I don’t hail taxis that often, but I’ve had more trouble doing that lately - even with the 空車 (“Empty”) sign lit, they’re not stopping, I think because they’re on their way to pick up someone who’s called from an app.
At first I wondered if it was a weird COVID fear of foreigners, but recently it’s happened a couple of times with my wife as well.
It’s not, it’s called Tsan Kun
It’s called 燦坤
3C simply means they sell Computers, Communications and Consumer Electronics.
Many unrelated stores call themselves ‘3C stores’ cause that’s what they sell. But they have their own business name.
Total bollocks. Everybody I know has heaters.
You mean space heaters or actual, central heat like apartment heating systems?
When thinking about what to bring, this could be a key thing to keep in mind. A lot of basic supplies here are either cheap garbage, or insanely expensive imports. Costco and IKEA serve as rare middle ground. If you’re able to bring a lot of stuff, I wouldn’t bother packing a microwave, but I would load up with kitchen utensils.
Yep. Try looking for a decent can opener or potato masher here, and you’ll get bewildered stares.
Ask for a jaffle iron and you’ll immediately get incarcerated in a mental institution.
western-style spatula, like big and flat for people that can’t flip an omelette in a pan, yes. and knives/forks/spoons, i couldn’t find any i liked for a reasonable price (though just recently saw a nice set at Costco). but otherwise, i didn’t have any difficulty finding things for the kitchen that i’m happy with. can opener, kitchen shears, and some other kitchen stuff i shipped.
i brought sheets and towels based on a recommendation of the forum somewhere, that was good advice. i’ve since got a second set of sheets from costco and a second set of towels from ikea, but not as nice as the ones i brought.
my last 3 international moves i sent shipments because it was cheaper than buying everything all over again. now, because shipping costs have gone up so high due to covid/politics, if you don’t get a relocation allowance it might not be worth it. if you do get a relocation allowance, or you are happy with the stuff that you have now, send it on a boat.
Little crappy electric space heaters don’t count. If everyone you know in Taipei has real heat in their homes, you must interact exclusively in very high-SES circles.
IKEA has all that stuff, as do a few other places.
You mean central heating? Taiwan isn’t fucking Alaska, dude.
Elsewhere that’s just known as heat. The OP is asking what’s different about Taipei.
Living in a concrete cave with nothing but space heaters for heat feels like Alaska for the two weeks a year Taipei’s weather dips into single digits.
i didn’t like the cutlery at IKEA, maybe it meets your expectations for price/quality but not mine.
as for the spatula, i’ll take your word for it. actually this isn’t something i wanted so didn’t look around for it. i definitely haven’t noticed any non-scratch large spatulas for cheap, but if you say so since i have’t looked.
the app comes with relatively little English (but enough to call a car), you can pay automatically and get discounts with certain credit cards. the key advantage vis a vis uber is they dont have surge pricing, so the price is always the same. I recommend to try.
I guess I’m not picky about “cutlery”. Like most things at IKEA the price was low enough that I don’t even remember it. (How often do you need to buy it, anyway? It’s not exactly a monthly expense.) Yeah, they’ve got all sorts of spatulas and other western cooking/serving utensils, also, as do many other places.
cutlery? only once, but i use it a lot and keep it for years, that’s why i’m picky when i get new cutlery. if you’re “not picky” i guess plastic cutlery will do you fine, definitely cheap and easy to get!
Cool. I very rarely encounter surge pricing on Uber, and of course when I do it tends to be at the same times that taxis are also in short supply. Maybe I’ll download the app for a backup, though. What’s it called?
You seemed to be complaining about price, which I thought was odd for something purchased so rarely. My inexpensive “cutlery” (we call it silverware or flatware in places that don’t put the Queen on our money) has lasted decades and shows no signs of wear. I suppose you can import it if you want the best in the world.
look again:
what can i say, i’m a classy person and i like to have nice things. if the OP is considering a shipment, i agree to some extent with posters who have had difficulty finding things for the kitchen, but in my experience most things were easy to find. i’m offering specifics in an attempt to be helpful.
Apartment agents only show what they directly represent or have some sort of guanxi arrangement with another agent or owner. I was under the assumption there was some big database they would search and they would show you anything that was a good match, taking their commission regardless. What an idiot I was.
