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.
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