Or planning to start your Chinese class in Taiwan?
Before that, we have a few interesting things what to let you know before you come to Taiwan!
1. Convenient store everywhere! (7-11, FamilyMart, Hi-Life, OK…)
（圖片來源：saveinmycity）
You’ll find out the convenient stores are one of the best things in Taiwan once you arrived!
Convenient stores in Taiwan are not just a store for junk food or beverage, you can basically do everything at there, ship packages, pay your bills, buy tickets (train, concert, exhibition…etc.), print documents, call taxi, ATM…and so much more!
And these 24H convenient stores are everywhere, seriously, EVERYWHERE! You can even find 2 or 3 convenient stores on one street! It’s your best neighbor ever!
2. Musical garbage trucks.
Living in Taiwan, we got some tips here for you to deal the household garbage.
Most of families here don’t have trash bins next to their house. Instead, garbage trucks drives through streets at night with playing Beethoven’s Fur Elise loudly to alert people their arrival, and you need to carry your trash bags (If you living in Taipei, you need to use the city-approved trash bags), and throw them into the trucks by yourself.
And you will find out the time of garbage trucks coming, is also the time of social gathering, because people come out earlier and chat with neighbors while they waiting!
3. Earthquakes and Typhoons.
Earthquakes and Typhoons are 2 things you will experience in Taiwan!
Taiwan located in a seismically active zone, the average number of perceivable earthquake is about 1,000 per year. (not to mention the un-perceivable earthquake is more than 18,500 per year.)
And if you visit Taiwan during July to September, you will probably hit the typhoon season, prepare some foods and save some clean water is what you need to do before it.
But don’t worry! You’ll also find out Taiwanese handle it very well, most of buildings in Taiwan are prepared for earthquakes and strong wind of typhoon!
4. Bubble tea.
Taiwanese LOVES bubble tea! You can find bubble tea shops nearly EVERY corner of Taiwan’s streets, and it’s a part of Taiwanese culture now!
If you planning to visit Taiwan soon, put bubble tea on your “must-try” list!
5. Friendly people!
Even not every Taiwanese can speak fluent English, but you’ll still find out how friendly are of Taiwanese!
Most of Taiwanese are defiantly welling to help if you need (sometimes you don’t even ask for help)! Finding a restaurant, point you a way to your hotel (or just take you to there with their scooter)!
And if you got chance to visit south of Taiwan, the people from south are even friendlier, most last generation can’t speak English, but they still give you smile, and try their best to help! You’ll definitely feel welcoming here!
6. Kingdom of Scooters!
Do you know Taiwan has the highest scooter density in Asia? The population of Taiwan is 23 million, but the amount of scooter is over 14 million! Almost every family has at least one scooter!
Taiwan is a small island, and scooter can take you to almost everywhere in Taiwan, especially when you travel out of Taipei City (Taipei has every complete public transport system), you’ll find out how convenient it is! And if you planning to travel around Taiwan, scooter is a good idea!
But remember to prepare your driving license and international license before you rent a scooter in Taiwan!
Wearing the traditional dress is one of the best way to experience a culture.
If you have a chance to visit Taiwan, you definitely need to try the traditional dress-Qipao!
This time, we take our tenants to Da Dao Cheng for day tour, which is a very historic area in Taipei. Wearing Qipao, walking in that area, it just feel like back to the 1920’s!
The 1920’s Salon offered a lot of different style’s Qipao, the owner Mrs. Lin also helped customers to dress up perfectly, included hair style, makeup and hand bags.
First step, feel free to try on all you like, choose your favorite Qipao style! And don’t forget to choose accessories for your costume, it’ll make it even perfect!
Of course, traditional dress is not just for females! Males can also wear the Chinese tunic suit!
After everybody finished dressing, it’s time for the tea testing! Mrs. Lin share some different tea leafs and explain how to do a tea testing to everyone.
Every different leafs has different smells, it gives everyone a different imaginations!
We shared our imaginations and memories which can contact to the smells.
Of course, you do want to take some nice pictures since wearing Qipao is a very special experience!
Luckily, we had a chance to take some cool pictures in “Lok Hue Hng”.
“Lok Hue Hng” is a second hand furniture store located next to 1920’s Salon, offering high quality and tasteful furniture.
Afternoon, we started our walking tour in Dadaocheng.
Qipao costume made us be came to the center of attention on the street, some people even asked for picture together.
The first place we visited was Xia-Hai City God Temple. This temple was built in 1856, and the City God is a protector of city, the resident came here praying for rain, for relieves from nature disasters.
