Taiwanese Man Has Been Waiting for His Date to Show Up for the Last 20 Years
Unwilling to accept that he was stood up, a Taiwanese man has reportedly been waiting for his date to show up for the last two decades! 47-year-old Ah Ji is now a permanent fixture at Tainan train station, where the love of his life promised to meet him all those years ago. It’s unclear whether the […]
Dogs with Perfectly Square or Round Haircuts Are All the Rage in Taiwan
A bizarre new dog grooming trend in Taiwan has dog owners giving their pet pooches square or round haircuts. Canine hairdressers all over Taipei are up to date on the special technique required for these eccentric makeovers. “It came about because people were always looking for more impressive haircuts, and somebody came up with the […]
Taiwanese Man Left with Almost No Memory Keeps Notes of Everything So He Doesn’t Forget Who He Is
Chen Hongzhi, from Hsinchu county, in north-western Taiwan, suffers from a unique condition – he can’t remember anything for more than five minutes. The 25-year-old literally has to start his life from scratch every day. So he writes down every single thing about himself in a diary, in order to keep track of everything that […]
Man Sues Mother for Breaking Promise to Let Him Marry Her 8-Year-Old Daughter When She Came of Age
A heartbroken Taiwanese man is suing a teenage girl’s mother for breaking a promise she made 11 years ago. The man, a 32-year-old school teacher at the time, had fallen in love with his 8-year-old student. He became so obsessed that he managed to extricate a promise from the child’s mother that he could marry […]
Taiwan’s Notoriously Dangerous Beehive Rocket Festival
When I light a firecracker, I make sure to run at least 10 yards away before it pops. That’s how terrified I am of the noise and sparks. So when I watched a video of Taiwan’s Beehive Rockets festival, I was quite shocked. These crazy people deliberately run into bursting firecrackers. They dance in clusters […]
Taiwanese Ice Cream Shop Sells Pig’s Feet and Tofu Flavored Ice Cream
Snow King, an ice cream shop located in Taipei, capital city of Taiwan, serves more than 70 flavors of fresh, homemade ice cream. There’s nothing unusual about that, I agree. But wait till you hear what these flavors include. The shop, in business since 1947, boasts of carrying the most unusual of ice cream flavors. […]
Ultimate Latte Art: Taiwanese Cafe Prints Your Portrait on a Cup of Coffee
If you’ve ever wanted to drink your own face, now’s your chance. Taiwanese cafe chain, Let’s Cafe, uses a special latte printer that creates portraits of customers directly on their delicious caffeinated drinks. Let’s Cafe is a chain of small kiosks offering “fast but good coffee” to shoppers on the go all around Taiwan. Faced […]
Military Kindergarten Toughens Up Preschoolers with Marine Drills
At the Albert Kindergarten, in Taichung, Taiwan, children aged three to six don camouflage outfits and take part in a mandatory exercise program modeled after marine drills. Their parents hope the rough training will prepare them for the hardships of life, but there are those who criticize the preschool for pushing the kids too hard […]
Houtong Cat Village – How a Few Purring Felines Saved a Dying Community
This is the story of how a few dozen cats managed to save an entire community just by purring and looking pretty. Houtong was just another dilapidated mining town in the mountains of eastern New Taipei City, but everything changed when the felines came and livened up the place. Houtong used to be one of Taiwan’s most […]
Weeping for Strangers – The Professional Mourners of Taiwan
In Taiwan, staging a dramatic funeral for relatives who have passed away is of the utmost importance. So, to create the proper atmosphere, wealthy families hire professional mourners who cry, sing and crawl on the ground to show their grief. Taiwan’s “filial daughter” phenomenon emerged during the 1970s, when sons and daughters left their families to […]
World’s First Official Barbie Cafe Is as Pink as You’d Expect
As if Asians didn’t have enough pink in their lives, from all those crazy Hello-Kitty-themed venues, now there’s an official Barbie Cafe in Taipei, Taiwan. And yes, it has dolls, themed foods and more pink than most men can bare. January 30th witnessed the inauguration of the world’s first official Barbie Cafe, in one of […]
Sick Gambling in Taiwan – Betting on When Terminally Ill Cancer Patients Will Die
A macabre gambling trend has taken off in Taiwan’s thrid largest city of Taichung. Doctors, nurses and even the families of terminally ill cancer patients are placing bets on when the sick will die, for the chance to win three times the wagered sum. It’s sick what some people will do for money. According to […]
Taiwan’s Carton Restaurant, Where Everything Except the Food Is Made from Cardboard
Located inside the Carton King Creativity Park, in Taichung City, Taiwan, the Carton Restaurant is a unique eatery where everything from the furnishings, to the decorations and even the plates are made from corrugated cardboard. Unless you’ve actually been to Taichung, I assure you haven’t seen anything like the Carton King Restaurant before. Except for […]
World’s Most Generous Vegetable Seller Dedicates Life to Helping the Needy
You’ve probably never heard of her, but Taiwanese vegetable seller Chen Shu-chu has done more for the needy than many of the world’s rich and famous. Earning a modest living selling vegetables at the market, the Asian hero has so far managed to donate over $322,000 to various charities. “Money serves its purpose only when it […]
Dining in a Car at Taipei’s P.S. Bu Bu Restaurant
Eating in a car is not everyone’s idea of an enjoyable meal, but at the P.S. Bu Bu Restaurant, in Taiwan, it’s a must. This automotive-themed venue features all kinds of auto accessories and even full cars as dining tables. Established in 1999, by two classic car enthusiasts, P.S. Bu Bu is an innovative restaurant […]