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As my family and Bailey are coming to visit me soon, I decided to write up some basic survival tips for visiting Taiwan. While most aspects of living in Taiwan are very similar to the US or Japan, here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Don’t flush the toilet paper in the toilets. For this reason, almost every bathroom here has a trash basket. Also, keep some tissue paper on you as most public restrooms do not provide paper.

2. Don’t drink the tap water. I don’t know what happens if you do, as I haven’t tried, but I’m not planning on it. The good news is that most public buildings and many other establishments have drinking water machines. Bring a good water bottle.¹

3. If you’re visiting northern Taiwan in the winter, bring some raingear. Sure, you’ll probably buy a few umbrellas (I’m on number three), but rain coats are pretty useful too. You can also be really Taiwanese by wearing your raincoat backwards.²

4. Taiwan is big on recycling. Luckily, though, in most places there’s just a trash can (垃圾桶, pronounced lèsètǒng as opposed to the Mainland lājītǒng) and a recycling bin… in general, most paper and plastic containers that don’t have food waste can be recycled. Plastic bags and wrapping cannot be.

5. Keep all your receipts. Taiwan has a receipt lottery (formally the Uniform-Invoice Prize). While you can claim it as a foreign visitor with a valid visa, as the winning numbers are released about a couple months after each time period ends, you’ll probably just want to give the receipts to me. ^^
   

6. Oh, and cold tea is sweetened by default. This freaked me out when I first tried some. Just a warning.

Of course, if you’re not planning to visit me yet but have time between late-January and mid-February (my Chinese New Year break), let me know. Let’s talk.