But in recent years, the Chinese Cupid (The old man under the moon) became to the famous god in this temple, there’s a lot of people come here praying for a good relationship.
We show tenants how to pray step by step! It’s a very special experience for some tenants who didn’t try this before.
After the Xia-Hai City God Temple, we went to a few different traditional convenience store. There’s some very interesting products in the traditional convenience store!
Have you heard a kind of vegetable called loofah before? The old generation will exposure it under the sun, and use the dried loofah as a scouring pad!
And of course, the Taiwanese style printing fabric are also very famous, especially the lanterns made by the printing fabric.
Give Qipao a try if you are interesting in the Taiwanese traditional dress, and if you are in the history of Taiwan, Dadaocheng is also a perfect place for you!
Hello everybody!! This is Yuya as House manager at Borderless House.
It is the Halloween season from last saturday, people are celebrating Halloween !!
Off course, we are not missing this BIG event.
Guess what!! We held Borderless Halloween Party last week !!
Today, we are going to tell you about Borderless House Halloween Party.
This is the Biggest International Event !! Borderless House Special Halloween party
It has been 2 years since we had a Halloween event, so we rent the special place called 『in the house 』to have private event!!
There were 90 people from 22 countries joined the Halloween Party including the staffs.
Also our staff wore the Halloween costume, but the tenants were wearing much nicer costumes!! They are so into the Halloween!!
The professional make up!! You can be the Halloween look. The make up was done by our tenant!!
The stage and foods are greeting ready …
But something is missing… SO there was not enough fear !!!
Halloween is known as the ghost festival, so We can not celebrate Halloween without Zombies .
But …. if you look at the corner of the hall, Someone is making zombies and they are increasing so fast !!!!
Yes !! This is the one of the highlight of Halloween Party is make up booth which you can have Halloween makeup on by Make-up artist.
Also, this booth is taken care of one of our Borderless House tenants named K kun!
He is a hair stylist and also has been doing make up to famous artists. He will be studying abroad to get more skills in this winter.
He has been living in one of the Borderless House in Shinjuku form the beginning. So, we asked him if he wants to do something to make last great memory in the Halloween event ….
K yeah but it was so much fun staying in Borderless House, I already miss that. I will definitely want to live here when I come back to Japan.
S We are glad to hear that!! By the way, K kun Would you like to make last great memory in this event ??
K Halloween Party !? sounds great !! I would do makeup.
That is why he was doing make up for us!! You are the best K kun!!
And, surprisingly, his Teacher, who is a professional make-up artist came this event from LA!!! She did make up for us for a hour !!
There were a lot of Zombies in this Party.
There is no language barrier !! Borderless House Special contents
This Halloween event has not only the fancy patty hall or make up booth !!
Borderless House is multicultural shared house, so we had some special contents that give you opportunity to talk to other people.
Who are your neighbors?? Making Borderless House map and new friends around your house !!
The first trick is this !!
This game is that we make the event hall as Tokyo map and people try to make Borderless house map there.
This is quite sudden, but
Everyday you go to school or work and come back to home……
Have you ever wish to have variety of friends and opportunity to make friends around Tokyo ???
This game is the great opportunity to get to know people from other Borderless House and also see which Borderless House they are coming from.
The rule is simple!! We gave everyone a name tag which has number on it, so you just look for people who have the same number as you do.
At the beginning of the game, everyone was confused about this game, but after telling them that they are neighbors, they were surprised about it.
After this game, they try to make next plans with neighbors!!!
This is THE Borderless House, right ??
Communication is about your heart!! Let’s make mummy
Before we decided to do this game, Staff Takuya who wore Banana costume in Halloween Party said ……..
“Everyone wants to be a mummy at least once in his/ her life “
The next contents is this !!! Toilet paper mummy !!
Let’s make mummy!!!
The rule : we are making some groups ( each group has 6 people ) and give the 2 toilet paper to the groups. After start sign, you just make mummy !!
The winner will be the group that makes 2 awesome mummies, and will get the special Prize !!
There are people who want to be mummies, and people who want to make mummies.
Language is no problem in this game !! All you need is trying to understand people’s mind and good communication with your team.
And …… The winner was the group that has staff Riko!!!
NO WAY ！！！！！
The first prize is a projector!? The best SNS award will be …….
The annual Borderless House SNS award, we choose the person for this award in this year as well !!
This year, we had two SNS prize !!
One is most like prize which is the persons who gets most like on instagram
Two is the best dresser prize that the person who wears the greatest costume in Halloween Party.
