How's Taitung?

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
41

This song makes we want to go to Taitung. 到底.

破吉他 Used Guitar
詞曲 張震嶽 導演 林悅恩

最好是艷陽天 約在海邊不散不見
It’s a sunny day, Let’s all meet-up beachside

一定有人爽約 喝太多起不來之類 到底
There must be some folks who miss the date, still hung-over from last nite

理由總是有太多 時間浪費在上網 遊戲之間
Don’t waste too much time surfing the net and web games

難得假日星期天 何不騎著單車去
Rare Sunny Sunday, why not ride out on you’re bike?

看看河岸夕陽很美 不要再睡
Go check out the beautiful sunset by the River Bank, get up and don’t go back to sleep

一陣浪花打來 夏天皮膚特別黝黑
Go enjoy the summer waves splashing against your back

遠方幾個辣妹 濃妝艷抹照樣戲水
Hot chicks hanging-out at the beach getting tanned

漂浮在平靜海面 腦子空空沒所謂 一隻海龜
Floating on my surfboard, like a sea turtle

有點不想回台北
I’m thinking I don’t want to go back to Taipei

幻想退休養老要在花蓮
I’m fantasizing about retiring in Hualien

買一塊農地養雞種田
I’ll buy a farm and go raise some chickens

任何事都為別人 自己擺在最後面
Always placing other’s priorities first, leaving myself for last

來一次遠走高飛 再猶豫就別後悔
Don’t hesitate, just take off with no regrets

擇期不如就今天 bye bye blue Monday
There is no timing better than today. Bye Bye Blue Monday

肩上一把破吉他 流浪到天邊
Just wander into the horizon with my broken guitar

任何事都為別人 自己擺在最後面
Always placing other’s priorities first, leaving myself for last

來一次遠走高飛 再猶豫就別後悔
Don’t hesitate, just take off with no regrets

擇期不如就今天 bye bye blue Monday
There is no timing better than today. Bye Bye Blue Monday

肩上一把破吉他 流浪到天邊
Just wander into the horizon with my broken guitar

流浪到天邊 流浪到天邊 再見呀再見
Stray into the horizon, Stray into the horizon, goodbye, goodbye

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42

Oops. Too close. And it’s my thread :laughing:

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43

You got the city wrong in your own thread. That is worthy of much respect, sir! I have made some cock-ups but aspire to reach such a level.

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44

He nearly stole my idea. I’m fantasizing about Dulan or Nanwan, with some chicks, not raising chickens.

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45

We all need goals. That’s a good one!

46

Same diff. They both only last a few months til slaughter, unless they are layers.

If moving to SE Taiwan would strongly suggest having your business plan very well thought out (if you plan long term stay) being an english teacher, part time bar anything, surfer etc etc is great fun but not often a sustainable lifestyle for most. If it is, great, but if you need money…plan well.

59

Big prank.

60

I like Taitung as much as the next guy, but that’s silly.

Guy

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61

*Methodology: The 2022 Most Welcoming Cities ranking is based on the share of properties receiving a Traveller Review Award in 2022 within a given destination. Cities were sorted by the total share of Traveller Review Award 2022 recipients when compared to the total number of eligible properties in that city. Cities also had to have an above average number of winners to be included on this list (50 award recipients or higher) and were curated slightly for geographic spread.

So this is not really about the city in general, but more about the properties (hotels, B&Bs etc.) and how many traveler review awards they did receive. Without much foreign travelers coming to Taiwan, I guess those reviews were mostly done by domestic travelers. Are there many good places to stay within the city limits or did they include Taitung County? If there were many homestays included I can understand how the score was high. Lot of homestay owners in Taitung running welcoming places, often people who do it with passion, not trying to get rich.

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62

I agree! Some great people in that industry, which is getting better and better. :grin:

Guy

63

Homestay means what…B&‚Bs?
If so they are getting expensive as hell for a mediocre product…They barely provide breakfast these days. I just like to stay in them because they are in scenic areas. Is Taitung different for some reason ?

