Category: Ramblings

Ramblings

Apartment Hunting in Taipei: Success

hongsabroad1 Comment

Time was ticking. We realized we had to compromise on some things. First, we increased our budget to find an apartment that was more suitable to our tastes. We started looking for apartments that were ~50 pings after learning that the advertised number of pings is often inflated. We expanded our search to not only Da’an but Songshan and Xinyi districts. Our main goal was to find an apartment with good natural light and within a school’s service district. We didn’t even care whether the apartment was furnished, or near the MRT, or what floor it was on.

Then one day, we saw an apartment in Xinyi district. Xinyi is the financial district of Taipei, with many skyscrapers including Taipei 101, upscale malls and eateries, and newer apartment buildings. This particular apartment is within 4 minutes walking distance to a school that had availability, and the landlord was fine with us using the address for school. The apartment came with only a couple pieces of furniture, but we were willing to overlook it. We immediately reached out to the agent to express our interest.

The interesting thing about Taiwan is that almost everything can be negotiated, including rent. Our agent told us to outline all our demands and he can help us negotiate with the landlord. We asked for a ~12% reduction in rent, including all management and garbage fees. (Most apartments have an monthly management fee on top of your rent. This fee is to pay for things like security and general maintenance of the building.)

Our agent suggested that we ask for furniture as well, but that we’d need to sign a 2-year lease. The commitment-phobe in me was a little hesitant, but I also didn’t want to go through this whole process again in a year. So we agreed and waited for the landlord’s response.

We waited about a day (which felt like an eternity!) but finally, we heard back from the landlord. She agreed to all terms (hurray!!) except we’d have to pay for the garbage fees, which was pretty nominal anyway (about $30/month).

There were a few hiccups before we signed the contract – e.g., making sure we had enough cash for the deposit and first month’s rent; the landlord kept changing the time and place for the contract signing, which made Baba suspicious; realizing at the last minute that one room at no door 😆, so we had to negotiate with the landlord; getting the landlord to purchase the furniture in time for our move-in.

But ultimately, we signed the contract and finally got the keys to our apartment in Taipei! 🎊 This was a HUGE relief because the check-out date for our Airbnb was coming up, and we can now register for the boys’ school. Woo hoo!

As of writing, we’ve been living in this apartment for about 3 weeks. It’s not perfect – our refrigerator is on the balcony and we’re on the second floor so it’s more prone to getting bugs. 😣 But, we are close to the boys’ school, one short block from the Xinyi Sports Center which has a pool!, close to the MRT and buses, and walking distance to markets and convenience stores. I also like that on one side, there is Taipei 101 with all its fancy shopping and restaurants, but on the other side of our apartment, you can find numerous cheap eats, or 小吃.

The apartment hunt in Taiwan was a roller coaster ride and such an interesting learning experience. In the end, I’m incredibly grateful that we found a great place to live in such a short period of time. Everything worked out in our favor (so far). But I’m even more grateful to have a partner in crime, Baba, to go on these crazy adventures with me! 😘

Ramblings

Apartment Hunting in Taipei: Apartment Features

hongsabroadLeave a comment

While apartment hunting in Taiwan, we came across many interesting apartment features. I hesitate to say “weird” because it’s likely we’re just not used to the style of living here.

Pings. I had mentioned in an earlier post that Taiwan uses pings 坪 as a measurement of floor space. One ping is equivalent to about 35.6 square feet. We searched for apartments between 25-30 pings, or 890-1067 square feet, which is about the same size as our old apartment in San Francisco. Not asking for too much, right?

Well, this brings me back to the theme of “expectations vs. reality” when it comes to apartment hunting in Taiwan. An apartment listing that advertises 30 pings does not mean the actual living space is 30 pings. The 30 pings include common areas like hallways, lobby area, stairwells. So you can imagine our surprise when we showed up to an apartment thinking it was 30 pings and saw a teeny tiny apartment. Apparently, the rule of thumb is to reduce the advertised number of pings by ~30% to get the actual living space.

Old buildings. Taipei is an old city, so many of its buildings are old. We wanted to live in Da’an for its central location but many of available apartments were very dated. Aside from aesthetics, older buildings may not be up to code to withstand earthquakes or fires.

