1. Taiwanese people are kind-hearted people. Of course like everywhere else you might bump into bad people, but in the Bubble Tea Land your chances are pretty thin.
2. Taiwanese people are extremely shy. They might actually be the shiest people on earth. Most Taiwanese people can actually speak some English, but 99% of them won't dare to talk to you. And if you talk to them in Chinese, they will probably shy away from you and tell you in broken English that they don't speak English. You might think "What the f***!" Just take it easy. They are shy. Give them time to know you.
3. Taiwanese people are urban. They like cities. If you explain your Taiwanese girlfriend you would like to live in front of the sea in Danshui (50 minutes away from the city center) or that you would like to spend your next vacation in a campsite, like for example in the gorgeous Hualien or Taitung county, get ready for a big fight or even to break up. Everybody wants to live in the city center, that's why the price of houses and apartments there is insane and that's why houses or flats in nearby villages are dirt cheap.
4. Taiwanese people have bad eyesight. More than 99% of them wear glasses or lenses before the age of twenty. In my opinion, it is caused by their writing system, which is the most complicated in the world, with over 10,000 ideograms in use, and with their visual habits: Just walk in a train (the so-called MRT) and you will realize what I am talking about: most people are on their cell phones or tablets, either writing, reading or playing video games. They never let their eyes rest!
5. Taiwanese people are hard-working. If you tell them that you work 8 hours per day, they might think you work part-time. They might assume you are looking for more hours. The word 'retirement' is also an unknown word. If at night you bump into people older than your grand-parents in the street, don't think they are on their way to some kind of nocturnal hot-spring delights... They are on their way to work!
6. Taiwanese people like to gossip. I won't say much about this. Just be careful!
7. Taiwanese people are terrible at spelling Chinese words in Roman letters. That's the reason why it is more difficult to learn Chinese in Taiwan than in mainland China. In China, everyone can read and write pinyin (which is the romanization of their language), but unfortunately the Taiwanese people don't learn pinyin at school. They learn 'bopomofo', which is an alphabet pretty similar to the Japanese one (hiragana and katakana). So if you ask them to write a word in Roman letters (called pinyin in China), they won't be able to do it, unless they are Mandarin teachers.
8. Taiwanese people think the bigger their vehicle are, the more rights they have on the road. That's why riding and driving in Taiwan might turn into a pretty gruesome experience if you are on a bicycle or on a motorbike. Car and bus drivers just think they have more rights than you just because they drive bigger vehicles. There are several nasty accidents every single day, just because of that! Be careful!
9. Taiwanese people respect their elders. It is really beautiful to see. In a train or on a bus, they will get up to let an older person sit. At Chinese New Year, children and grand-children who already work bring money to their parents and grand-parents in red envelopes. Others buy them apartments and houses! It is really something we should imitate in the West.
10. Taiwanese people are Chinese and not Chinese at the same time. If you consider that they are 'only' Chinese, you will hurt them and possibly run into trouble. If on the other hand, you come to the understanding that they aren't Chinese and let them know, you will hurt them and once again run into trouble. This is a very tricky topic. Don't think or talk too much about that!
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