Gay Taipei

[kakadai]

Anyone been to Taipei care to share experiences?

[Nirish guy]

I enjoyed it as a place to visit ok but found the gay / action end of things to be crap and found the locals to be very standoffish and basically not interested in talking to white guys ( or at least me anyway!), on talking to the manager of the gay hotel where I was staying about this in case I was making some huge cultural mistake he explained that it was just that they as a Country weren't quite used / comfortable with tourists yet and as most of them didn't speak (good) English they were embarrassed to even try and socialise / speak with farang.

Personally I didn't buy that and from speaking to one or two guys in the only farang friendly gay bar that I did find they also backed up my thoughts that the locals weren't to keen on farang guys "in general" and certainly not in the same way as other SE Asian countries I've visited.

Saying that I have read other reports on here where people have gone and had a great time at the Pride parade etc so the above was just my one time experience of visiting for one week so apart from that I did have an enjoyable time ( albeit a bloody quiet one ) seeing around the place etc and I might well visit again some day just to see if it was a one off situation perhaps.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts if you decide to visit and it other members who've also been there.

[fedssocr]

It's an interesting city and great country. Lots of things to see and do.

As for the gay scene, I didn't really experience much of it other than visiting a massage place, Royal Spa I think. Nice place. Hot guys. But the guy I had did not get naked for the happy ending part, he kept his underwear on and didn't really want me to touch him there. So it was a little frustrating. Planning to try another place or two on my visit next week. In Touch Spa indicates that they do "body to body" massage which sounds quite fun. Some really hot boys there too, at least according to their website.

Overall I kind of fell in love with the place. It's true that they aren't really used to tourists and haven't done as much as they could to promote tourism. Most tourists are from the Mainland and they get bussed around everywhere. I think people probably speak better English than they think they do, but they are a bit shy about it. There are tons of guys on Gay Romeo, so I am interested to see if I can hook up with anyone from there or Grindr/Jack'd. The public transport system is cheap and easy to use, also quite clean and new. They have these festive colored lights all around the country that I thought were really neat.

I took a little weekend tour with a pro photographer where we drove down the east coast taking lots of pictures which was great fun. This year we're going to Sun Moon Lake and to some historic attractions on the Western side of the island.

Looking forward to Pride on Saturday. But of course the parade only lasts a couple of hours. From there I will likely head over to the gay neighborhood and see what's going on.

[aussie_]

I leave from Thailand on October 23 for a two week visit toTaiwan and will report back on my experiences. There are many Taiwanese students and some on working holidays in Australia and those I have met are generally very nice and friendly. One guy I met back home is showing me around Taipie and checking out Gay Pride with me before I go for a tour around the island for five days. Another I met online and have been helping with his english will also be seeing me for food, drink and hopefully more :) A visit to the gay hot springs is also on the schedule to check out the local talent. I doubt if I will go to the big dance club events scheduled for Gay Pride weekend but I will try to get to some nightclubs and massage places.

[cottmann]

You can register for a free WiFi "iTaiwan" account at any Taiwan Tourism Bureau counter/center by showing your passport as ID and getting an ID. The centers are at the main international airports (e.g., Taipei and Kaohsiung), most mass rapid transit stations, the High Speed Rail stations, and many ordinary train stations. It's free to residents and foreign tourists alike.

[svyturys]

I'm thinking of visiting Taiwan soon as I've got an invitation from Taiwanese lad I spent some great time in London with. While this country hasn't got sites like Great Wall of China or Halong bay, however it's still seems to be a very nice place to spend some time. It seems to be very gay friendly, at least Taipei, as that lad told me that there is no problem walking around the city holding hands.
Not sure though whether Thailand's sexpats would enjoy it that much. As it is a wealthy country, buying sex implies quiet a bit of money and gay scene is not commercialized. It might be a tough place for old farangs hunting for some action.
I noticed one interesting thing. People on this blog profess how much they fancy Asian boys and culture but they rarely leave good old South East Asia and head north to explore the region more thoroughly. I personally more interested in East than South East. And the boys are more of my type in, lets say, China than Thailand. I'm inundated with messages from cute Asian guys (90% Chinese/Taiwanese) here in London and I'm sure it would be the same in Taiwan.

[fedssocr]

well, if you like the massage spa experience you can get some gay sex that way. Or at least a happy ending. I just enjoyed one at In Touch Spa that was quite sensual. Perhaps the best such massage I have gotten anywhere. Cost was NTD2000 or just about US$70 for 90 minutes. I tipped NTD1000. Not sure if that was too much or whatever but he seemed happy enough. So about US$100 not bad.

Jack'd seems very popular here. Tons and tons of cute guys there. Not sure how easy it is to make contact unless you speak the local language, I have not tried. Grindr seems popular as well. GayRomeo too.

The wifi is around as noted. Not sure about the speed. I just got a Taiwan Mobile SIM for my phone. Only about US$10 for a month prepaid includes 1GB data and some talk time. I won't use anywhere near that much data. Speed is 3G or better.

[Beachlover]

Almost easier to find gorgeous looking hook ups in Taiwan than it is in a brothel... the "fuck and go" segment of the gay scene is very large, similar to Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok.

Personality wise, Taiwanese guys are generally very very nice people.

[Nirish guy]

Almost easier to find gorgeous looking hook ups in Taiwan than it is in a brothel

And you're basing this statement on what ? Personal Experience or here'say perhaps ? I'd hate people to perhaps end up booking a trip based on such a statement if you aren't 100% sure about that as my own personal experience and that of several other people I have spoken to who have visited or live in Taiwan would lead me to believe that the EXACT opposite is more likely to be true.

[lego]

I've never been to Taiwan myself, but based on the number of Taiwanese guys I've hooked up with in Bangkok so far (via Fridae, GayRomeo and Silom Sois 2 and 4), I could imagine that it's quite possible to hook up with them in their homeland, too.

[Nirish guy]

Unfortunately I found that what you might imagine against what turned out to be what I witnessed first hand with my own eyes ended up as two very different things
I'm afraid and whilst I agree it's possible to hook up with Taiwanese guys outside of their own country I think several other forces come into play when they are at home with curtail their willingness to
do so perhaps.

Perhaps others who have been there would care to share their thoughts too so we can all get a feel for a good general overview of members own personal experiences based in their visits there as I "imagined" the same as Lego based on
roughly the same thought process and found the reality on the ground to be very different.

[lego]

Fair point, I'd love to read about actual experiences (good or bad) in Taiwan, too!

Almost easier to find gorgeous looking hook ups in Taiwan than it is in a brothelI always find encouraging the number of posters who claim extensive knowledge of the inside of brothels but I had never thought to count Beachlover among that number until now. I'm particularly interested to discover the names of brothels where "gorgeous looking" prostitutes can be found. Perhaps Beachlover could share his experiences?

[Brad the Impala]

Almost easier to find gorgeous looking hook ups in Taiwan than it is in a brothelI always find encouraging the number of posters who claim extensive knowledge of the inside of brothels but I had never thought to count Beachlover among that number until now. I'm particularly interested to discover the names of brothels where "gorgeous looking" prostitutes can be found. Perhaps Beachlover could share his experiences?

Deliberate distortion of Beachlover's statement. The expression of "sex or hookups being easier to find than in a brothel" is a fairly well known phrase implying the extreme ease of finding sex and doesn't imply intimate knowledge of brothels, nor suggest their existence in Taiwan.

I can only add to the debate that when I was working in Taipei and Kaoshiung for several months, I found my experience very similar to Beaclovers. Very easy to find hookups in bars and saunas, all non financial. Alas it was twenty years ago, so particular information is likely to be out of date.