Natural light. Having a good amount of natural light in the apartment was an important factor to us. Unfortunately, this wasn’t super easy to find in Taipei. A lot of the buildings (particularly the older ones) were blocked by other taller buildings, or they had small windows that were often frosted or barred. (The bars are to protect the windows during typhoons.)

Furniture. We were pleasantly surprised that most apartments come fully furnished or at least semi-furnished. This works perfectly for temporary residents like us.

Interesting designs. American luxuries like ovens and dishwashers are not common in Taiwan and we had already accepted that. But we discovered really interesting designs in some apartments. One apartment we saw had a staircase (see picture below), but the agent said we could not go upstairs. When we asked why, he said it’s because a family lives up there! 😮 There is a locked door between the apartment and upstairs, and the family has a separate entrance/exit, but it still freaked us out a bit.

Other apartments had appliances in unexpected places, like refrigerators in the living room or balcony. Another apartment had an upstairs with a bedroom and bathroom, but the ceilings were so low that you could barely stand up straight (and I’m only 5’3″!).

At this point, we were getting a little desperate. Our choices were limited: not only do we have to find an apartment that fit our needs, but one that is within a school’s service area plus a landlord who was willing to let us use the address for school registration.

We also had to work against time. School was starting soon and we needed to find an apartment, sign the contract, and update the boys’ ARC cards with the new address so we could register for school. Then, we had to get settled in and get ready for school before it starts. We had about ~2-3 weeks to do all this. Needless to say, it was pretty nerve-racking.

Next on the blog: the conclusion of our apartment search!

Ramblings

Apartment Hunting in Taipei: Landlords

hongsabroadLeave a comment

Landlords posed a different problem in our search for an apartment. Apparently, some landlords in Taiwan do not report their rental income to the government and transactions are completed under the table.

This creates an issue for us because we need to use the apartment’s address on our Alien Resident Cards (ARCs). Public schools need to verify that the address on your child’s ARC falls within their service area, so this was a critical step.

But if an address is used on an ARC, this informs the government that the property is being rented out or has been sold. To avoid taxes, some landlords are unwilling to let you use their address for ARCs and school registration. You can avoid this issue if you agree to pay more (usually 10% extra) to cover the landlord’s taxes, but we wanted to avoid paying more if possible.

What surprised us though, was that landlords in Taiwan didn’t request paystubs or credit checks. This is common in the US and we were concerned this would be the case in Taiwan. Landlords do ask what our careers are, what we’re doing in Taiwan, and to see our “business cards” (we told them we don’t have any) but that was it. Rental contracts here require a 2-month security deposit which is pretty hefty, but as long as you can fork over the money you are qualified to rent.

Next up in our apartment hunting adventures: interesting apartment features!

Ramblings

Apartment Hunting in Taipei: Schools

hongsabroadLeave a comment

Note: This is referring to public schools in Taipei only. The process for private schools will be different.

Every parent knows that the location of your home is important because that usually determines the school your kids can attend.

Last time, I shared that our strategy was to first decide the schools we wanted and then try to find an apartment close by. There were two issues:

  1. The PDF I had of school openings was only for 1st grade. We (stupidly) assumed that if a school had openings for 1st grade, they’d also have it for 3rd grade. Usually, there are more open spaces in the upper grades because families move or switch schools.

    But that’s not the case in Taipei. So I had to wake up at the crack of dawn while in Rome, brush off my rusty Mandarin Chinese, and call the schools to confirm whether they have space for my 1st and 3rd grader. Thankfully, 2 out of 3 schools we were interested in had space for both.

    An interesting tidbit about the public school system in Taipei is that there isn’t a centralized organization that governs the schools (like SFUSD in San Francisco for example). There is a Ministry of Education in Taiwan, but any school inquiries and enrollment is done with the individual school. This made things a bit more challenging for us because we had to communicate with multiple schools at once rather than work with one entity.

  2. Once we had a couple of schools to choose from, we started to look for apartments. Again, we (stupidly) assumed that as long as we could find an apartment within 15-20 minute walking distance to the school, we would be set.

    But soon, we learned that it doesn’t matter even if your apartment is 1 minute away from the school. If the address isn’t within the school’s service area, you cannot get in. I don’t know why we didn’t think of this because SF works similarly. Ugh, we wasted so much time looking at apartments that wouldn’t work for us in the first place. 😣

    This is the website where you can check which school is assigned to your address: https://schooldistrict.tp.edu.tw/html/search.jsp

    If the school your address is assigned to is full, you can request a transfer to the next closest school. From what I gather, you still have to officially register with your designated school but then you’d fill out a one page form requesting a transfer.

