Anybody with living experience in both Thailand and Tawain please share. Which country do you like better and why?
Why Thailand and Taiwan? Why not Mongolia and Egypt? 
I’d have to say Taiwan, for the beaches, the food, the scuba, the girls…
Would cross-posting to tealit AND segue be considered spam?
Hardly. The question is: Is the quality of feedback on Segue any higher ?
As I remember from the Tealit post, the poster is bored of Thailand and seeking information on Taiwan from someone who has experience of living in both locations. Fair enough question.
Isn’t there already a topic about tealit on segue, somewhere? :shock: See here for the inside scoop - segue.com.tw/viewtopic.php?t=5569
WorkingVacam,
To answer your questions, although I have never lived in Thailand I have visited. Completely different visiting than living I am sure, same for Taiwan. 
You can probably get some information from this forum however… travelforum.org/thailand/
Cheers,
[quote=“hexuan”]
As I remember from the Tealit post, the poster is bored of Thailand and seeking information on Taiwan from someone who has experience of living in both locations. Fair enough question.[/quote]
Fair enough question but a little more information included in the question here on Segue might lead to more focused responses.
The question seems perfectly fair and simple to me. Although I’ve spent a year in SE Asia including a few months in Bangkok, I wasn’t working there so I was reluctant to offer my comparison. Would you rather vacation in Thailand or toil in an office in Taipei? Nonetheless, since no one else will give it a stab, I’ll start. I really enjoyed BKK: good food, temples, water taxis, tuk tuks, beautiful girls, nightlife, sex shows ( :shock: ), kick boxing, etc. I know people complain about the traffic and pollution in BKK, but I doubt it’s much worse than Taipei.
BKK seemed more relaxed and pleasure oriented. I don’t think that was just because I was on vacation. I think BKK has more opportunities for entertainment and the Thais find enjoying life to be a higher priority than do the Taiwanese. Ask locals here what they do on the weekend and most will give you three answers: sleeping, shopping and watching TV. That’s pathetic. Not that my life here is much more exciting. But in BKK I think it would be.
Then, of course, there’s the proximity to beautiful beaches and countryside. Taiwan has some nice areas, but not like Thailand. This island is so small and crowded that it’s hard to escape the crowds, but in Thailand you can hop on a bus or train in numerous directions for a fun getaway. And Taiwan’s great beach resort, Kenting, doesn’t hold a candle to Thailand. Sorry Taiwan, but in my view Thailand wins.
WorkingVaca,
I’ll actually be in Chiang Mai during the first week of November and would certainly have time to discuss this with you over a beer (or other beverage). This will be my fourth trip this year to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai so I may be able to offer you something from my experience. Email/message me if you are interested.
The cost of living in Thailand is definetley cheaper and the food there is just the best. People over there are extremely friendly; I mean Taiwanese are friendly, too, but Thais are the most friendliest I ever met. Bangkok is not Thailand but of course the place to stay for most expats. In fact BKK is pretty much comparable to Taipei in most aspects but once you got out of town it’s so different - and of course Thailand wins with all it’s beautiful islands, beaches and night entertainment …
In Thailand even the go go girls speak English …there is hope there !
go to Ikea and Fnac here in Taipei and shit you will be lucky if you can find one soul that gives you what you want.
Thailand or Taiwan ? as a tourist or to live and work ?
I have been and done both.
Thailand
Pros
- standard of living is cheap
- people are warm and easy going
- Everyone made an effort to speak some english
- Great Beaches / Good CheapFood & Beer / Great Entertainment
- Easier for foreigners to get a job. Less red tape
Cons
- noise & air pollution
- Go go girls in every corner
Taipei
Pro
- at this moment it’s probably one of the safer Asian countries
Cons
- Expensive place to live
- Tourism is almost non existent
- Little English is spoken even among young lads
- Very secular environment
- Choice of accomodation sucks
- Good food/beer but overpriced
- If you are not native English speaker and not a teacher, don’t even bother looking for a job here.
the list goes on…
Thought I would chime in to add my two cents worth of heavy opinion and experience regarding this topic. I have lived off and on in both countries for a total of 6 years in each. The rewards and benefits are both impressive with each destination, however certain conditions and needs of the person will definitely skew one
I lived in Bangkok for nine months and have also spent some time travelling around Thailand. I lived in Taiwan for one and a half years. I didn’t like living in Bangkok. The traffic is a nightmare–it makes Taipei look tame. The weather is very hot all year round–imagine Taipei’s summer for 12 months a year. Cost of living is much cheaper in Thailand and the lifestyle is more relaxed, especially the attitude to work. Thai food is brilliant–the best in the world–and Taiwan’s food is bland and uninteresting by comparison.
All that said I would prefer to live in Taiwan. Speaking Chinese helps a lot. I can only speak very basic Thai and perhaps if I was more fluent my attitude to Thailand would change. Still I love Thailand–especially the north. So ideally I would live in Taiwan and holiday in Thailand.
I have lived and worked in both places doing international sales. Bangkok was much much more polluted than Taipei, but expat housing was much cheaper and better in Bangkok, great places down the quiet Sois.
I feel that there are more places to go out to in Taipei as well. I like the weather better in Taipei as well. Too hot all year round in Bangkok.
Things are cheaper in Thailand though. I also like Taiwan better because I speak Mandarin, you might have a better time in Thailand if you can interact with the locals more, (the Thais in my office in Bangkok spoke English or Mandarin to me).
Loved the fresh fruit stalls all over Bangkok. Nice handicraft shopping in Thailand too, but more fun in Taiwan if you are into electronics.
I also think that the cable TV is better here in Taiwan. The people seem more open and friendly though all of my coworkers in Thailand kept trying to share their food with me. Big deal in Thailand to eat about 5 or 6 times a day. Guess they were worried about me. Maybe that is why they are so skinny, many small meals instead of 3 big ones.
Thailand is also more corrupt. My company had to give gifts to the government officers to get my work permit more quickly. Kind of efficient that way, I guess.
Regarding the expat crowd in Bangkok is hard to find them all, they are all intermixed with the tourists and the expat crowd seems a little small. By expats I mean, long timers. My friends were mostly journalists, but I met a lot of stock brokers too at the Irish pub off of Silom Rd. I also met one English teacher, but he had to work hard to get his clients, not like here. He was more of a businessman, marching into big companies like he owned the place and introducing himself and his business English class. There are not all of the Chinese students and English teachers core of long/short timers as there is in Taipei.
I got bored with Bangkok after a while too, although things have changed in the last few years, I think it has changed more in Taipei (coffeshops and restaurants and bars, etc).
I also lived and worked in Hong Kong. Got very claustraphobic in that city. Too small, kept going to the same places and bumping into all of the same people. Hong Kong may look clean in some places, but it seemed to me like the HongKong/Guangdong people were more suibian about cleanliness. Also it seemed to me like the HongKong people didn’t like caucasians. Perhaps it was because of old British colonial attitude towards the locals that ruined for those of us that came later.
Been happiest in Taipei, but maybe it is because I can speak Mandarin.