Hello
I may be working in taiwan, Kaohsiung City for a few months and wanted to know some general info. For example is 12000TWD per month enough to live on excluding accomadation. Is that enough for living and travelling/sight seeing?
Whats the public transportation like, is it developed/cheap?
Could i find cheap shared accomdation e.g. 5000TWD per month or is that unrealisitic?
Thanks alot
12,000 isn’t much. If you aren’t cooking rice at home then expect to spend 60-150 n.t per meal depending on if it’s local cafeteria food or Western fast food. Nicer restaurant meals can start out at 200 on up. So just for food you are looking at around 300 per day or 8,000 per month.
If you want to drink in a bar; beers start out at about 120 n.t. or you can buy the same in a 7-11 for 40 n.t. per can.
5,000 per month rent is possible if you can find someone willing to take in a short termer. Check the posts out on www.connectkaohsiung.com
[quote=“cap”]Hello
I may be working in taiwan, Kaohsiung City for a few months and wanted to know some general info. For example is 12000TWD per month enough to live on excluding accomadation. Is that enough for living and travelling/sight seeing?
Whats the public transportation like, is it developed/cheap?
Could i find cheap shared accomdation e.g. 5000TWD per month or is that unrealisitic?
Thanks alot[/quote]
What Hongda said about the food and apartment is true. I’m not sure how much sight-seeing you’ll be able to do with that budget. (I haven’t done any myself 
) To be honest, I’m not sure there’s all that much to see here that you would have to pay for though: a few museums, the inner part of Lotus Lake, entrance to ChengChing Lake… Do you have an idea of where you want to go and what you want to see?
There’s not much in the way of public transportation, just buses for now–not too convenient IMO. You’re going to be looking at paying a lot of taxis. Starting fare is 70NT. Or you could spend $1200 to get a bicycle, but it’s really hot here now; you may not want to show up everywhere covered in sweat.
…or get an old scooter off connectkaohsiung.
If you are working with Taiwanese, it’s likely they’ll be happy to meet you on weekends and show you around also.
Hey guys, I’m a newbie to this forum.I’m from Sri Lanka. I’m with my wife thinking of considering the scholarship offered to us by the Chines Culture University for a International Masters programme. As they informed us as a couple the in campus accommodation is not given and we need to find off campus accommodation.
We are looking for a cheap accommodation closer to the Chines Culture University, Hwa Kang Rd., Shilin Dist., Taipei City. The monthly stipend given to us is NTD 7000 each therfor altogether its NTD 14000 per month. How much will it cost us for a room with a kitchen (or room where its permitted to cook!)and a bathroom?.
We are planing to cook our selves and use public transport service.
My most concern on this matter is will it be possible to live with this amount of money? Accommodation? Travel? food? health Insurance? Please any one who are willing do reply me to sort the things out.
Thanks,
You will not be able to live in taipei for NT14,000 a month for two. Not even for one. That could cover rent for two and utilities and nothing else.
[quote=“cap”]Hello
I may be working in taiwan, Kaohsiung City for a few months and wanted to know some general info. For example is 12000TWD per month enough to live on excluding accomadation.[/quote]
Kaohsiung is cheaper than Taipei.
Still, NT$12,000/month after accommodation is only NT$400/day, which is not much to live on. You can do so, but it’ll be boring, subsisting on only the cheapest foods and drinking maybe only tea and water. Sightseeing would have to be local.
But as they say, where there’s a will, there’s a way. If you watch your NT$ and don’t mind living like a Spartan, it’s possible to live on a low budget in Taiwan, unlike, say, in the US. You could live on the ultra-cheap for a month or so and save up for more extensive travel within Taiwan, staying at the cheapest hostels or at friends’ houses, and taking buses and TRA trains.
EDIT: Oh damn, this is a five-year gravedig!!
[quote=“Chris”][quote=“cap”]
EDIT: Oh damn, this is a five-year gravedig!![/quote][/quote]
Oh well, still very useful to me.
Do you think if we exclude rent/utilities/insurance and those sunk costs… could living on $12000NTD in Taipei actually be cheaper than in Kaoshiung?