So lesson learned: never assume anything when you’re living in a foreign country. 😅

Now that we’ve figured out the schools (sort of?), we have to face our next challenge: landlords. Stay tuned for the next post!

Ramblings

Apartment Hunting in Taipei: Real Estate Agents

hongsabroad1 Comment

I want to interrupt our Europe blogs to share our experience apartment hunting in Taipei. We’ve actually been in Taipei for over 2 weeks now, so I’m obviously very behind in blogging 😅. But there’s just too much that has happened, and I want to document it all before I forget.

If I had to sum up our experience apartment hunting in Taipei, I’d say the overarching theme would be “expectations vs. reality.”

Let’s start with real estate agents.

In the last post about Taiwan, I shared that we’re using a real estate agent to help us look for an apartment. Normally in the US, this would be a DIY effort. We scour the internet to look for listings and work directly with the landlord to rent. Case closed.

Taiwan is different. Not only can we not speak the language, but we’re unfamiliar with the rules, laws and conventions of apartment renting. So, about a week before we left the US, I reached out to an English speaking real estate agency to get on their radar.

There is a cost to working with an agent. If you rent an apartment from the agent, you pay half a month’s rent as a service fee. The service includes negotiating the rental contract, assistance with utilities setup, acting as a liaison between you and landlord for the entire duration of your lease, and some agents can even help with purchasing furniture or appliances.

We told Kathy, our agent, what we were looking for in an apartment:

  • Ideally, the apartment is in Da’an district
  • It has 2 bedrooms
  • Near MRT (Taipei’s metro) or bus stop
  • At least semi-furnished
  • At least 30+ pings. Taiwan uses pings 坪 as a measurement of floor space. One 坪 is equivalent to about 35.6 square feet.

About a week before we landed in Taipei and while we were still in Rome, Kathy sent us a list of properties to look at. We were interested in a few of them, but we noticed the listings were all from her agency. We had seen a number of apartments that fit our criteria on rent.591.com.tw (which is equivalent to Craigslist in the US). Why weren’t any of those included?

This is where our expectations did not align with the reality. In the US, your agent can show you any property available. They collaborate with the buyer’s or seller’s agents and split the commission.

In Taipei, agents do not work with each other. If you wanted to view an apartment that isn’t listed under your agent’s realty company, you’d have to contact the representing agent yourself by phone or Line. (Line is the communications app commonly used in Taiwan.) Many times, the agent doesn’t speak English very well so Google Translate quickly became our best friend.

It’s possible for your agent to try and call the landlord and arrange something, but more often than not, the landlord doesn’t want to engage with another agent.

We had expected our agent to be a one-stop solution. She tracks down all apartments that fit our criteria, works with the landlord, negotiates the contract, and voila! We move in. The reality was Baba and I had to do a lot more work ourselves. Almost every night for 2 weeks, we’d scour rent.591.com.tw, create a spreadsheet of potential apartments, contact the different agents and schedule viewings with them. We were on a timeline (we rented an Airbnb for 2 weeks) so we had to act quickly.

On top of all this, we had to consider how the apartment would affect school registration for the boys. I’ll share more about that next.

Ramblings

Porto

hongsabroadLeave a comment

It was hard to leave Spain, but we were also looking forward to visiting Portugal. Portugal has been in the news for being one of the most popular countries Americans flock to, so we were curious about it.

We took a 1-hour flight from Madrid to Porto and stayed here for 4 days. Porto is one of those quintessentially charming European cities, with cobblestone streets, narrow alleyways, and beautiful river views. We also got a reprieve from the intense Madrid heat. Porto’s weather was in the mid low to mid 80s while we were there. This is a major reason why Porto is one of C and O’s favorite cities. 😅

Porto is famous for its bridges. It currently has six bridges across the River Douro, with the most famous one being Ponte Dom Luís I (pictured above). The top level of the bridge is for the metro and the bottom is for cars, but pedestrians can walk on either level.

