Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
EATING PRICE RANGES
The following food price ranges generally refer to the cost of a meal rather than a
single dish (unless a single dish is what is usually ordered, such as beef noodles).
$less than NT$180
$$$NT$180-500
$$$
$$$more than NT$500
Public Phones & Phonecards
Y ou can buy domestic IC cards (NT$200) at convenience stores to use on public phones.
For overseas calls, internet phone services such as
Skype
(
www.skype.com
) are best.
To dial out directly from a landline or mobile, dial 009 or 002 before the country code and
number. Chunghwa Telecom's E-call cards (which can be used with mobile phones, and
landlines) are sold in denominations of NT$200, NT$300 and NT$520 and give users up
to a 30% discount on standard rates. Note that the quality of connection can be somewhat
low. Cards can be purchased at Chunghwa Telecom locations and 7-Elevens. To use, dial
the access number on the back of the card and then follow the instructions (an English
option is available).
Time
Taiwan is eight hours ahead of GMT on the same time zone as Beijing, Hong Kong,
Singapore and Perth. When it is noon in Taiwan, it is 2pm in Sydney, 1pm in Japan, 4am
in London, 11pm the previous day in New York and 8pm the previous day in Los Angeles.
Taiwan does not observe daylight-saving time. A 24-hour clock is used for train sched-
ules.
Toilets
Free public toilets are widely available in parks, transport stations, public offices, mu-
seums, temples and rest areas. They are usually squat toilets, except for stalls for people
with disabilities, and are usually clean but probably won't have toilet paper. Restaurants
and cafes usually have their own bathroom facilities, and Western-style toilets are stand-
ard in apartments and hotels. It is handy to know the characters for men (
nán
) and wo-
men (
nǚ
). Many places ask you not to flush toilet paper but to put it in the wastebasket be-
side the toilet. Most cleaners are women and can enter the men's areas at any time.