I’m thinking like… I’ll be living in Da’an so won’t need metro everyday to get to class. And there are the night markets which I assume (hope) sell very decent food at very low prices. If someone only went for a beer or two on a weekend, could they get by comfortably?
[quote=“Lili”]Do you think if we exclude rent/utilities/insurance and those sunk costs… could living on $12000NTD in Taipei actually be cheaper than in Kaoshiung (Gaoxiong)?
I’m thinking like… I’ll be living in Da’an so won’t need metro everyday to get to class. And there are the night markets which I assume (hope) sell very decent food at very low prices. If someone only went for a beer or two on a weekend, could they get by comfortably?[/quote]
You can’t get by comfortably on NT$400 a day (wherever you are in Taiwan). Can be done, but I would prepare for hard times. Sorry.
EDIT: Sorry, I posted during a rushed lunch break. By the “can be done”, I didn’t mean you could live comfortably, I meant that there must be people surviving on this amount for food in Taipei. You can buy fruit and many things for under NT$50, but only living on NT$400 a day (even assuming there will be no other expenses) really seems a little extreme to me. There is a difference between living and surviving.
here is our bills living in PIngdong for the last 6 years.
Rent: $3,500-$5,000
Electricity: $1,100 bi monthly (dont leave your air con on 24/7, we didnt have air con for the first 5 years)
Water: free in many areas, now we pay $120/month cant drink it though
Phone: $900/month depends on you, i call back to canada.
Food: $12,000/month (we budget for $400 a day for both of us, we never cook at home)
internet $400/month no cable for us, but the phone company has cheap simple chanels i think for around $100/month? the tv here i find real cheesy.
Car and gas is the biggest bill, period. i think we pay about $10k a year for insurance/pollution, might be more. gas is always a lot because we drive students home etc so we pay $20k a month in gas…but you wont have that cost. a scooter costs us (just for our own use about $4000 a month in gas, we travel around a lot.
When i first lived here me and my wife lived simple on $20,000 a month and that covered everything. we couldnt do flight travel or go stay in taipei or anything, but we could motor around up to tainan, kenting etc easily and cheaply. traveling here is cheap, the biggest expense is hotels and transportation (i personally think the train system in taiwan is excellent, and you can bus anywhere from there…or ship your scooter on the train).
Right now we spend about $45,000-$50,000 a month as an annual average and that includes flight tickets to other asian countries once or twice a year. we also eat out every meal, sometimes nice sometimes noodles/rice type shops. we have a car, a scooter, air con. life is comfortable and we do a lot. at $20,000 a month life was comfortable but we were very limited in what we could do when we wanted to travel.
EDIT: an idea of food prices around here. A simple fried rice/noodle/soup noodle etc is only like $25-$40. it fills the void. You can go to a restaurant and get all you can eat hot pot and that kind of nice food for $100-$200. All you can eat buffet style that is very good quality is about $300-$600. only things more expensive are in the main cities.
Well, its rather disappointed… 
May be some where away from the city… closer to Chines Culture University in the mountain, is it possible to go for the amount. With the minimum conditions?
We both really need to get this offer… is there any way out to make this happen… I know first few months we’ll have to have our own money to get thing going. I think by cooking and shraing things together a couple who spends most of the time in the University can mange with that amount. Am I still unreasonable?? Please do help me in sorting out this… 
Well, its rather disappointed… May be some where away from the city… closer to Chines Culture University in the mountain, is it possible to go for the amount. With the minimum conditions?
We both really need to get this offer… is there any way out to make this happen… I know first few months we’ll have to have our own money to get thing going. I think by cooking and shraing things together a couple who spends most of the time in the University can mange with that amount. Am I still unreasonable?? Please do help me in sorting out this… [/quote]
NT14,000 is simply not enough money for two, or even one person to survive, It’s around US$400. There are very few countries in the world you could live for a month on that. Especially for two.
Even if you could squeeze the two of you into one room in a shared apartment for $5000, that would leave less than $4000 a person for food, transport, misc.
Just not going to happen.
Also the Cultural Uni area is very expensive.
If you know money will come in a few months then you need to spend some of your own during the interval.
They could live in Shilin area -not the fancy area, but rather close to the Shing Kong Hospital and traditional market there- which is cheaper, and has easier trasnportation to the university. It also has cheaper foodstuff, maybe even a place to cook by themselves. An acuaintace live sina a two story house and pays 17K, so there must be something more reasonable there.