The food in Porto was delicious, with plentiful, fresh seafood. One of Portugal’s classic dishes is bacalhau (pictured on the far right), which is salted cod. It was tasty when mixed with other ingredients but can be quite intense on its own. The cost for food wasn’t as cheap as Spain; a typical meal costs $15 to $18 per person.

Of course, we also had to try the Portuguese egg tarts (or pasta del nata) while in Portugal! They are filled with an eggy custard with a texture that is similar to crème brulée. The filling is sweeter than the Chinese egg tart, and the crust is an amazingly crispy and layered puff pastry. We munched on these little treats whenever we could.

The Francesinha sandwich is also native to Portugal, specifically from Porto. It is made with layers of bread and meats like steak, ham, bacon. Then, it’s topped with sliced cheese and doused with a tomato and beer sauce. Oh, and it comes with fries too – in case you needed more calories 😏. Honestly, this wasn’t one of our favorite things to eat in Portugal but we had to give it a try.

While in Madrid, we had the idea to send postcards to friends and family back home. We tried to mail postcards from each city we visited, including Porto. It was great for C and O to see what the stamps looked like, and how the post offices operated in each country. (Little did we know that it would take a month for people to receive the postcards, good lord! 😂)

Porto can be a little touristy, but it’s hard to resist its charm and beauty. Thanks for a great time, Porto! 💙

Ramblings

Secret Nun Cookies

hongsabroadLeave a comment

Before going to Madrid, I had watched YouTube videos about buying “secret” cookies from cloistered nuns in a 400 year-old monastery. It seemed like a cool experience, and I made a mental note to visit the monastery when we were in Madrid. Of course, now that this has been posted on YouTube, it’s not much of a secret anymore.

The “secret” nun cookies are sold at Monasterio del Corpus Christi, and this was the line when we got there. 😂

Before the secret was out, cookie buyers have to ring a doorbell that reads “Monjas” (nuns) and say, “Tienes dulces hoy?” (“Do you have sweets today?”). If they do, the door would open and you’d walk along a corridor to the turnstile. But because there were already people ahead of us, we were spared this step.

The corridor leading to the turnstile. We had to wait about 20 minutes for our turn.

Here comes the interesting part. Since the nuns are forbidden from contact with the outside world, the entire transaction is completed using a turnstile/lazy Susan (pictured below). You say your order into the turnstile, place your money on it, and within a few minutes, it would turn and your cookies would appear along with any change! It was so fun to witness. This was also the only time we had to use cash in Spain. Can you imagine if the nuns accepted Apple/Google Pay? 😂

The nuns speak only Spanish so Baba had to ask for the cookies in very, very broken Spanish. 🤣 We used Google translate for help but it was kind of hopeless. Miraculously though, the nuns understood what Baba was asking! (If you want to see a video of Baba speaking “Spanish”, I posted it on Instagram.)

We ordered two types of cookies – one was an iced shortbread cookie and the other was a cinnamon cookie. Honestly, they weren’t the most amazing cookies we’ve had, and they were quite expensive (about €12 for 1/2 a kilo). But it was such a cool and memorable experience!

Ramblings

Reality Check from Taipei

hongsabroad2 Comments

A lot of people asked if we have an apartment in Taipei yet. We don’t! Renting an apartment in Taipei is like anywhere else. Unless you’re willing to start paying rent before moving in, you’ll want to physically be there to check out the area and apartment before signing a lease. So, we rented an Airbnb for the first two weeks of August for apartment hunting. We do have an idea of the district we want to live in (Da’an).

In the middle of our vacation in Madrid, we got our first reality check. Our real estate agent in Taipei asked if she can look for apartments in both Da’an and Xinyi districts. I told her we wanted to concentrate in Da’an because we plan to use our Airbnb address (also in Da’an) to register for a nearby school. Then once we find our own apartment, we will update our address with the school. This is what some expats have done in the past, according to forums I lurk in.

But Kathy, our real estate agent, asked: “Did you ask your Airbnb host if you can use her address to register for school?”

Oh. Whoops.

It turns out our Airbnb host couldn’t let us use her address for school registration. We’re not sure why – maybe that address is already registered with a school – but we had to come up with Plan B, whatever that is.

We struggled with deciding what comes first – do we look for an apartment and then find a school nearby? Or find a school first, and then an apartment? I posed this dilemma on an expat forum and people advised to look for a school first because by the time we arrive in Taipei in August, many of the schools may be full.