64

Taitung seems minimal support is provided at B&B. Many just give a coupon to McDonalds or another place for breakfast even if staying no where close.

I think a lot of Taitung B&B started opening during Chinese tourism and continued to open as the Taiwan government pumps money and marketing into tourism. So people many B&B places aren’t really professional but rather just provide the minimal support. Nearly always clean at least in my experience.

65

I suspect you’re staying in the wrong places.

In Taitung, I’ve found spots (both B&Bs and eateries) operated by young people who perhaps grew up in Taitung before spending time in the Big City (and/or abroad) before returning to open a business, with a markedly different mindset from the old-school hotels we’ve come to know and hate. I’ve found booking dot com to be helpful to see lots of images and read lots of reviews before selecting a place to stay. This of course takes some time and will also exclude a number of worthy independent businesses that choose not to be affiliated with that website (and perhaps the fees that it would incur). But despite these limitations, it’s worked well for me so far.

Guy

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66

Oh yeah it must be me.:joy:
It couldn’t be that Taiwanese business people are greedy or saving money.

67

This is what I mean. Same as the rest of the country then. Covid has been great for them as they had an excuse to ‘not cook breakfast because of covid’.

68

Nah it’s not just you. It’s the unevenness of the scene out there—whether its accommodation or eating.

I’ll tell you this. For the first decade I lived in Taiwan, I mostly detested domestic travel despite loving the scenery in the mountains. Why? Lousy places to stay—not clean, not cheap, not cool! Old school places that cost more than what I would have been paying for EXCELLENT accommodation in Japan. Screw this, I thought. I’ll just spend my hard earned cash in Japan, where I’d have better food, better accommodation, better value in every way.

Slowly things started to shift for me—maybe a decade ago. And with the pandemic and international travel not workable, I refocused on travel in Taiwan. I’ve been pleasantly surprised. But again, I have not been randomly choosing places, and I typically book a couple of weeks ahead, which I understand is also not how most Taiwanese would do things. :rofl:

So Mr Jones, how much time do you spend scrolling through reviews and planning ahead? Or do you just take off and go? If it’s the latter, you may once again be ready for honorary Taiwanese citizenship!

Guy

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69

Staying in B&Bs can get expensive when you have a family, during CNY or holidays they go crazy with the prices , we sometimes choose hotels because they give a better deal with breakfast. I hate paying a lot of money and not getting what is supposed to be provided…A breakfast.

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70

All that is certainly true. I typically avoid peak times (luckily I can do that), which may make my experience more pleasant too.

Guy

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71

lf they don’t provide breakfast, they are probably just B’s.

I just need clean and cheap, really. If these smaller places provide breakfast it’s most likely not good anyway. Some just order from a breakfast joint. If the breakfast is great and the rates are cheap, they probable struggle to make ends meet, or they just run the business for the fun of it.

72

These days the rates are not cheap. They dropped the breakfasts and kept or even increased the rates. Sure they might give you the really crappy breakfast vouchers or order in some crap food from the local breakfast joint etc.
This is because so many people have been trapped here. You can get some deals on weekdays but weekend and holidays can get ridiculous. Chinese new year is a horror zone with absolutel shitholes going for 6k a night minimum in Kaohsiung…As an example. Ah well. There are some cheaper deals in less popular spots though away from cities and the less touristy areas. You can get lucky sometimes too but prices really rocketed the last two years. Tsiwan has a lot of wealthy people, it’s not cheap . Can’t wait to stay in a resort or decent but reasonably priced place overseas again !
Why do people think these b&b owners struggle to make ends meet lol…Why would they struggle ?
Half of them just converted their parents houses or whatever and do it as a side biz. The other half can be places with ten rooms and are mini hotels without the service . They will give you a package deal (many won’t let you stay unless you book the package ) , a little tour or a cultural introduction (the old days would be hello, show you around for 20 mins and free ) or a dinner and then they will charge lots of $$$ more. They are smart business people including many Aboriginal owners who are doing very well. Nothing wrong with it I guess but very much business minded.

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