4 posts were split to a new topic: From hotel
I have travel all around the world stayed in hotels everywhere, police coming to your room to check your passport is not normal.
Only in Taiwan maybe people think its normal.
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If this were to happen to you, must you open the door for the police? Just wondering. Seems pretty invasive.
Not uncommon. Police are looking for gangsters and since they are there they may as well ask to see ID
It’s happened to be a few times over the years.
Was at a ktv when police wearing body armor and armed with uzi came in and wanted to check ID
Yes taiwan law allows the police to come knocking at your door anytime FAIK
At our local pool hall we occasionally get the cops coming checking IDs. I think it’s because parents complain about their teenage kids not coming home.
Anyway, they reluctantly come over to the whitey table and kind of make a show of checking our IDs.
Only encountered something like this once, police came in to a small bar I was at and starting checking people’s ID’s. I decided to go to the restroom real quick (had to go real bad) and when I came out they already left. They only checked for ID for a few people near the door and that was it.
Only actually have been asked for ID by police once was when I was sitting outside on a bench at night drinking a beer in winter and couple of officers walked up from behind me and asked for ID. They didn’t even really look at it, just grabbed it and handed it back to me after a quick glance.
First time it happen to me the lights popped on, the DJ stopped the music and a bunch of little baggies of pot and other substances dropped to the floor.
They let me walk right out.
It’s a good thing you dropped it so fast.
Right.
Another time at brass monkey they just chatted with me never asked for my ID but were asking others.
There is well a difference in police checking everyone at a bar. Then coming to your hotel room door. Maybe you stay in some shady hotel/motel?
To knock yes, but must I open and let them in?
I believe you do have to. But check with your lawyer.
you don’t have to, what if you are sleeping?
Xenophobia is is central Chinese culture, regardless of whether you are in China or Taiwan. For many, such as hotel receptionist, your simply being in Taiwan is offensive. You might check out and tell the boss (not receptionist) you will take your money elsewhere. But don’t tell boss where; I knew a white guy who said he was in Mainland riding a train whilst hitting on some girl and 2 Chinese guys seemed a little too focused on him. The white guy dismissed the thought as his own unreasonable paranoia. The white guy tells the girl what hotel he will stay at. 4am China police knock on the door of his room and escort him to ‘hotel for foreigners’.
And publish which hotel in Banqiao did this. General check (excuse ) is impossible given that you probably look like no one in the general population. You were targeted
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This is a ridiculous statement. Not to say there aren’t people in Taiwan who don’t like foreigners, but you’re painting with a pretty broad brush there.
This is pure paranoia. It’s common practice for police to make sweeps of hotels, checking IDs and looking for illegal activity (prostitution, drugs, etc.), especially in areas with lots of gang activity. The gang presence in Banqiao isn’t quite as obvious as it was before it became the administrative center of New Taipei City, but it’s definitely still there.
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Imagine picking a job and career and even possibly going to school for 4 years in hospitality to hate your main clients lol.
was there any connection between the two incidents?
Banqiao is not in China.
But please, carry on.
Guy
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Theoretically, yes, anything is possible— no matter how remote that possibility may be. It could be that the Chinese guys hearing where he was staying and the girl knowing where the foreigner was staying was not causally related to the police finding 1 white guy in a population of 1.4 billion in 1 hotel room only hours after he checked in.