Most of what surprises visitors in Taichung is small and friendly once you know it. This page covers the everyday moments of a trip. For money, tipping, SIM cards, plugs, drinking water and emergency numbers, start with the basics. → Practical basics
Our top five
- Use the convenience store for train tickets. The ibon and FamiPort kiosks book and print HSR and Taiwan Railway tickets; you pay at the counter within 10 minutes.
- Carry your rubbish. Street bins are rare. A small bag in your daypack solves it.
- Look twice at every crossing. Drivers must yield to pedestrians, but turning scooters and cars still cut close.
- Keep your drink closed on the MRT. Eating and drinking inside the gates can cost NT$1,500 or more.
- Have the address in Chinese. Show it to the driver, or paste it into your map app.
At the convenience store
7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Hi-Life and OK Mart do far more than sell snacks. Each 7-Eleven has an ibon kiosk and each FamilyMart a FamiPort kiosk: touch screens for tickets, printing and payments. The ibon menu can be switched to English or Japanese.
- High Speed Rail tickets. Book at the kiosk, or online or in the T-EX app, and print the payment slip. Take it to the counter within 10 minutes and pay in cash, or the booking is cancelled. The store charges NT$10 per ticket (a return counts as two). You can book up to 29 days ahead and until 30 minutes before departure. Stores can't change tickets: do that at a station ticket window, at least 30 minutes before departure. A refund at a store costs NT$20 per ticket.
- Taiwan Railway tickets. The same four chains sell and print them, with the same rule: pay in cash at the counter within 10 minutes of printing the slip. Taiwan Railway lists a NT$8 service fee per ticket at 7-Eleven. If you booked without paying, pay within two days, or by the day before travel if you leave sooner. Changes are made at a station window.
- Event tickets. ibon has a ticket center, and many concerts, shows and games sell through it. CTBC Brothers baseball tickets, for example, are sold at the ibon kiosk. → Baseball in Taichung
- Printing and scanning. ibon prints from a USB drive or an uploaded file, and scans documents: handy for a boarding pass or a booking confirmation.
- Paying. Tap your EasyCard at the counter to pay as well as to top it up.
Many stores also have a microwave behind the counter for boxed meals, a hot water dispenser for instant noodles and a few seats by the window, so a convenience store is an easy place for a cheap breakfast or a rest out of the heat.
Receipts and bags
The receipt lottery. Almost every receipt in Taiwan is a uniform invoice (統一發票), with an eight-digit number printed on it, and that number is a lottery ticket. The Ministry of Finance draws the numbers on the 25th of every odd-numbered month, for the two months before. The special prize is NT$10 million; the smallest prize, NT$200, goes to receipts whose last three digits match a first-prize number.
- Visitors can win. The rules let non-Taiwanese winners claim with a passport instead of a Taiwanese ID card.
- The timing. Prizes are claimed within three months, starting on the 6th of the month after the draw. Convenience stores pay out the smaller prizes, up to NT$1,000; bigger prizes are claimed at a bank. On a short trip you'll usually have left before your receipts are drawn, so this matters mostly if you come back.
- "Carrier?" (載具, zàijù). When the cashier asks this, they mean: do you want the receipt saved electronically to a mobile barcode instead of printed? Visitors without one just say no, and get a paper receipt.
Bring a bag. Since 2002, Taiwan has restricted free plastic shopping bags, and in 2018 the rule was widened to 14 kinds of business, including convenience stores, pharmacies, drink shops and bakeries. So the cashier will ask whether you want to buy a bag. A foldable shopping bag in your daypack saves the question.
Rubbish
You'll walk a long way between public bins. In Taiwan, households hand their rubbish straight to the garbage truck rather than leaving it in street bins, and Taichung follows a no-new-bins rule in parks, cutting existing ones where it can, to reduce smells, stray animals and cleaning work.
