fundy christian while I was in Korea whose “logic” (he is a creationist, so that should tell you his level of “logic”) was, “I’m a Canadian, so I can smoke pot in while I’m in Korea.”
I shit you not. The moron actually rationalized it that way, that drug laws only applied to Korean citizens.
[quote=“british_desi”][quote=“citizen k”]Decent deodorant. Hard to find in TW. I always stock up when abroad.
And 7-eleven or some variety thereof (Hi-Life, Family Mart) are everywhere here. You can’t walk more than a few steps without seeing one!
Welcome to f.com[/quote]
hahahah thanks matey. I actually was going to get that from there.
Do you enjoy living in Taiwan?[/quote]
Especially the under-arm variety.
Edit: Actually scratch that. You can even find that easily enough at Carrefour. Mulling it over and browsing through this thread has led me to conclude:
a. I’ve been here too long,
because,
b. I think that besides the female underwear and hygiene products Buttercup described you can find almost anything on this island. Even boerewors and biltong.
I’ve just spent the last year and a half in Albania. Trust me, finding things in Taipei is easy.
I know the boys might enjoy this post, but I’d take over the counter yeast infection medicine. You can’t get anything (for a yeast infection) OTC in Taiwan. Of course, there’s always the plain yogurt method, but it’s messy. I’d never had a yeast infection until I moved to Taiwan. Trust me, if the dr and his nurse think you can’t understand, they don’t care a whit about confidentiality. Better to be able to try to fix the problem yourself first.
McCormic Ranch dressing mix is available at Costco, but Hidden Valley is un-heard of there.
Other than that, or maybe a Mr. Pibb, I think you could get nearly everything you could think of in Taipei.
[quote=“housecat”]I know the boys might enjoy this post, but I’d take over the counter yeast infection medicine. You can’t get anything (for a yeast infection) OTC in Taiwan. Of course, there’s always the plain yogurt method, but it’s messy. I’d never had a yeast infection until I moved to Taiwan. Trust me, if the dr and his nurse think you can’t understand, they don’t care a whit about confidentiality. Better to be able to try to fix the problem yourself first.
McCormic Ranch dressing mix is available at Costco, but Hidden Valley is un-heard of there.
Other than that, or maybe a Mr. Pibb, I think you could get nearly everything you could think of in Taipei.[/quote]
McCormick ranch dressing for a yeast infection?!? Hidden Valley, I can understand…
YOU USE RANCH DRESSING? But they sell Canestan cream over the counter!
I just want to thank everyone who has posted! I really do appreciate it and am repacking as we type. I booked a return for mid March so that’ll give me enough time to realise what I need when there. But all your lists have v helpful and put things into perspective me, once again thanks I appreciate it 
I’m a lil worried about the bread there though. Do the high end supermarkets not stock regular whole wheat bread? If not I’m going to try to sneak some loafs in :loco: .
There have been some interesting wants/needs mentioned I doub’t I’ll be needing them though. To each their own hey.
I need this cough to go before I’m in Taiwan!!! Cough cough time to eat a normal meal while I can.
Thanks again peeps
[quote=“anglophonus”][quote=“housecat”]I know the boys might enjoy this post, but I’d take over the counter yeast infection medicine. You can’t get anything (for a yeast infection) OTC in Taiwan. Of course, there’s always the plain yogurt method, but it’s messy. I’d never had a yeast infection until I moved to Taiwan. Trust me, if the dr and his nurse think you can’t understand, they don’t care a whit about confidentiality. Better to be able to try to fix the problem yourself first.
McCormic Ranch dressing mix is available at Costco, but Hidden Valley is un-heard of there.
Other than that, or maybe a Mr. Pibb, I think you could get nearly everything you could think of in Taipei.[/quote]
McCormick ranch dressing for a yeast infection?!? Hidden Valley, I can understand…[/quote]
Ha ha ha. Silly boy (or girl). I do admit to the non-sequitur feel, there, and to the funny-ness of the pun, but I meant it as a list. But of course, you knew that.
And while I was an almost terminal “user” of ranch dressing at one point in my life (actually, until I went to Taiwan and Hidden valley was no longer available), I never used it for THAT!
[quote=“british_desi”]I’m a lil worried about the bread there though. Do the high end supermarkets not stock regular whole wheat bread? If not I’m going to try to sneak some loafs in :loco: .