Most like prize will get projector, and the best dresser prize will get StarBucks card !!
So, we would like to show you the winners here
BUT, Please check out the Borderless Instagram below !!
There were also a lot of people who wear great costumes and post photos on Instagram, so please check that out as well !!
Diversity of nationality and language !! Borderless House is THE only House that give you the opportunity to get to know people from all over the world
The Halloween Party is finally coming to a close …
End of the party, we gathered everybody at the stage and took a group photo !!
At beginning of the party, people are nervous about getting to know new people, but after the party, they became so close each other !!
We will have more parties which bring connections between tenants in the future!
We assure that you will learn not only language but also Japanese local culture with your Japanese housemates in Borderless House.
Why don’t you try us and make your stay more enjoyable？
We are looking forward to meeting you again at Christmas Party !!
PS: After party, everybody made plan to go to Izakaya together or their house to continue the party !! THIS is also Borderless House, You can make a lot of friends in Borderless House event after !!
We went to Junjian Yan and Beitou for one day trip this time, and we got more than 20 peoples joined us!!
↓ Met up at 9:30am, a bit introduction and explained the itinerary before we started.
The entrance of Junjian Yan hiking trail is in the National Yang Ming University, will reach it after walking about 15min from the school gate.
The Junjian Yan hiking trail start with a lot of stairs, and there’s a pavilion is en route, we spent a while there resting and chatting, was really relaxing!
10 min after left the pavilion, we arrived the Junjian Yan scenic spot.
↓From the top of the Junjian Yan, you can get 360∘view of Taipei and mountains.
And of course, remember to take some photos there and share it with your friends! But please make sure you’ll watch out your steps when you climb up the top of Junjian Yan! We don’t want anybody falling down from there!
After everyone got their perfect shot, we follow the hiking trail heading to Zhaoming Temple.
The Zhaoming Temple has very special building design, it’s even different with other temples in Taiwan.
The roof is all the way down to the ground from the top, the whole building is looks like a big triangle.
Nearly the noon time, we arrived the CBD of Beitou, and get ready for our lunch!
Everybody spent too much energy at the morning time, so we also had some cold brinks and chill a bit at the restaurant after lunch.
Itinerary in afternoon is visit the Beitou Library, Puchi Temple and Thermal Valley.
The Beitou Green Building Library is the first green building library in Taiwan, you can also enjoy the mountains view and the relaxing breeze while you reading. But please noticed, using the camera is not allowed after you enter the library.
The Beitou Green Building Library is the first green building library in Taiwan, you can also enjoy the mountains view and the relaxing breeze while you reading. But please noticed, using the camera is not allowed after you enter the library.
Last place we visited in Beitou is Thermal Valley. The Thermal Valley is a source of Beitou hot spring, it’s also the hottest hot spring in this area, the average temperature is between 90 to 100 degree.
The misty phenomenon year round makes it looks like a wonderland! But of course, if you can visit here during the winter time will be better than summer!
After the itinerary in Beitou, we decided to end up our day tour with shaved ice! Have you try the traditional shaved ice in Taiwan? Choose some topping by yourself and glaze some syrup. Yummmm!
It’s time to say goodbye! We really appreciate your join, and hope we can show you more places of Taiwan in the future!
We’ve been to Teapot Mt. for one day hiking with our tenants and had a lot of fun together!
Teapot Mt. is location at the north of Taiwan, it also close to a very popular tourist spot called Jiufen, you can easily schedule a one day tour in this area.
We were heading to the Rueifang station together at the morning. The Rueifang station is one of a main station to transfer for some popular tourist spots in north of Taiwan.
We arrived the foothill at noon, and decided to have lunch first.
We had some traditional meals, and the owner was very friendly and set up some extra tables for us.
Start hiking! The view look out from the hiking trail was just amazing!
Teapot Mt. is not hard to hike, and there’s also a few terraces that you can have some rest.
The last part of trail to the top will need to climb up with the rope and scraped through the narrow gap of rocks, and you reach the best view on the top of Teapot Mt.!
If lucky to have a nice weather, you’ll get clear and beautiful view of YinYang Sea and Jinguashi from the top!
After hiking, we went to the BenShan Fifth Tunnel, it’s a tunnel within the vicinity of Jinguashi. It’s a place you can get to know some history of this area, and see the environment inside the tunnel!
Before you enter the tunnel, there’s also a guide will introduce the history and the things you need to know before you enter.
It’s a bit cooler then outside in the tunnel, and there’s a few wax models showing the life they work in the tunnel.
