How to Get Free Drinks in Taipei Bars

Taipei has one of the most coolest night scenes in Asia, especially for girls.

First and foremost, Taiwanese are friendly. Period.
Not just the guys, the girls are generally very welcoming as well.

I felt that the title is a bit of a spoof since I'm just sharing my experience on my first night out in Taipei. But I did end up loads of free drinks without so much an effort.

On my first evening of arrival in Taipei years ago, I was invited by the host of my homestay, a girl not much older than myself, to a party of her friends in town. It was my first time in Taiwan, and my first time meeting this girl.


on the way to my homestay in a taxi from the airport

My room was a cute space with the tiniest double bed that would be considered as a large single beds in other countries with a very modern en-suite bathroom. Facing the front street, despite my initial fear of noise, it was frankly very bearable well into the night though the school opposite would be an alarm in the morning. Might as well since I had no intention of staying coop up in a room in Taipei.



I didn't come to Taiwan to party, so I didn't even have a proper piece of outfit I could wear out for the night. So I settled with denim mini skirt and skull t-shirt; a scarf to make up for the lack of glam and hopefully enough make up and hair to pass it off as class.



Turned out it was a party for a surprise proposal! I was surprised to be so warmly invited to such a personal party.






The girl said yes. And even showed me her ring. It was such a sweet gesture I didn't know what to make of it being an outsider feeling so welcomed.

And I wasn't the only outsider, another Canadian girl from the home-stay was invited along as well and the boys at the party made sure we didn't feel left out by chatting us up without being sleazy.

Then feeling that we could use some drinks, the Canadian girl and I settled ourselves at the bar counter and ordered ourselves some fancy cocktails, which were really delicious and fancy looking. I was impressed that a bar could present such delicate cocktails that not even the bigger bars in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or the UK could whip up (not even overpriced Golden Gai in Tokyo could compare); but then again that's as far as my experience on cocktails went.





And surprisingly, we only ordered one drink and the rest was given for free by the bartender (who was cute and friendly), and more drinks were offered by boys from the party which we kindly declined. And none of which made a sleazy move other than chatting us up and asking where we're from, nor did they press for phone numbers had we decline the first time much like the boys back home.



If this was how being single and alone felt like in Taiwan, I would go out partying every night had I lived in the city.

I had my doubt initially regarding the motives behind these generous gestures from random strangers in bars but a week later when I landed in Tainan and wandered into a random bar, I practically became friends with all the staff in the bar over the course of my pizza dinner; who spontaneously invited me out to party with them (two girls and one guy) that night and that weekend. The girls even offered to walk me from my hotel to the club. Though in the end I didn't go because I was never really a clubbing person to begin with, it was a new friendliness I could get used to.

I did end up going to some night market with a Tainanese girl I met in Taipei who was a friend to my host then and showed me around town that evening.



How can you pose on camera in Taiwan without the peace sign? lol.