Thankfully, a helpful stranger on the forum sent me a PDF of all the schools that were full in Taipei. I did some cursory research on schools that still have space (just based on Google reviews, the school’s website and Facebook page), and narrowed the list down to three. They are all in Da’an or Xinyi districts.

So now, our apartment hunting strategy is to find an apartment within walking distance to any of those schools, which is easier said than done. Apartments apparently get rented out quickly in Taipei so we’ll have to act fast. We have about one month to find an apartment and register for school before school starts on 9/1. We signed up for an adventure and we sure got it! 

Ramblings

Meet Me in Madrid

hongsabroadLeave a comment

Madrid was our second choice after Taipei for moving abroad. After spending 10 days there – and despite the terrible heat – we agreed we would be happy to live in this enthralling city.

Madrid seamlessly blends the action of a big metropolis with the charm of a historic place. It is vast but also concentrated. Each neighborhood has plenty of awesome restaurants, shops, and things to see/do. The population is diverse, which means more options for international cuisines. 😋

On our first full day in Madrid, we went to Retiro Park, which is a massive green oasis in the middle of the city. It’s beautiful – perfectly manicured lawns, rose gardens, lakes, playgrounds and even a public library nestled inside! It was a perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of Madrid.

We stopped for lunch at Casa Toni, a restaurant famous for making offal tapas. We munched on spicy pig ears, tripe, sweetbreads, and lamb intestines. Our favorites were the pig ears and sweetbreads. I’m glad C and O have an adventurous appetite.

Afterward, we walked down the block to eat gambas al ajillo, or shrimp with olive oil, garlic and parsley. It was a tapa I absolutely loved when I visited Spain 14 years ago – and it’s still as good as I remembered! It’s one of the pricier tapas at around €12 per plate.

Of course we also had to stop by the Museum of Jamón.

At this point, the heat was getting intense and the kids were complaining. This is where bribes can come in handy! 😆 We brought the boys to the historic San Ginés Chocolate Shop and had churros with chocolate, a favorite treat in Madrid. The churros were airy and light, and the chocolate was silky smooth and not too sweet. The boys were satisfied with this bribe.

We lived in the Moratalaz district of Madrid. It’s a quiet residential neighborhood with mostly locals but it was so far from the city center that we had to commute 30-40 minutes by bus each day. Thankfully, we had 10 days so there was enough time for traveling back and forth, but it’s not a neighborhood we’d recommend for short stays. (There was however, a fabulous outdoor pool near our Airbnb that we loved hanging out at!) If we were to move to Madrid, our neighborhood picks would be either Retiro (we just love Retiro Park!) or Chamberí, also a quiet residential area but very central.

Ramblings

Menú Del Día

hongsabroadLeave a comment

One of the many things we love about Spain is their menú del día (or daily menu). It’s typically served at lunch and consists of a starter, an entree, dessert or coffee, and a drink. Each menú del día costs anywhere from €11 to €18, which is a steal, considering how large the portions are and the price includes all taxes and tips.

We would order three menú del días for the four of us and we always walk away stuffed. You can choose from 3-4 items for each course, and the items are usually pretty fancy!

Starters (from left to right):

Baby squid, lobster/seafood rice, snails and grilled cuttlefish. Some starters could be a meal by themselves!

Entrees (from left to right):

Seafood paella (that’s three portions in the photo), oxtail stew, and grilled squid. The Spaniards make squid so, so well. It’s perfect every time.

Desserts were usually just ok, hence why I didn’t take many pictures. 😅 But we seek out menú del día wherever we go. Can’t miss out on a good deal and good food!

I remember being worried that we wouldn’t be able to adjust to the late meal times in Spain. (Lunch starts at 1pm – 2pm and dinner is at 8pm. Back in SF, we would eat lunch at 11:30am and dinner at 6pm.) But surprisingly, we adjusted within a week. Sometimes we didn’t get hungry for lunch until 2pm! Dinner can be a challenge because we wanted C and O to sleep early. If we went out to eat, we wouldn’t get back home until 9:30pm – 10pm. So, there were times we just bought groceries and cooked dinner at our Airbnb. It can be a nice break from eating out all the time and also getting more vegetables in our bodies!

P.S. We’re actually in Lisbon now, but I’m still catching up on Spain posts!