He was talking about the homelessness.
Taiwan building a city in 50 years: Taipei.
UK building a city in 50 years: Milton Keynes.
Choose wisely!
I agree, first time I drove abroad was a trip I did alone around the Lakes in the north of Italy (Como, Iseo, Garda). Whilst driving round Como, on a narrow lane, a bus didn’t give me enough space and I ended up slamming into the cliff. Then a mile down the road, a dog ran out in front of me, so I did an emergency stop and the guy behind me went mental, horns blaring and shouting out the window.
Was still an awesome trip, but I felt scared every time I drove.
1 Like
Oh wait, positive things!
Even though I don’t understand any Chinese and before going to Taiwan I didn’t know anything about it (on purpose as i wanted to “discover”) yet from the moment I got through immigration I never felt rushed, outside of my comfort zone or unsafe in any way, and I felt like everyone I spoke to was genuinely pleased and happy to be speaking to me. I didn’t even feel foreign, even when kids were staring curiously or something it never felt like they perceived my presence as a negative thing.
In Tokyo, it was the complete opposite, didn’t like being there. Will never go again.
4 Likes
I learned a lot about history here. Also very interesting to see a young democracy grow. Culturally open and way more welcoming than many other countries (if you’re the “right” kind of foreigner anyway – this is not among the great aspects that there is a tiered system, but will save that for a rant post). Made good mix of friends, local and from all over the world. Something about having a scooter and being able to access beaches and bamboo forests made me feel freer than most places. This forum was and continues to be a good source of information, perspective and banter. And I love the food
8 Likes
Every day at the school, someone parked on or reversing over the pedestrian crossing…
So is this the thread where we all act balanced?
Reviewing the posts, mountains, convenience and public transport. Oh dear. I think safety is definitely a positive, but you swap that risk out and immediately replace it with the risk of being on a CTV loop in restaturants around Taipei, for being flattened by a blue truck.
1 Like
Yeah it’s a bit of a disappointment to be brutally honest.
Is being called waiguoren, laowai or gonglao everyday to your face ‘culturally open’ ? I’ll have some of what you’re smoking .
Welcoming, agreed until you want an ID.
And if you are blue collar immigrants you are discriminated against here, both legally and illegally. That’s 600k people ! You really are smoking crack with this one.
8 Likes
Brian straight out of the gate this morning with some much needed pessimism 
Respect
5 Likes
If you look back through the thread so far I’m the only person who mentioned truly ’ awesome stuff’. Got to balance that out.
For most here, going by how many times the damn thing is mentioned , just shopping at Costco is ‘awesome’.
I’m having an ‘awesome’ egg salad sandwich right now, I’m eggstatic.
I’m racking my brains right back through time here about what is awesome to me and I think it’s actually a good opportunity for self reflection. It’s not Taiwan’s fault that it’s hard to pinpoint really ‘awesome’ things cos I guess awesome stuff doesn’t happen very often to most of us, and to some of us never at all.
2 Likes
Dude it’s 9:30 in the morning. Go have a coffee. Your “balanced approach” is making me suicidal. 
2 Likes
I told you I’m already eggststic right now.
We are not communist China that is awesome.
The freedoms we get here are almost unrivalled, I can’t get arrested for not paying my TV license , no.council tax, a great health care system that stopped my me going blind, affordable living for all the basics. Beautiful mountains which are easily accessible. A cheap clean metro system in Taipei. Generally although a cliche it is relatively friendly say Taipei compared to London or Hong Kong. 
Clean up the sidewalks, fix the roads, improve the air and it would be truly awesome.
6 Likes
Booooo boooo 
1 Like
1/4 of your post disappeared while I was viewing it.
I repeated about the TV license so deleted some. Not the mods but me.
ha ha it’s pretty friendly not as much as they make out but for a major city Taipei is. And I speak the local language so I’m not unaware of the racist side, but compared to London or New York I’d say Taipei was way more friendly.
No comment.
I will tell you this though.
I’ve been in friendlier places.
4 Likes