[quote=“almas john”]djkonstable,
Thanks for your kind words. The truth is that the world really has shrunk a lot in the last couple of decades. Living overseas, Taiwan included, is pretty damn easy. There’s no real hardship in coming to Taiwan. You can get by with English, watch American shows on cable TV, buy western food, and of course the Internet keeps you connected to your home country and hometown. Telephone rates are very cheap so calling home once a week is no problem at all. And so on. Many of the locals speak excellent English, and they have travelled or lived overseas.[/quote]
The above is true now that we’re all living here, settled in, learned how to ride the buses and MRT, figured out how to get an apartment and a job, grown accustomed to the heat, humidity, pollution and irritating habits of local people, learned where to find and how to order the foods we like, and so forth, for some of us without having the ability to say more than a few words in Chinese. But if one turns back the clock, way way back to the beginning, when each of us first obtained a passport and flew overseas for the first time, it WAS a big deal.
For Europeans and Australians it may not be such a big deal traveling to foreign countries, but most Americans speak only English, do not have a passport and have never traveled outside of the country. Although I traveled extensively in the US during my childhood and lived in many places, I remember what a huge adventure it was when I first flew to Asia (to Bangkok on an open-ended adventure that would take me through many countries over a year). I remember being bowled over at first by the new sights, sounds, smells and tastes. Sure, Taipei’s not all that exotic, but for people who never left their western country, the thought of getting on a plane and flying to Thailand. . . er, Taiwan, whatever, what’s the difference. . . is like flying to the moon.
When I returned to the US after my first long adventure in SE Asia, I went to visit my best old friend, told him stories, showed him photos of hiking in the Himalayas, riding elephants in Thailand, and sitting by the river in Laos. He was enthralled by it all and said he’d love to join me on my next trip. But he never did, because he was getting good at his golf game and didn’t want to take time away from it (that and he was having trouble saving money as he spent it all on beer). So, it turns out he was a weenie – too timid and domestic to even get on the plane.
And then there are all the people who have the courage to get on the plane, who make it over here and start their new job at Hess, which they lined up at home before leaving, but after a month or two, when they first discover the boss is a liar, the job wasn’t what they had in mind, the city’s too noisy, they miss their family, and they pack it up and head home in a matter of months.
So, I agree completely with the OP. I do think we’re an adventurous bunch and that is something that most forumosans share. True, Taipei’s not the Heart of Darkness. Perhaps we’d be more adventurous if we worked in a small village in Cambodia or in the closed off kingdom of Bhutan. But if we did that soon enough we would feel that was perfectly routine as well. Probably those who have lived in space stations no longer feel that’s a big deal because, heck, dozens of people have lived there before.