MM is correct that 14000 isn’t enough. You may find rent less than 14,000, but it will not be lovely at all, and even if it were FREE, for two people, 14,000 is going to be tight. You’ll have transportation costs, school books and supplies, printer ink, everyday essentials, health insurance, and all sorts of other small expenses that will quickly add up to more than you’ll have.
For my son and I, I spend about 30,000 per month right now, and my rent is a thrid of that. I pay electric, water, internet, cell phone (and I have a contract–it would cost much more for pay as you go service).
I sometimes cook, but we mostly eat out, as eating out is cheaper than cooking our fave dishes from home, and anyway it’s too damn hot to cook these days. But I do buy most fruits, veggies, and household goods in the local market.
I drive an old crappy scooter. We rarely go out, but sometimes take in a movie (sometimes is twice in the year since I’ve been back) at full price. We also have a discount card for the second run theators, so he gets in free with my ticket, but we don’t do that often either.
I don’t pay for cable tv. We watch whatever we’re interested in watching over the internet, or we read.
When school starts again, I’ll spend more because I’ll be paying for my son’s tutoring again. (Not buxiban.)
My son has joined a sports team at his local school which he loves and which is free. He practicies every day, even through the summer, so I don’t have to worry about spending for his entertainment or enrichment during the summer.
Many people find tutoring jobs in their spare time, or start a small business they can run part time, such as offering lunch boxes of their own cooking, or making and selling jewelrey. Of course, these activites aren’t strictly legal, but you do what you must when you must.
Good luck to you both!
Thank you such much for every one for the kind advises… We’ll have reconsider the offer as things are like this. Anyway we;ll be contacting the official of the University to sort the things out as we are very much keen on studying at CCU.
I may come back to you all with some other questions… till then bye and have a nice time and Thanks again…
You CAN live on 14K a month, if you’re excluding all that other stuff. Christ, that’s 465NT a day. What the hell do you think you’re gonna be eating if you can’t make that go for three meals?
Breakfast: NT$50. Hell, let’s be extravagant and eat at McDonald’s for ~NT$80 with a coffee.
Lunch: Biandang (meat, veg, rice in a box): NT$70 (that’s not even a cheap one)
Dinner: Subway, NT$59 for the special
Buy a big bottle of water from 7-11: NT$35
Total: NT$244 => NT$7320 a month if you choose the expensive breakfast. Last I checked, that would get you breakfast for one if you chose the wrong greasy diner in NYC.
Like I said to you before, Taiwan can be very cheap if you’re not boozing it up. Of course, if you NEED alcohol and coffee you’re gonna be pissing all your money away. Bottle of Taiwan beer: NT$55. Latte at Starbucks: NT$140 (for a venti, the only size worth buying anyway). One each of those everyday and you’ll double your monthly expenses.
EDIT: add 30NT for bus fare each way to wherever it is you need to go everyday, unless you live within walking distance of your school. Also, above figures assume you have a washing machine at home… Also, I can’t be bothered calculating laundry detergent, soap, shampoo and toilet paper on a per diem basis.
And the other expenses, that you specifically excluded, are SIGNIFICANTLY lower than NYC. Rent, if you’re sharing or living in a studio, can be low. Utilities… I don’t really remember how they compare but I pay around NT$750 a month for gas and NT$500 to NT$700 a month for electricity. That’s the total for two people in the same apartment, with AC running quite a lot. Water (if you even have to pay it) is a trivial sum in the region of 100 to 200 NT every month or three.
[quote=“Lili”]
I have an apt lined up in Da’an 
[/quote]
How much rent are you paying and for what, if you don’t mind me asking? Last time I checked, Da’an isn’t exactly the cheapest district in Taipei.
[quote=“spaint”][quote=“Lili”]
HAH. There is a thread where I think divea or Icon replied that excluding rent/utilities/insurance, one cannot live on $14,000NT a month. What? WHAT?! That’s almost $500USD! I can live on half of that at home if I’m very very careful. And I’m talking New York Fucking City.
[/quote]
You CAN live on 14K a month, if you’re excluding all that other stuff. Christ, that’s 465NT a day. What the hell do you think you’re gonna be eating if you can’t make that go for three meals?
