Cost of living and rent

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
#1

Im not sure about forum ettiquite in this forum.
There is a sticky about finding a place to live, but since everytime it is updated, it always stays at the top, so i am creating a new thread as i fear no one will see it in the sticky.
if this is wrong, please tell me, thanks.

I want to inquire about finding a place to stay, i have only been to Taipei for 3 weeks a year ago, and i decided to stay for a year and take a mandarin course for a year at mtc. It starts in September.

Im not even sure if it is possible, to stay for a year on $10,000 canadian, which is 300,178 NT currently, not including my course fees.
I have no friends there currently to help me look for a place to stay, but i have been told that Yilan is cheap (and i visited there and it seems very nice), but i wonder if the overall cost to travel by train every day from there to Taipei and whether it would be cheaper to just live in Taipei.

I really only need a room, not much more for a single guy, so not sure of what a room would go for on today’s rates.

I did not want to work when im there but i might want to do something part time if available , im not sure how much i need to work in order to get enough money to pay for the rent/food without touching the 10,000 canadian.

There was another question but i forgot :smiley:
Thanks again for everyones help in advance…
:help:

#2

So why not hang around for a bit and learn about it before asking a question that has been asked a million times before? On the top right of your screen there s a button labelled ‘search’ that you may also find useful.

#3

why not drop the sarcasm, its not needed

#4

That’s not sarcasm; she’s just mean. :wink:

As for the sticky thread. If you add something new to it, it will show that something new has been added, and it will jump to the top position on the “New” page.

Taking the train from Ilan to Taipei everyday? Eek. :astonished: That will give you some study time for sure.

Take your 300,000NT, divide by 12, deduct course fees, and at least 15K for rent just in case. What do you have left? Is it enough for a life?

There are long term hotel/hostels in Taipei.

What about transportation? What about Happy Hours? :smiley:

#5

I seriously doubt your ability to live on that much cash. I hope you love stinky toufu and dumplings.

Of course many a student supplements there stay with lucrative 1-on-1 private sessions (teaching english, so get your mind out of the gutter). However as a law abiding citizen I can’t recommend this as a reliable strategy.

You may be able to get a scholarship to reduce your expenses, and whilst I’m not sure whether this particular school is, you could live at International House which caters for foreign student accomodation (mostly Japanese and Koreans living there) at ~$3000 (8 beds to a room I think) to ~$8000 per month for possibly 1 or 2 people…but its a bit of a hike as its located in Xindian. (Although they have free buses to some language schools), and you can’t take girls into your room after I think 10 pm (yes girls and guys are separated).

So essentially you have $25,000 NT - accomodation and course fees… Personally I think you will struggle. Why not save up twice that amount and enjoy your time here more.

#6

You could just live in Yilan (or Taichung or any other city besides Taipei). I know there’s a Chinese language program in Yilan city. I’m too lazy to Google for it.

This also eliminates the problem that I hear from language students living in Taipei that they have no chance to practice their Chinese since so many people in Taipei speak English.

I was spending less than $25000NT per month (not counting potential course fees) living comfortably in Yilan.

#7

When I came here the first time, I lived on NT$28,000 a month including course fees and rent.

It was doable, and I did not work.

However pricing has gone up, so you might want to work a bit. Back then most teachers were illegal, so it was not a big deal, however if you do privates, you should be OK.

Teaching work is plentiful here if you are not too picky, and if you don’t work a srenious schedule, you should have enough time to study.

#8

I recommend Taichung as a cheaper alternative to living in the more expensive Taipei. Rent is cheaper here and you could survive on your budget if you lived a simple life. It would be hard to live a simple life in Taipei. For studying, you could check into the FengJia University or the the Providence University Language Centers. Both are reasonable, and both are in neighborhoods with reasonable rent and food. Good luck.

(And by the way, I usually skip the “stickies”, so I’m glad you posted here.)

#9

Maybe an easier and better option would be to take a legal teaching job in the evenings, and study in the mornings. You can easily pull in fifty grand a month working maybe four hours a day, and have no visa worries.

#10

Ja ja sure you can do it, but where is the fun?

#11

So why not hang around for a bit and learn about it before asking a question that has been asked a million times before? On the top right of your screen there s a button labelled ‘search’ that you may also find useful.[/quote]

Sorry that your introduction to the forum was this miserable mean-spirited reply; the question has been asked before but we have all done it, so …

As to the thrust of your original post it is possible to find a place for 8 to 10,000 per month. Your budget is do-able but as has been said before may be tight. if you are going to work do it legal and spare yourself the hassle, pressure of mind-fuck illegal work can be.

This place can be a valuable source of info despite the occasional shit head reply.

Good luck