I need to get out of my appartment. I need a place to write. Are there any cafes in Taipei (or in BanCiao) where I could take my laptop and work for a couple of hours a day?
If this place had free wi-fi (does that exist anywhere here?), that would be a huge plus.
Nook Cafe near Songjiang and Nanjing East roads has free wireless internet access. I am sure many other cafes offer the same.
McCafe?
[quote=“ratbrain”]McCafe?[/quote]Does that mean McDonald’s? Because I’m pretty sure they have paying wireless…I could be wrong
the best place to write is any Starbucks in town.
On the other hand, I dislike seeing only students , writers and sleepers in ANY cafe or coffee store while lurking at the same drink for 4 hours or more not giving ME the possibility to put my ass on a chair. I am gonna complain to Starbucks one day for sure.
Starbucks charges for wireless access. Does anyone know if Dante charges?
How about a sticky with a list of places (coffee shops etc.) and if they are free or not?
[quote=“Rascal”]Starbucks charges for wireless access. Does anyone know if Dante charges?
How about a sticky with a list of places (coffee shops etc.) and if they are free or not?[/quote]The Dantes that I’ve tried all have the same paying wifi as Starbucks…
I go to Sphere (it’s where all the pimps go 
.) It’s on Ren’ai and Xinsheng. You’ll see a gas station, it’s next to that on the second floor (above a Noble Steak house.)
They have free WiFi and huge tables (I love those huge tables.) They have cakes and stuff too!
sdwe
in Shi-Da and Gonguan Bastille Cafe has a big selection of Belgian beers and free wireless. Most cafes in Gonguan have free wireless.
[quote=“miltownkid”]I go to Sphere (it’s where all the pimps go .) It’s on Ren’ai and Xinsheng. You’ll see a gas station, it’s next to that on the second floor (above a Noble Steak house.)
They have free WiFi and huge tables (I love those huge tables.) They have cakes and stuff too![/quote]
Mei’s Tea Bar on Yongkang has free wireless (It’s where all the [oh never mind] go).
[quote=“snafu”]in Shi-Da and Gonguan Bastille Cafe has a big selection of Belgian beers and free wireless. Most cafes in Gonguan have free wireless.[/quote]If they have Duvel…I’m there. Are they open in the morning? I love Belgian beers!
Seems the independent cafes have the edge. I recall that Mix in Guting, at the corner of Nanchang and Roosevelt Rd., has free access, too.
I have actually never been in there but could receive the signal at my former apartment - unfortunately only when I was standing at the window.
They have Duvel and many, many others. This is the place for Belgian beer in Taipei. If you have more than one, I doubt you’ll get much work done. Excellent coffee too.
A great thing about the cafes in Gonguan, most of them have Duvel as well as Delirium and Chimay. And yeah it’s hard to get any work done while staring at those bottles.
There are a bunch of cafes in the Gongguan area with free wireless. For ex - Norwegian Wood and Kafka on the Shore (both are located on the block immediately to the left of the Taipower Building). Near Shida are even more cafes, including another location of Bastille, and a cozy place called Morelax. They let you linger for a long time, have a wall of books/magazines, play pretty good music (chosen by their scruffy waiters from essentially the cafes’ private CD collections; no canned Starbucks Christmas carol crap), and on occasion sponsor artsy events (poetry readings, acoustic guitar shows, etc). However, be warned: the coffee in these cafes is pricey – avg $120 (which is actually only about $10 more than a Starbucks latte).
Thanks dubberishx…I’ll check those out, since I live right near Taipower.
I wanted to mention to that I made it to the Bastille near Gongguan, and I really liked it. My girlfriend and I hung out there for about two hours. I was comforted to see that they not only had the aforementioned beers, but also Kwak, which was even hard to find in both cities I lived in in France.
and by left i meant the building’s righthand side, sorry. left if youre looking at it.
kafka: 海邊的卡夫卡 2nd floor. the windows directly overlook taipower’s “parking lot”
norwegian wood: 挪威森林 ($30 to plug in your laptop here)
There’s a huge thread on where to get free wifi access over in Technology:
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?t=20960
Oh and my restaurants have free wifi too. (See my sig below.)