Breakfast: NT$50. Hell, let’s be extravagant and eat at McDonald’s for ~NT$80 with a coffee.
Lunch: Biandang (meat, veg, rice in a box): NT$70 (that’s not even a cheap one)
Dinner: Subway, NT$59 for the special
Buy a big bottle of water from 7-11: NT$35
Total: NT$244 => NT$7320 a month if you choose the expensive breakfast. Last I checked, that would get you breakfast for one if you chose the wrong greasy diner in NYC.
Like I said to you before, Taiwan can be very cheap if you’re not boozing it up. Of course, if you NEED alcohol and coffee you’re gonna be pissing all your money away. Bottle of Taiwan beer: NT$55. Latte at Starbucks: NT$140 (for a venti, the only size worth buying anyway). One each of those everyday and you’ll double your monthly expenses.
EDIT: add 30NT for bus fare each way to wherever it is you need to go everyday, unless you live within walking distance of your school. Also, above figures assume you have a washing machine at home… Also, I can’t be bothered calculating laundry detergent, soap, shampoo and toilet paper on a per diem basis.
And the other expenses, that you specifically excluded, are SIGNIFICANTLY lower than NYC. Rent, if you’re sharing or living in a studio, can be low. Utilities… I don’t really remember how they compare but I pay around NT$750 a month for gas and NT$500 to NT$700 a month for electricity. That’s the total for two people in the same apartment, with AC running quite a lot. Water (if you even have to pay it) is a trivial sum in the region of 100 to 200 NT every month or three.
[quote=“Lili”]
I have an apt lined up in Da’an 
[/quote]
How much rent are you paying and for what, if you don’t mind me asking? Last time I checked, Da’an isn’t exactly the cheapest district in Taipei.[/quote]
First I disagree with your assumption that anyone who can’t live on NT$14,000 a month must be ‘boozing it up.’
Let’s see, first lunchboxes are crap and very unhealthy with all the fried foods involved so I make my own lunches. Nobody but the idiot who advertised for Subway eats Subway every day for dinner. I don’t buy a big bottle of water from 7-11 to carry around with me all day while I am working, I end up buying quite a few smaller bottles. So all total on an average day I probably spend at least NT$200 at 7-11 not counting meals. A bowl of beef noodles, in Kaohsiung, cost me NT$70, but that’s not a ‘meal’ it’s a bowl of noodles. I rarely eat anywhere that cost under NT$100 per person and those are the ‘local’ places to eat, not the overpriced western style joints that my friends are always pushing me to go. So three ‘real’ meals cost at least NT$300 plus NT$200 at 7-11. That means I am spending NT$500 a day without a drop of booze in the equation. So we have established that I can not live comfortably (or realistically) on under NT$14,000 a month. Now let’s dig a little deeper into my living expenses.
The costs of a scooter, gas, oil, clothing, shoes, entertainment (go out to the movies, books (damn expensive to buy books written in English), DVDs, cable TV, ADSL, going out to eat with friends (the Lighthouse sets me back at least NT$2,000 every time I go, etc.), personal computer, software for the computer, upgrades for the computer hardware, cell phone, cell phone bill, pots/pans/dishes, cat food, cat litter, cleaning supplies, mops, pails, house plants, aquariums, fish, fish food, frames for pictures, and other such things – has not been figured in but all of these things I buy regularly so they are all a part of my living expenses. It’s also safe to say I spend at least NT$4,000 a month on groceries for those meals I decide to cook at home.
Now if you want to live like a bohemian then I am sure you can rent a room quite cheaply; however, for me, I pay NT$9,500 a month rent for a small three bedroom apartment (surrounded by locals not an expat enclave) because I am an adult who has worldly possessions, my electricity is at least NT$2,000 a month (I have a/c and I use it when I am home) because I like to be comfortable in my own home, water and gas also cost but I don’t recall how much. All total this cost more than the last place I was living in the US (Tennessee) and is a lot smaller.
Of course I agree, Taiwan is cheaper than the US, generally speaking; however, unless you are counting every NT$ you spend and stay away from everything imported, I wouldn’t call it a cheap place to live.