We are really happy to have a lot of tenants join us, and had so much fun together! Join us for our next exploring tour in Taiwan!
BORDERLESS HOUSE Taiwan organized a coastal cleanup event, we went to The North Coast in north of Taiwan, had some fun, did something good for our environment and also visited a popular scenic spot there!
The green reef at Laomei is one of the most popular scenic spot of the north coast. Ages ago, the volcanic of Datun Mountain has erupted, and the lava formed reef by seashore! And now, every year in April and May, green algae flourish on the surface of the reefs, forming this unique beautiful view.
We met up at the Tamsui MRT station first, and then took a bus to Laomei, it’s a very good chance to meet other tenants form other BORDERLESS houses, and getting to know each others before the event start.
Before we start to clean up the coastal, we had an enjoyable lunch together and with a very beautiful view of the beach.
Tenants from different BORDERLESS houses got chance to meet each other, and shared some experiences about their life in Taiwan, which is very interesting!
Started to clean up the coastal after lunch!
There was a lot of trashes on the beach, and we spent around 2hrs to clean up.
Really appreciate our tenants’ support and join, glad we can do something good to our environment together, and hope there will be more people join us in the future!
Hi guys! This is Risa from Borderless House Tokyo:)
It’s been way too hot these days…hope everybody is not suffering too much from the Japanese heat (I miss Spring everyday…!!)!
On the happy note! Today I would like to introduce our new program “Link Up” with the voices from the participants♪
Are you ready to sign up right after you read this blog!?
What is our new program “Link Up”?
Started from April -this programme has 2 themes, and consists of 2 different sessions accordingly.
1. For those who wants to connect with people through languages ”Link Up x Language”
Get in groups of different languages, and enjoy the talking sesh!
Don’t worry about your language level; our staff will be there as a facilitator!
2. For those who wants to connect with people outside your house “Link Up x Activity”
Let’s meet new people from other houses and have fun together!
There is nothing particular fixed yet; YOU take the lead, let us know what you want to do!
*In the previous blog, we have introduced in detail 🙂
To answer“What is Link Up actually like?”, let me introduce the program more in detail with the voices from the participants.
What is Link Up like?
Both Link Up x Language and Link Up x Activity start with self introduction! Everyone shares their country of origin, their house name, hobbies etc.
Link Up x Language
Let’s start group conversation!
They pick up the topic cards which every participant wrote before the event!
Not confident enough about your language level? Don’t worry! Our staff is there for your support (us being us in the picture at the back lol)
It’s time for English-Japanese mixed talking sesh!
We have Japanese-only and English-only time alternately and talk about any topics of your choice:)
When the time comes, “Let’s change the language!”
Enjoy the fun of practicing out your language skills!
From easy topics to deep topics…
Once again, this program is something we build together with you all, so we would like your ideas on what we talk about!
「Link Up x Activity」
Today’s activity is Board Games!!
Same as Link Up x Language, this is also the participants’ idea.
This is why we can enjoy a lot!
Speaking of a board game that is fun to play in a big group…Deception Game!
Blue team (Good) and Red team(Evil) compete against each other.
Evil people are the ones who intends to mess up the game!
They are suspecting each other to find Evil people.
You need to keep a poker face…this is a mind game.
Is this a victory of Good team or Evil team!?
…Good people could not stop the attack of Evil people, the red Red team’s victory!!
After the deception game, we played games in two groups.
One of the teams enjoyed playing LOVE Jenga♥ Each time you draw a brick, you must answer the question written on it or do what you’re told to. As the title let you guess, some of the questions are “love”-related.
Time flies when you’re having fun…in closing, we took a group photo!
When the staff suggested “Why don’t we make a Link Up pose?”
Everybody happily responded to our request ♪
…and that’s how “Link Up pose” gave birth to the world!
Here are the voices from the participants
“Link Up is something all the participants and the staff build together, this is why it is attractive!”
“As I expected, I could interact with people from different houses!”
Simple topics made the conversation easier”
“Playing the games definitely helped break the ice early on and seemed to keep everyone entertained throughout the night.”
Link Up is a new program which is created by your voice.
3 attractive points of Link Up program
Attraction①：What’s common for all the participants is “Borderless House”, just relax and talk!
All the participants are the tenants in Borderless House just like you.
Since they all join this program searching for more interaction with new people,
you can expect a conversation spontaneous, free, and no hard feelings… this is exactly border-less!
There is nothing to be aware of! Just pop in alone and make friends here!
