Monthly Archives: April 2024

Taking the headache out of sending parcels internationally from Taiwan

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The post office got a new system recently, which is aimed at streamlining the process for sending parcels overseas. The system isn’t the most user-friendly, however, and my colleague has complained about having to fill out the form over and over again due to the unclear instructions.

I have the 2021 version of the list of countries that require this new QR code process:

EU:

  • France
  • Czech Republic
  • Netherlands
  • Spain
  • Belgium
  • Romania
  • Malta
  • Italy
  • Luxembourg
  • Croatia
  • Ireland
  • Austria
  • Slovakia
  • Lithuania
  • Slovenia
  • Sweden
  • Denmark
  • Greece
  • Cyprus
  • Bulgaria
  • Finland
  • Germany
  • Hungary
  • Estonia
  • Latvia
  • Poland
  • Portugal

Other:

  • Brazil
  • United Kingdom
  • New Zealand
  • United States
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Afghanistan
  • South Korea
  • Hong Kong
  • Canada
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Palestine
  • Rwanda
  • Serbia
  • Moldova
  • Indonesia
  • Uruguay
  • Zimbabwe
  • Kazakhstan
  • Switzerland
  • Japan

What you’ll need before you start:

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The Eternal Question: To Mask or not to Mask!

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If you’ve been outside of Taiwan anytime in the past year, you’ll notice a substantial difference in masking practices. In the US and the UK, I rarely saw anyone in a mask, but in Taiwan, the mask industry is still going strong. As I was walking back home one day, however, I spotted this random sticker on a lamppost, suggesting someone is not happy with the lasting fetish with face masking in Taiwan:

It reads:

「口罩臉
不好看
打扮病夫
很詭異」

“A masked face
is not attractive
Dressing up like a sick old lady
is very weird”

To be fair, for the past couple of months, it feels like the entire city of Taipei has had a cough or a cold and do you really care whether other people wear masks or not?

What do you think? Time to expose our chins to the gods?