Q: Where are the good beaches?
A-Hok says:
If cleanliness is your concern, the good ol’ Environmental Protection Administration in June listed Taipei County’s New Jinshan Bathing Beach (新金山) as the cleanest beach on the island for swimming.
Taipei County’s Fulong Beach (福隆), Miaoli County’s Chiting (崎頂) and Tunghsiao beaches (通霄), and Taitung County’s Shanyuan Beach (杉原) are also good choices.
However, if gorgeous weather, a nice stretch of sand, and [not so] crystal clean waters in a million shades of blue is more your style, then A-hok would humbly suggest you visit the beaches in Kenting, and on Lanyu and Penghu islands.
Shawei (沙尾), which stretches for 1,000m in Penghu’s Chipei Islet (吉貝嶼), is known as the “golden beach.” It enjoys six months of summer sun a year and is said to be one of the most beautiful beaches in Taiwan.
Kenting’s South Bay (南灣), a heavenly beautiful but impossibly packed beach almost year-round, with soft sand, eternal sunshine and a gazillion stalls selling iced coffee and popsicles, is a beach every tourist dreams of.
Those looking for a reclusive spot can consider Lanyu (蘭嶼) island – with only 2,000-some residents and sandy beaches all around looking out to endless ocean — the whole island can be your backyard beach paradise.
Q: Where can I find out in English/Spanish/Filipino whether or not the offices and schools in Taipei will be closed during a typhoon?
A-hok says:
The Taipei City’s Information and Tourism Department told me that the city’s Web site (www.taipei.gov.tw) would replace its homepage with information from the city’s disaster prevention and rescue information page (http://tdprc2.tfd.gov.tw/TaipeiCityEms1_public/) at times when typhoons affect northern Taiwan.
The page provides updates on typhoon-related information in Chinese and English, and you can check whether the Taipei City Government has announced office and school closings for typhoon days.
You can also call the Taipei City Government’s 24-hour hotline by dialing 1999 to inquire about the possibility of office and schools closings on typhoon days.
The typhoon hotline offers inquiry services in English as well. Unfortunately, neither the Web site nor the hotline offer Spanish or Filipino services, the department said.
Radio Taiwan International does generally make typhoon-related announcements in their around-the-clock news programs in several languages, including Chinese, English, French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese. You could check the broadcast schedule online (www.rti.org.tw) and find the news broadcast in the language you need.
If you have something you’d like to ask, please write to community@taipeitimes.com.
ANNOUNCEMENT: People who do not comply with the ban after a spoken warning would be reported to the police, the airport company said on Friday Taoyuan International Airport Corp on Friday announced that riding on vehicles, including scooter-suitcases (also known as “scootcases”), bicycles, scooters and skateboards, is prohibited in the airport’s terminals. Those using such vehicles should manually pull them or place them on luggage trolleys, the company said in a Facebook post. The ban intends to maintain order and protect travelers’ safety, as the airport often sees large crowds of people, it said, adding that it has stepped up publicity for the regulation, and those who do not comply after a spoken warning would be reported to the police. The company yesterday said that
QUIET START: Nearly a week after applications opened, agencies did not announce or promote the program, nor did they explain how it differed from other visitor visas Taiwan has launched a six-month “digital nomad visitor visa” program for foreign nationals from its list of visa-exempt countries who meet financial eligibility criteria and provide proof of work contracts. To apply, foreign nationals must either provide proof that they have obtained a digital nomad visa issued by another country or demonstrate earnings based on age brackets, the Bureau of Consular Affairs said. Applicants aged 20 to 29 must show they earned an annual salary of at least US$20,000 or its equivalent in one of the past two years, while those aged 30 or older must provide proof they earned US$40,000 in
UNITY MESSAGE: Rather than focusing on what Trump said on the campaign trail about Taiwan, Taipei should be willing to engage with the US, Pompeo said Taiwan plays a key role in Washington’s model of deterrence against China, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said in a speech in Taipei yesterday. During US president-elect Donald Trump’s first term, “we had developed what we believe was a pretty effective model of deterrence against adversaries who wanted to undermine the set of rules and values that the people of Taiwan and the people of the US hold dear,” Pompeo said at a forum organized by the Formosa Republican Association. “Succeeding in continuing to build this model will not solely rest at the feet of president Trump and his team,
TECH CORRIDOR: Technology centers and science parks in the south would be linked, bolstering the AI, semiconductor, biotech, drone, space and smart agriculture industries The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a “Southern Silicon Valley” project to promote the development of an artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor industry in Chiayi County, Tainan, Pingtung County and Kaohsiung. The plan would build an integrated “S-shaped semiconductor industry corridor” that links technology centers and science parks in the south, Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said yesterday after a Cabinet meeting. The project would bolster the AI, semiconductor, biotech, drone, space and smart agriculture industries, she said. The proposed tech corridor would be supported by government efforts to furnish computing power, workforce, supply chains and policy measures that encourage application and integration
RSS