Sorry about this kinda stupid question, but i couldn’t seem to find the answer anywhere.
What are the beds like in Taiwan? Do people sleep on the ground or on real beds?
I know that might be steriotypical asian thinking (sleeping on the ground) but i was just wondering since my back KILLS if i sleep on too firm a surface.
[quote=“Springfield”]Sorry about this kinda stupid question, but i couldn’t seem to find the answer anywhere.
What are the beds like in Taiwan? Do people sleep on the ground or on real beds?
I know that might be steriotypical Asian thinking (sleeping on the ground) but i was just wondering since my back KILLS if i sleep on too firm a surface.[/quote]
No, it’s an important question. I have the same problem. I sleep on my side and the hard beds mean my spine ends up all out of whack. If we could go back a little further to sleeping on the ground where you could dig a hip and shoulder hole then it would be fine.
When I first moved here I purchased a couple of roll out camp bed firmarest things to put on the rock hard beds when I didn’t have a choice. I’ve since purchased a king size real bed with proper firm springs and the ability to give where needed.
Conclusion: You may find okay beds or they may be rock hard. Be prepared to cope until you can buy your own.
You can buy a thin layer of high quality foam that is made for the rock hard beds here as well.
Well since i’m a Foriegn Exchange student it’s basically whatever the family gives me to sleep on.
Oh and one more question… people do eat on chairs right? I know a guy who lived in China for 15 years and said the chinese were some of the only asians to actually sit on chairs while eating, but i’m wondering if the same goes for the Taiwanese (since they were occupied by the Japanese for some time).
They have beds but they tend to be hard. And yes, Taiwanese sit usually on chairs while eating, like many other Asians actually (though of course there are exceptions). And before you ask if they eat with their fingers or use some “tools” - practice using chop sticks. 
Knives, forks and spoons are very common here.
Don’t worry about this. You’ll probably be offered these; in many cases without your even asking for them.
Don’t fall for the old trick of giving a foreigner a plate of rice and chopsticks. It’s impossible. You eat rice off a plate with a spoon. As above, you can get foam top matresses or cotton futony-type things at the market. There will be no problem eating with spoons, knives, forks or whatever you fancy and every Taiwanese kitchen will have these things. I’ve been here since 1906 and I eat almost everything with a fork and a spoon except things which really are easier to eat with chopsticks. Almost every Taiwanese place I have seen has a table and chairs for eating. If your host family actually cooks and eats together that would be a rarity here. A nice rarity. Unless they are big into chicken intestines and steamed chou doufu.
Read: Lord Lucan, like all foreigners, could never master the complex art of eating with a couple of pieces of bleached scrapwood.
The beds are slitty and the mattresses inscrutable.
Remember to keep your cat sticks seperate from your dog sticks, it’s extremely bad luck to eat either animal with the wrong set of chopsticks - dogs and cats don’t like each other.
HG
Oh damn, i was looking forward to eating with chopstick 
I love eating with chopstick… except for the stuff thats insanely hard to pick up. I like to stab those things with forks.
Read: Lord Lucan, like all foreigners, could never master the complex art of eating with a couple of pieces of bleached scrapwood.[/quote]
This is correct. Despite eating Chinese and other Asian food from an early age and having taken every other Chinese invention and beaten China over the head with each one, it is impossible for a white man to use chopsticks correctly. It has in fact never been done. Which explains the cries of astonishment when one uses chopsticks with any degree of skill. I always like to counter with “Oh yes! And I can dress myself, too!”
(That comment is up there with “Fuck me it speaks Chinese!”)
Tip: Learn how to correctly eat with a Chinese ceramic spoon. I very rarely see them used “correctly” here and it would be a good put-down for an uppity local who laughs at your perfectly adequate chopstick dexterity. (Learning to spin them HK-style whilst eating noodles also impresses. I can’t do that yet. I’ve only been practising for 20 years though…)
Spin them HK style?? Is that when you like, get a bunch of it and spin it a half turn or whatever so you can shovel it into your mouth?
Also, what is a Chinese Ceramic Spoon???
Well… myabe i;ll learn when i arrive
most of the time you’ll be eating your food out of a paper box with some thin bamboo dowels as chopsticks and a very flimsy plastic Chinese style spoon.Soup is served from a plastic bag.
The beds are just the lower boxspring section usually used in western style beds.One side is cloth for winter and imitation plastic reed on the other side for summer.
Plastic is very common in Taiwan
Pity you waited for 80 years before beginning practise. Maybe you’ll get it right before the big one.
SPringfield -
I hope you’re taking notes.
This is stuff the guidebooks don’t tell ya’
Yup. When eating noodles, hold the chopsticks horizontally and spin them around one another so the noodles wrap around the sticks. Then place entire bowl of noodles in mouth in one go.
[quote=“Springfield”]Also, what is a Chinese Ceramic Spoon???
Well… myabe i;ll learn when i arrive :P[/quote]
The spoon they give you to eat soup etc with. You don’t put your thumb across the top at 90 degrees. You place your forefinger into the groove along the top. Hard to explain in words. Important to know if the emperor invites you to dinner.
Oh yes yes i’m taking notes. I’ll be sure to hone my HK chopstick noodle twirling skills later.
[quote=“TainanCowboy”]SPringfield -
I hope you’re taking notes.
This is stuff the guidebooks don’t tell ya’[/quote]
Yes, and when you are served your bowl of rice, violently thrust your chopsticks into the rice so that they are jutting straight out at a 90 degree angle and start chanting like an American Indian… hihowareya hihowareya
it’s only considered polite.
You guys really crack me up 
It was acutally funny last time I was in Taiwan I had more skill with the sticks than a couple of ladies I went out with as they decided to stab the poor dumplings
You’re thinking too much! You’re not going to Japan where you have to observe all kinds of samurai rituals.
If you can’t pick up something with chopsticks, use them to shove it from the bowl directly to your mouth. As a wài guó rén, you’re also allowed to stab things with your chopsticks, so you don’t need a fork either. Just don’t forget to say “hǎo chī” frequently and you’ll be fine.