Has anybody stayed there? What’s it like? Is it more like an apartment or a hostel? Can you have guests over? Is it creepy?
No idea but the Grand Hotel is great if you ever stay there. Try the presidential suite, you will feel like a king 
Are you talking about Howard International House? If so, here’s an earlier post made for someone looking for a good value/quality hotl.
Howard International House. This is part of the Howard group. The government built a training complex in the centre of Taipei and Howard built the accommodation facilities. Rooms are a tad small and service basic but excellent facilities (gym, indoor pool, etc). I have recommended it to many business visitors coming out from the UK and have had excellent reports. It is very good value at around NT$1,800 a night. They have airport pick-up.
Howard International House
No. 30, Hsin-sheng (Xinsheng) South Rd., Sec. 3
Taipei 106
Taiwan, R.O.C.
Tel: 886-(0)2-8369-1155
Fax: 886-(0)2-8369-1177
If you mean International House in Hsin Tien, I stayed there for a couple of weeks when I first came here. I guess it’s more like a hostel but you can have your own room, though there are communal bathrooms. It’s cheap and there are free shuttle buses into Hsin Tien city - the hostel is further up the mountain side. The rooms are clean and the staff are very helpful. Food was a problem - they have one restaurant in the basement and a 7-11 next door. That’s about it and they frown on cooking in your own room because of the fire risk. I guess they must have a website?
never stayed there, but have known several students at shida who have. from what i gathered, it’s cheap and it has a college dorm feel to it. i hung out with i-house people who all knew each other from living there. on the minus side, there’s not much privacy and it’s damn far from all the cool stuff in the middle of taipei.
If you mean International House, the language school, there isn’t one.
I meant the one in Hsin Tien.
Do they have rules against letting guests sleep over? (If you have a room and not just a dorm bed.)
all the people i knew lived in the 4-person rooms. i’ve known a couple of people who’ve crashed there for a night or so. not sure what their rules are or how strictly they enforce them, though.
In Hsin Tien, up on that damned hill, Guo Ji Xue She. Speaking from experience, it’s not creepy, though a Korean friend of mine has recently seen two ghosts in his room (or something like that). Anyways, if you’re a girl it’s cheaper, which is incredibly unfair. Single room, one month $8800, share with one other $6600, share with 3 others, $5500 etc etc. There’s a restaurant downstairs, as was mentioned, with incredibly rude staff, but the food’s not bad. Buses go to all the universities every morning for $10. Newspapers are provided as is linen, and cable TV in your room if you want to pay a little extra. There are very enpensive guest rooms on the upper floors for about $20000 per month or something ridiculously unaffordable like that. Gym, BB court, table tennis tables, washing and drying facilities. As for having friends stay over, you can do it if you have a single room, or a guest room, but just don’t tell the reception they’re going to stay overnight… they do it all the time. Anyways, hope it’s been some help.
Thank you everybody, especially LazyMF. Um, how do I find this hill from the MRT? I don’t know the names of the hills, except Lantern Hill and Snake Head Hill. Which side of the Hsin Tien River is it on?
Frodo,
At 8.800 per month I’d be looking to share an apartment with somebody downtown. That seems incredibly over priced tome especially when you are going to be to hell and gone.
Sorry, thought the thread was about the International House of Pancakes! Damn, I’m hungry.
yeah, for that kind of dough, not sure why you’d want to stay all the way out there. nt$8k will get you a share in the middle of taipei with your own room and what not.
Well I like the area, and it would be nice not to have to sign a lease–to have the freedom to run away to Thailand for the summer and not pay rent. You don’t think it’s a good place to live?
Anyway, where is this hill it’s on?
Umm, well the hill is, umm, in Chi Chang somewhere. Let’s see… you’ll either want to get the MRT to Chichang and then walk up to McDonalds, cross the road (not the main road; just go straight) and turn left (there’s usually people waiting for the minibus under a couple of trees. Scab a ticket off someone, and then it will take you straight there. The easier way is to get the MRT to Hsin Tien City Hall, and hop in a taxi. There is no way to walk up the hill (of course there is if you wanna walk, get hit by many cars, and sweat about 20 pounds). All the taxi drivers know where it is, just say Guo Ji Xue She. If you want the address, post a reply stating so, and I’ll post it up on wednesday/thurdsay (I don’t have it on me at the moment).
But the others are right, it’s a ridiculous amount of money to pay by anyone’s standards. The only reason I’m stanying there is because I’m on a scholarship and work two jobs. I’d actually rather like to move out. But apart from that, it’s relatively convenient and the people are nice. Will post again on thurs probably.
I have the address, it’s 102 Hsin Pao. Unfortunately that means nothing to me, it’s probably one of those roads that goes between the hills way up there.
Okay, I’m walking south toward the corner where McDonalds is, there are a bunch of bulletin boards. I keep going straight and cross the street. Coming up the next cross-street has a pedestrian overhead walkway, and so does the next. I turn left (east) on the first one, right?
And then what? Let’s say I want to walk instead of take a taxi. Is it up in that valley that has the “Big Incense Mountain” Buddhist temple at the top end?
Yep, just turn left (if you really wanna walk) at the road with the pedestrian walkway above it, then go straight to the end of that road. At the end, turn right (convenience store on the corner), and walk for about 400m until you reach an elementary school. At this point you should be able to cross the road (there’s a big, newish looking building on the other side, #222). Across from this building is a convenience store. The road that ascends between these two buildings, is the one that will take you to I-House. If you like (if it’s possible), I can post a map up for you… up to you though. Hope you can find it.
I found it! Thank you, Lazy MF!
It’s beautiful! I am seriously tempted. I can’t believe I’ve never seen it before, I love this part of Taipei. Heh heh, they probably wouldn’t have any rooms at all if not for the hill!
What–they keep men and women in separate wings? And don’t let them enter each other’s wings? But how can that be? What if someone wants to have over an, er, visitor of the opposite sex?
Do people there tend to all know each other, or is it too transient for that, like a hostel?
Check out the trails up behind International House. Great biking and walking up there – you can go right over the hills and come out where all the tea houses are at Maokung, up above Muzha.
There is a considerable amount ‘sleeping over’ going on, it’s just that nobody talks about it 
Boys and girls in separate wings, yes. But that hasn’t stopped anyone I know of having a relationship. And as for it being a transient environment, well, yes and no… there are a lot of great people there (relatively permanent residents), but it’s up to you to get to know them or not. And even those who only stay for a month or so… I find it’s been a little like having house-mates who you never get bored of, because there’s so many, and they’re always changing…
Anyway, the important people never leave