[/quote]
Bread is plentiful…unfortunately, so is the sugar content…
[quote=“bismarck”][quote=“british_desi”]I’m a lil worried about the bread there though. Do the high end supermarkets not stock regular whole wheat bread? If not I’m going to try to sneak some loafs in :loco: .
[/quote]
Bread is plentiful…unfortunately, so is the sugar content…[/quote]
Oh crap!!!
[quote=“Sleepyhead”]
First thing first: It’s winter, and “winter” this year is unusually cold for Taiwan - it got down to 11 celsius this week.[/quote]
Yea, it may be 11C, but I always froze my *ss of in the dampness of Taipei’s wet winters. I could never find decently-priced natural fiber sweaters (jumpers), so I brought them from home. I also owned several turtleneck shirts and would have died without a leather jacket.
Call me a wus, or worse, but I was grateful for having them while waiting for a bus, or riding an obscenely-over-airconditioned bus, or riding a scooter in 11 degree winter rain.
Also, I even brought an electric breadmaker with me after one vacation. I couldn’t stand to eat the bread there.
Hmm, I’m sure the OP is now thinking, ‘Hmm, better take that kilo of coke out of my bag now: I might DIE!’. [/quote]
I had the misfortune of working with a hardcore fundy christian while I was in Korea whose “logic” (he is a creationist, so that should tell you his level of “logic”) was, “I’m a Canadian, so I can smoke pot in while I’m in Korea.”
I shit you not. The moron actually rationalized it that way, that drug laws only applied to Korean citizens.[/quote]
I would think that it had more to do with being a Canadian than anything to do with being “fundy” Christian.
Yeah, bring a good leather jacket and a wool sweater.
Yeah, there’s mediocre whole wheat bread at some local neighborhood shops, dense multigrain (for a price) at Costco, and some nice but expensive breads at the high end supers. I’ll bet there’s some good bread at Belgian Pie’s shop, too.
Then when you get here check out the existing thread (virtually anything you could want has been asked about before, so please do search rather than starting a new thread), for where to find each item in the respective forums – Food, Health, etc., and Where Can I Find is the catch-all for the remainder.
[quote=“british_desi”]I just want to thank everyone who has posted! I really do appreciate it and am repacking as we type. I booked a return for mid March so that’ll give me enough time to realise what I need when there. But all your lists have v helpful and put things into perspective me, once again thanks I appreciate it
I’m a lil worried about the bread there though. Do the high end supermarkets not stock regular whole wheat bread? If not I’m going to try to sneak some loafs in :loco: .
There have been some interesting wants/needs mentioned I doub’t I’ll be needing them though. To each their own hey.
I need this cough to go before I’m in Taiwan!!! Cough cough time to eat a normal meal while I can.
Thanks again peeps[/quote]
This is a very good plan.
When I came here the first time, I unwisely listened to my Taiwanese coworkers advice. Alas, 6 months later, I went back home and had to repack all the stuff they had told me NOT to pack…
[quote]british_desi wrote:
Do the high end supermarkets not stock regular whole wheat bread?
Yeah, there’s mediocre whole wheat bread at some local neighborhood shops, dense multigrain (for a price) at Costco, and some nice but expensive breads at the high end supers. I’ll bet there’s some good bread at Belgian Pie’s shop, too.
[/quote]
We definetively need the feedback of someone living in Ilan. The image I have in my mind is rather pastoral -correct me if I’m wrong- meaning the right kind of bread might be quite a quest -but that is part of the adventure. For example, I live close to a rather local bread store, but their bagels, French bread and chocolate pudding are quite impressive.
Anyway COSTCO has bread machines, too, doesn’t it?
Yeah, a lot of the comments on availability are being made by people (like me) in Taipei. Availability might differ greatly in Yilan. But at least you’ll have the option of shopping runs to the big city.
Yilan, hey?
bring mould killer, and clothes that won’t rot on you. and fungicide for feet and groin and other sundry places…
and i hope you like salted smoked duck. and cow’s tongue biscuits. and tomatoes that have a baby tomato growing out of their side. and cream fudges. seriously.
There’s good eating in Yilan! Used to drive through that wee tunnel and go hotspringing there (That’s Yilan, isn’t it?), then eating.
No, that is Dartford.