Hi
I’m British but moving to Taipei and worried that everything will seem really expensive for me after living in Bangkok.
I will have a salary of 95,000TWD tax free per month.
And a housing allowance of 45,000TWD per month.
This has to cater for myself and my wife - but no kids.
We are planning to live in the Shihlin area.
I was hoping that we’d have enough money to save a little and still go on regular (backpacking ) holidays around Asia and eat in nice restaurants once a week or so.
Could anyone let me know what is expensive in Taipei - and what things are cheap??
Anyone know the cost of membership to a nice gym?
Thanks any advice to stop me worrying would be greatly appreciated!!
With that salary and housing allowance I wouldn’t worry. A friend of mine lives on his expenses alone. He saves his salary.
140K is enough for the two of you.
Taipei is more expensive than Bangkok, (and a lot different).
But like I said, don’t worry…
Hey slinky,
… been here two years ( moved from Norway - talk about comparison of what is ‘expensive’ ! ) If you only splurge occasionally on the import goods ( I’m a big fan of Parmesan cheese… and Frosted Shredded Wheats from CostCo ! ) you shouldn’t find things too bad. Chicken / meat is generally cheap compared with prices in the UK ( and certainly a helluva lot cheaper than Norway was ! )
I took out membership of Hollywood Fitness gym - costs a fair bit ( equiv about GBP 60 / month for myself and my wife joint membership ).
If you eat local produce you should save a fair bit… plus several local dining outlets can provide a substantial meal for under GBP 4 ( although there are places way cheaper than that but you need to get the locals to provide the lowdown on those places ).
NT$45,000 is plenty to get a reasonable place - we’re in a three-bed two-bath place fairly central ( kind of on the ‘border’ between Tianmu and Shihlin… ) - easy to get to the MRT / metro to get downtown Taipei too.
Anything else you want to know… feel free to ask.
I also moved to Taiwan after being an expat in Bangkok. I wouldn’t say that Taipei is much more expensive than Bangkok. Perhaps it is even cheaper! The places where expats often eat can be more pricey in Bangkok, while in Taiwan there isn’t much division between where expats eat and where the locals eat since the locals are more rich than the expats. Also the housing in Bangkok can be more expensive because you have to live in those marvelous service apartments which I miss. They have those here too but they cost more, however, the quality of the local’s places is much better than the local’s places in Bangkok. There is a sweet spot between service apartment prices in Taipei and high-end locals flats for rent that is cheaper than Bangkok’s swanky service apartments. As for other things like Taxis etc, Taipei is a little more expensive.
Saving money is up to you as far as sacrifices, you might have to sacrifice the housing, some of it sucks here as Taiwan people live in nice homes, but they don’t rent them out. What they rent to others they don’t care too much about. Their nice service apartments like Jasper Villas in Shilin/TienMu, but they are over NT$100,000 per month, however, for about NT$45,000 - NT$90,000 you can find the swank that is equivilent to the nicer expat service apartments they have in Bangkok.
Why do you want to live in Shihlin? You can live in much cheaper places, and then take the metro where you want to go. On that salary you can live very well (hey! I want that job!).
Vorkosigan
Bring some hot honeys with you - there seems to be a shortage of them here.
Thank you everyone for some very good answers to my questions, this helps.
Would anyone like to recommend any good websites/ biog of expats experiences moving to Taipei. Nothing too extreme, just general impressions of everyday life that sort of thing?
Thanks again!
[quote=“slinky”]Thank you everyone for some very good answers to my questions, this helps.
Would anyone like to recommend any good websites/ biog of expats experiences moving to Taipei. Nothing too extreme, just general impressions of everyday life that sort of thing?
Thanks again![/quote]
This site is sort of a community blog… as good as you’ll find anywhere, IMO.