Just a warning about this organization. I recently e-mailed a few times with “Eddie” about staying in his Taitung hostel. I was not sure which day during a given week I would arrive, so he said just call beforehand, he would be there through Friday for sure.
The Web page says the hostel is in the harbor at Taitung, so I rode to the harbor after arriving in Taitung on Thursday, and phoned. Since Eddie’s English hadn’t been what I would call “comfortable” for cell phone use previously, I called the other number listed on the Web site which was marked for Chinese calls – a “Sophie”. She answered and gave me directions to the hostel. I had problems finding it and stopped to ask for directions, whereupon the helpful Taiwanese guys stopped their tea-brewing and called her again to confirm where the place was.
I set off again, but I still couldn’t find it. I’m supposed to be looking for some “red thing” over the roadway. No red things in sight. It was supposed to take about 30 minutes to get there according to both calls. So finally I called Eddie’s number instead (right after getting a warning that my pre-paid card was low on time, just BTW). Instead of answering my question, which was “How far outside of the town is your hostel?” he went off on me about why was I calling him, he wasn’t there, he was in Kenting with Famous Film Director, etc. etc. Meanwhile, I keep asking him where the place is, since I’ve just spoken with the girl twice, and presumably if she gives me directions twice within the past hour telling me how to get there, it’s open. Turns out it is NOT open, but he didn’t bother to tell her he’d left and evidently she can’t/won’t/doesn’t open it…?? And he keeps asking me why I called her instead of him. Um, because her number is listed on the Web site? Anyhow, NOT a good experience when one is adrift on a bicycle in an unfamiliar place with daylight getting short. I ended up having to ride to Dulan to make sure of having Internet to check mail for work.
Everyone is entitled to a bad day, and everyone is entitled to close down their operations if they want to. But it’s a really good idea to inform your co-workers/employees/whatever if you do, so they can tell other people, and it’s a really BAD idea to yell at customers who are operating on a reasonable assumption that you are open since someone just told them how to get there.