Best Phone App For Traveling To Taiwan To See The Dragon Boat Festival

Dennis Peng profile image June 14, 2018 | 3 min read
Even though Taiwan’s Dragon Boat Festival may be a long way from home, that doesn’t mean you need to miss out on seeing the racing dragon boats.Dragon Boat Festivals happen throughout the year in the U.S. with locations from Texas to Missouri and San Diego to Portland.While there are many opportunities in the U.S. to see dragon boats, you may be considering traveling to Taiwan this summer to attend a Dragon Boat Festival.

About the Dragon Boat Festival

According to the best information available, the festival origins date back to 278 B.C. and the death of poet and minister Qu Yuan. He was very revered by the local people, and so when he committed suicide by drowning himself in a river, the townspeople raced to save him in their boats.Celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar — or on June 18 this year — the focus of the Dragon Boat Festival is on the wildly decorated boats that race with about 20 paddlers, a drummer, and a person steering.But there’s much more to the event than the boat race. The day is also celebrated with friends and family by eating Zhongzi (rice dumplings) which are a symbol of luck. Wrapped in bamboo, lotus, or banana leaves, you can add regional filings to the center of these sticky rice dumpling.

Visiting Taiwan to See the Dragon Boats Race

The major cities where dragon boat races will occur are Hsinchu, Tainan, Taipei, and Yilan. If you’re planning to visit Taiwan to attend the festive event and visit family living there, we recommend that you consider using travel tools to keep you connected during your trip.connect-abroad-via-ooma appOoma’s free calling app gives you the same service as your home phone, but you can carry it with you in your pocket. With the app, it’s easy to call your relatives in Taiwan or your cat sitter back home. Plus, using Ooma when connected to Wi-Fi means that you’ll avoid international data charges.

Stay Connected With Affordable International Calling

For those who frequently call Taiwan or other international locations, Ooma’s international calling plans are an affordable way to access many global locations.connect-with-affordable-international-callingThe Ooma World Plan includes unlimited minutes to landlines in over 60 countries and to mobile phones in over 10 countries. The plan includes all calls to landlines in Taiwan. While the rate is normally $17.99 per month, the first 12 months are available for the low monthly rate of $9.99. Plus, with no contracts, you can use the service for as long as you need it without any obligations or commitments.If you’d prefer to pay for what you use, however, Ooma’ s international calling rates to Taiwan’s landlines are just 2.9 cents per minute, and it’s 11.5 cents per minute to Taiwan-based mobile phones.

Making the Most Out of International Calling With Ooma

There are many Ooma features and services that you can use to keep connected while traveling abroad.Using Ooma seems especially convenient after considering the alternative of arriving in Taiwan, buying a phone that operates on Taiwan’s mobile network of GSM 900MHz, purchasing a cell phone number, and then loading it with more minutes whenever you run out.Instead, Ooma’s mobile app gives you the ease of using your existing cell phone, the simplicity of keeping the same phone number while traveling, the affordability of low-cost international calls to Taiwan, and the comfort of knowing that all calls made to U.S. numbers using Ooma are free no matter where you are physically located.From remote voicemail retrieval to a free calling app, learn how Ooma Telo phone service and international calling plans can help you stay connected.