For me, my salary now in Taiwan is almost what I was making in 1993 in the US, almost, but not quite. I like Taiwan so I stay here. I am not getting rich here, but I am not suffering either.
[quote=“Vannyel”]First I disagree with your assumption that anyone who can’t live on NT$14,000 a month must be ‘boozing it up.’
Let’s see, first lunchboxes are crap and very unhealthy with all the fried foods involved so I make my own lunches. Nobody but the idiot who advertised for Subway eats Subway every day for dinner. I don’t buy a big bottle of water from 7-11 to carry around with me all day while I am working, I end up buying quite a few smaller bottles. So all total on an average day I probably spend at least NT$200 at 7-11 not counting meals. A bowl of beef noodles, in Kaohsiung, cost me NT$70, but that’s not a ‘meal’ it’s a bowl of noodles. I rarely eat anywhere that cost under NT$100 per person and those are the ‘local’ places to eat, not the overpriced western style joints that my friends are always pushing me to go. So three ‘real’ meals cost at least NT$300 plus NT$200 at 7-11. That means I am spending NT$500 a day without a drop of booze in the equation. So we have established that I can not live comfortably (or realistically) on under NT$14,000 a month. Now let’s dig a little deeper into my living expenses.
[/quote]
So, first you denigrate lunchboxes as crap and unhealthy (not gonna deny that), then you call people who eat Subway (healthy, not crap, pretty cheap) every day for dinner idiots. I guess I must have been an idiot all last month then. And 多喝水 is 35NT for a 2L bottle which isn’t very heavy, so anyone buying three 600ml of water at 20NT a pop instead of taking the larger bottle must also be an idiot. Anyway, I could go through this paragraph, and the two following, nitpicking on every detail, and pointing out everything I disagree with but it would actually negate the point I was really trying to make (which you didn’t actually do - you simply told me that my example wasn’t good for you. For what it’s worth, I also spend significantly more than NT$14,000 a month on food and other expenses, and my rent is well over twice what you pay, most probably for less, as I live in Taipei).
But the thing is, you and I live here permanently. We have completely different goals to Lili; we want to live here in a way that is comfortable and meets our goals of “living” while she, as a career-minded individual (or so it seems) has a shorter term goal and a plan back home. If she is determined to meet her goal here, she can do so for considerably less than she thinks. All those things you mentioned in paragraphs two and three are important to you if you’re here long term. To someone here short term with a real goal, they should be completely irrelevant. You don’t need a scooter in Taipei, you don’t need cable TV (hell, I don’t have cable TV because it’s complete shit), you don’t need pets and you certainly don’t need to be dropping 2000 NT on a night out.
I’m trying to think of a nice way to put this, but if you’re coming here with a fixed goal, a plan, and a limited amount of money, don’t be a whiner. Put your nose to the grindstone and deal with it - you didn’t come here for luxuries and rooftop parties and whatever else you were doing back home.
I know for a FACT that it’s easier to get by and live in Taiwan when you’re poor than it is in Canada, and if I lost my job tomorrow I’ve got enough discipline and good sense to live on less than NT$7000 a month. I’m sure so could you.
In closing, I’d like to say that a bowl of beef noodles really is a meal, and I can’t understand how you’d think it isn’t.
14k a month? Hell, yeah! You can live on that. If you want. You can cut that even further if you live under a bridge and eat out of dumpsters. 
But who would WANT to? If you really are satisfied with living as a pauper, why not do it at home? Save yourself the plane fare, at least.
Because people who come to Taiwan with a goal (eg. learning Mandarin) shouldn’t be afraid of a little hardship?
Nor was I suggesting living like a pauper - what’s wrong with being sensible with your money? Vannyel’s extra expenses on water (60NT instead of 35NT a day) work out to NT$6500 a year. I could have a pleasant weekend away in Hualien for that.
I didn’t think any of this shit was important till I got divorced and had to pay my ex-wife a big wad of cash - which I borrowed from friends and relatives. Then I worked my ass off for 10 months till every last penny was paid back. Many months I was down to my last 100NT - even to the point where I was transferring 50NT from one bank account (and paying the goddamn 17NT transfer charge) to another one just so I’d be able to withdraw that last 100 dollar bill before payday.