- Carry it with you. Keep a small bag for wrappers and empty bottles, and throw them away at your hotel. Convenience stores usually have small bins inside for things you bought there.
- The musical garbage trucks. Garbage trucks announce themselves with music as they drive their routes, and people come out to meet them. The tune most people know is "A Maiden's Prayer"; some trucks have played Beethoven's "Für Elise". Taichung's Environmental Protection Bureau tracks its garbage and recycling trucks by GPS and publishes their locations, updated every 10 minutes.
- Sorting at your hotel or B&B. If your room has separate bins, use them as labeled: recycling, general rubbish and sometimes food waste are collected separately.
On the street
Taichung is easy to walk in the old center and around the parks, but traffic needs your attention.
- Drivers must yield at crossings. Since June 30, 2023, a driver who fails to yield to a pedestrian at a crossing can be fined up to NT$6,000, and far more if someone is hurt. You'll often see drivers stop, but don't count on it: scooters and cars turning across the crossing on a green light are the ones to watch.
- What to do. Cross at the crossing on the green walking figure, look toward turning traffic as well as straight ahead, and make eye contact before you step out.
- The arcades (騎樓). Many older streets have a covered walkway in front of the shops, built into the buildings. It keeps off sun and rain, but you'll often find it broken up by steps, displays and parked scooters, which send you out onto the road. Walk on the road edge with care, facing traffic where you can.
On the MRT and buses
The rule that catches visitors out is on the MRT: no eating, drinking, gum or betel nut inside the gates and on trains, with a fine of NT$1,500 to NT$7,500 under the Mass Rapid Transit Act. Keep your bubble tea closed in your bag until you're out again. On escalators, Taichung Metro asks you to hold the handrail and stand steady. → The Taichung MRT
On the city buses, raise a hand as your bus comes so the driver stops, tap your card when you get on and again when you get off. The city's famous "10 km free" fare is for registered Taichung residents, not visitors. → Taichung city buses
That MRT ban is the MRT's own. On High Speed Rail and Taiwan Railway trains, eating at your seat is normal, and a lunch box on the train is part of the trip.
Eating out
- Order sheets. At many small shops, especially breakfast shops, you order by writing the quantity next to each dish on a paper menu and handing it to the counter. Some places use a ticket machine instead. → Breakfast in Taichung
- Sharing tables. In busy noodle shops you'll often be seated at a table with strangers. It's normal; a nod is enough.
- Help yourself. Water, soup, sauces and cutlery are often self-service from a counter or a corner. Where you see trays stacked by a bin or a return shelf, clear your own.
- No tip. Pay the price on the menu, or the bill with its service charge at a sit-down restaurant.
Taxis and addresses
Have your destination in Chinese. Taiwanese addresses run from big to small, the opposite of English. The National Taichung Theater, for example, is at 臺中市西屯區惠來路二段101號:
| Part | Chinese | English |
|---|---|---|
| City | 臺中市 | Taichung City |
| District | 西屯區 | Xitun District |
| Road | 惠來路 | Huilai Road |
| Section | 二段 | Section 2 |
| Number | 101號 | No. 101 |
In English it reads the other way round: No. 101, Sec. 2, Huilai Rd., Xitun District, Taichung City. Smaller streets add a lane (巷, Ln.) and sometimes an alley (弄, Aly.) off the lane, before the number, and a floor (樓, F) after it. Chunghwa Post has a free Chinese to English address tool if you need to read one.
Show the driver the Chinese, or open the place on a map app. Uber also works in Taichung, so you don't have to explain an address at all. → Taxis and Uber
Your phone: LINE, wifi and alerts
- LINE. LINE is the messaging app you'll see everywhere in Taiwan. Many hotels, B&Bs, restaurants and tour operators list a LINE ID for bookings and questions, so it's worth installing before you arrive.
- Free wifi. Look for iTaichung, the city's free wifi, at government buildings, libraries and cultural centers, and the national iTaiwan network. Connect, accept the terms in your browser and you're online. A session ends after 15 minutes without use or four hours in all; just reconnect. Indoor hotspots follow office hours.