Attraction②：You can become a creater with your ideas.
We decide program contents based on your ideas written in the reservation form.
Everyone has different ideas! Participants are the creators.
This is a part of actual reservation form. “Want to make new friends who share the same hobby” “Want to make more friends who I can talk something I like with”
You can make your wish come true with this program!
Attraction③：”Connecting”circles of Borderless House
After the event, they went to a bar together, made a plan to go watch a movie etc. people are truly connected and the circle of Borderless House is spreading beyond borders.
Why don’t you enlarge your circle of friends with Link Up program?
So, how was it?
This is our original program which gives you a chance to meet and connect with new people from other houses through language and hobbies.
Why not make the most of the multicultural connections you made on the day!?
As the number of participants is limited up to 15 people, you can enjoy deeper interaction in a relaxing atmosphere, which is something different from big events. Why don’t you join us now?
Hello! This is Borderless House Seoul.
Here in Seoul, the weather is becoming colder and colder day by day.
We hope you do not get a cold here in Seoul!
Do you know Language Exchange which is one of our tenants only program?
This is the program which we match two of our tenants,
a Korean tenant who would like to learn a foreign language
and a Non-Korean tenant who would like to learn Korean language.
This time we matched a Korean tenant Doheon and a Canadian tenant Adam.
Since we hold an orientation for the program in our office,
we ask them to come our office for their orientation.
Adam, our tenant from Canada had stayed in Japan
for a long time before coming to Seoul.
He is studying Korean language currently,
and he wanted to have a Korean friend who can help him improve his skill.
And our Korean tenant Doheon is currently working as a police officer.
He applied this program for studying English as self-improvement.
Since the houses they are staying is no that far from each others,
we matched them because we think it will help them to meet more often.
During the orientation, our staff will help you to feel comfortable.
Everyone thinks it will be awkward because it is the first time to meet each other,
but with our staff, you do not have to be worried about it!
After having orientation, they can have an appointment outside.
They usually study languages together, but sometimes they do look around Seoul
and have meal together, and it helps them to improve their language skill.
It will be the big opportunity for all out tenants
not only having good memory with their housemates,
but also making a Korean or Non-Korean friend and study language together.
Do not miss this chance if you are currently staying in Borderless House!
If you have any questions regarding this program,
please feel free to contact our staff:)
* Tenants Only Program
If you need more information for language exchange program
or if you want to apply for this program,
please refer the link from the below
for contacting staff of Borderless House! http://www.borderless-house.com/languageexchange/
Hello! This is Borderless House Seoul.
House Exchange program is the most popular program
from all of tenants only program provided by Borderless House.
This time, our current tenant staying in Tokyo had visited Seoul
and had great time with her housemates in Seoul.
We would like to share her memory in Seoul with you!
Hello! My name is Claire and I am from France.
I am currently staying in one of Borderless’ share houses in Tokyo.
I had no plan for Christmas and I got to know House Exchange program,
so I decided to go to Seoul for my Christmas with this program.
It was my first time visit Seoul and I felt it is really cold in here,
and it is much more colder than Tokyo.
I was really worried that I can travel well in this cold weather,
but it was really nice because I could stay with really kind housemates.
Their warm welcoming helped me to stay warm in here, Seoul.
I traveled Seoul with housemates in Hongdae Share house, Seoul.
They stayed in Seoul for quite a long time and
their recommendation for Seoul trip was really awesome!
The most memorable thing was visiting Palace in Seoul.
I could take many good pictures with my housemates!
Housemates I stayed with in Seoul were really nice to me.
We traveled Seoul together, and we spent time in house.
Sometimes we cook and have meal together.
In Tokyo, I am staying in triple room,
but for this travel I stayed in a private room.
It was quite experience!
I visited many shopping malls with housemates.
I did shopping and look around many shops in there.
It helped me to be closed to my housemates in Seoul.
Do you know Cheese Chicken Galbi?
It becomes really famous in Tokyo nowadays.
I think the most enjoyable things in travel is having its local food.
I could try Korean food in Tokyo, but it is totally different having in Seoul!
It was really nice that I could meet many new people and be closed to them.
I am not sure when can I meet them again,
but if there is a chance, I would surely meet them in Tokyo or Seoul.
And I would like to come back to Seoul for new trip!
I 100% recommend this program to all of Borderless House’s tenants!
* Only for tenant *
If you want to join our House exchange program,
feel free to contact us! Always welcome!
Please refer to the link below for more information. http://www.borderless-house.com/houseexchange
Let’s start group conversation!