- Earthquake alerts. The Central Weather Administration sends earthquake alerts by cell broadcast to every phone in the affected area, within seconds of a strong quake: for an estimated magnitude 5.0 or more where shaking may reach intensity 4, and for magnitude 6.5 or more where it may reach intensity 3.
- In an earthquake. Don't run outside while the ground is shaking. Drop, cover and hold on: get down, cover your head and neck (under a sturdy table if there is one), and hold on until it stops.
- Typhoon days. When a typhoon comes, each city and county decides whether to close offices and schools, often announcing it the evening before. The Directorate-General of Personnel Administration posts every city's decision on one page in English. On a typhoon day, check before you go: sights may close and transport may change. → Typhoon season
Good to know: the earthquake alert can sound before you feel anything. If it goes off, move away from windows and anything that can fall, and get ready to drop, cover and hold on.
Customs at your hotel, a B&B or someone's home
- Shoes. Where you see a step up at the door, a shoe rack or a row of slippers, take your shoes off. This is usual in homes and in many B&Bs and guesthouses.
- Toilet paper goes in the toilet. Since 2017 the environment ministry has asked people to flush used toilet paper rather than put it in a bin, and public toilets were told to post signs saying so. Never flush facial tissues or wet wipes, which don't dissolve. In an older building, if a sign asks you to use the bin, do.
- Umbrellas. On rainy days, shops, malls and restaurants often have an umbrella rack or a dispenser of thin umbrella bags at the door. Use them before you walk in.
- Queues. You'll often see neat lines at popular food stalls and at the marked doors on MRT platforms. Join the end and let people off the train first.
- Ghost Month. The seventh lunar month, in 2027 from August 2 to August 31, is Ghost Month. You'll see tables of food offerings outside homes and shops, and people burning incense and paper money, especially around the Ghost Festival on the 15th day (August 16, 2027). It doesn't change much for visitors: leave the offerings alone and give the burning space.
Help lines
| Number | What for |
|---|---|
| 1990 | National Immigration Agency hotline for foreign nationals. Mandarin, English and Japanese 24 hours a day; Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai and Cambodian on weekdays, 09:00 to 17:00. |
| 1999 | Taichung City Government's 24-hour citizen hotline, for city services and non-emergency reports |
Police, ambulance and the 24-hour travel information hotline are on the Practical basics page.
Sources
HSR tickets at convenience stores: Taiwan High Speed Rail. Taiwan Railway tickets at convenience stores: Taiwan Railway. ibon services and languages: 7-Eleven ibon. Paying with EasyCard: EasyCard. Receipt lottery draws, prizes, claim period and passports: Ministry of Finance, Uniform Invoice Award Regulations; prizes paid at convenience stores: CNA (December 2023). Plastic bag rules: Taipei Times (May 2024). Bins in Taichung parks: UDN (November 2025). Garbage truck tunes: Taipei Times (July 2021). Taichung truck locations: Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau open data. Pedestrian right of way and fines: Taipei Times, April 2023 and July 2023. MRT rules and fines: Taichung MRT passenger regulations. Address tool: Chunghwa Post; National Taichung Theater address: National Taichung Theater. iTaichung wifi: Taichung City Government. Earthquake alert criteria and cell broadcast: CNA (August 2024, in force from September 1, 2024). Drop, cover and hold on: Taichung City Government; not running outside: National Fire Agency advice via Taichung Education Bureau. Typhoon closures: Directorate-General of Personnel Administration. Toilet paper: Focus Taiwan (May 2017) and Taipei Times (January 2026). Ghost Month 2027 dates: Central Weather Administration 2027 calendar; offerings and paper money: Taipei Times (August 2026). 1990 hotline: National Immigration Agency. Taichung 1999 hotline: Taichung City Government. Checked November 2026.