Hi, I am new here on Forumosa. I live in England now and only visit. I like Taiwan. Here’s why: the hotels are good and inexpensive, the food is good, and without exception the people I have met are pleasant and warm hearted. The climate is very comfortable in the winter. Apart from pleasantries, I do not speak the language but understand some. The culture to me is normal, having lived in south East Asia for 9 years. Like holiday pix, the snapshots of short visits are invariably good.
Rgds
Yeahlovethetemplesandthegoodfoodandthefriendlypeople
Or when they ask if I have gotten used to the food or complement me on being so good with the chopsticks. After almost 20 years, if I couldn’t use chopsticks or eat the food…
Or when they ask if I have gotten used to the food or complement me on being so good with the chopsticks. After almost 20 years, if I couldn’t use chopsticks or eat the food…[/quote]
It isn’t that bad. If they assume that after 10 years I have become accustomed to the food and people, they would be completely wrong. I don’t like the place, I just treat it for what it is, a place to make money and then leave. Which ironically is exactly how most Taiwanese think of it too. Its just that I am more polite and less dirty and selfish.
I can’t help but think the lot of you would be whinging no matter where you were.
OMG! You people don’t love Taiwan enough! 
On The Brink wrote:
I can’t help but think the lot of you would be whinging no matter where you were.
OMG! You people don’t love Taiwan enough! Laughing out loud…
noooo… I mean, I can’t help but think the lot of you would be whinging no matter where you were.
[quote=“On The Brink”]On The Brink wrote:
I can’t help but think the lot of you would be whinging no matter where you were.
OMG! You people don’t love Taiwan enough! Laughing out loud…
noooo… I mean, I can’t help but think the lot of you would be whinging no matter where you were.[/quote]
It’s true that I hold high standards wherever I am, its just that I feel people here fall way below them far more often than anywhere else I have ever been. People here fall even below their own standards which is hypocritical. That kind of “how dare you push me back when I was barging my way into line” kind of attitude. There are too many examples that if I listed but a few then people would get the impression that my complaints were limited.
That’s because not all of us know all the words to “Kumbaya.”
Plus, many of the posters here are from the United Kingdom. Whingeing is what we do. It’s what gives us our musky animal attraction and makes us such a hit with the ladies.
You just don’t understand British culture.
I like (not love):
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The low cost of living for foreigners
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Driving my MC in the mountains, counties
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Restaurants f@@king everywhere
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the women
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Tea shops (and tea of course)
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Getting in a good day of teaching; having happy, satisfied students/boss
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the dogs (which are happy and healthy and are not chained/caged/barking 24/7)
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(I’m reaching here but…) Some of the colonial architecture.
I don’t like:
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The level of noise that seems fine with most TW
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The city/highway traffic; suicide, a joke, selfish…(I could go on for days, literally)
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Cell phone idiots speaking at 150 decibles
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Caged and abused/ignored animals. (if ya don’t want it, let it go. strays are much happier)
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The ‘no-personal-space’ thing drives me up the wall
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People who sit in idling cars for 30 minutes, lights on, illegally parked in the opposite direction
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7-Elevens
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The business practices, and how TW employees are expected to put in free time
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Politicians and government red-tape
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Garbage trucks, speaker trucks and temple parties,parades and street weddings/parties
I like that you can get cheap drugs here everywhere. It is some green leaves they sell everywhere and you can just submerge it in water and then drink it.
Strangely, people tell me it’s green tea and I just keep it too long.
I like that you can sleep with so many willing girls for free all the time here, because they like us furriniers so much.
Strangely, people tell me it would always be my wife who just changes skin color when it’s sunny so I don’t recognize her.
I like that you can stay in little boxes in recreational facilities here and sleep when you drank too much and they even serve food at lunch time.
Though people tell me that would be my work and I would snore too much while they want to read Mangas and use MSN chat.
I like the low taxes, inexpensive medical care, and overall affordability of living in Taiwan. I also like many aspects of local culture, and appreciate the relationships I have with many Taiwanese relatives and friends. I find transportation systems to be easy to use, though driving is a nightmare because traffic laws are not enforced. I think Taiwan is naturally beautiful, and ideally located as a travel take-off point. I like the work I am able to do here. As with any country, there are many fine individuals in Taiwan. Finally, I think the Taiwanese work ethic is largely something to be admired.
I don’t like the incredible rudeness toward strangers. Not everyone is rude, but there are so many who are that it makes going outside and into the public realm a real chore. I don’t like the racist attitudes towards people who aren’t Taiwanese. I hear enough garbage about foreigners coming out of Taiwanese people’s mouths, and I’m a white male. It gets much worse if you are black, brown, from Southeast Asia, etc. Taiwan as a society wastes much of its potential to be better, more environmentally sound, more organized, and more internationally minded because so many of its people are focused on themselves and themselves alone. I find it disappointing.
When I look back at Taiwan, the things I miss and appreciated the most while there are going to Kenting, espcially snorkelling and camping there. The nightlife…outstanding. The mountains. Meeting other foreigners from all over the world who are youthful and a lot of fun (I meet a lot of dull oldies here in the Gulf!).
As for what I didn’t like, well, pretty much everything else! 
Do I like Taiwan?
Lemme see. I’ve got a scooter, two brandnew cars and a huge house … all paid for. I’ve got a beautiful wife and the prettiest baby you’ve ever seen. I’ve got a great job that gives me a decent salary and eight weeks paid vacation a year. I’ve got medical insurance. I have money in the bank. I have NO debt.
Yeah, I like Taiwan. 
I hate the pointless, repetitive, and self-indulgent whingeing on the Living in Taiwan forum. Taiwan is far from perfect it is true, but the Taiwanese generally treat white foreigners from western countries very well. More importantly, we are educated people from developed countries which means we have choices–Taiwan won’t change because of us (no matter how much you bitch), but we can always live somewhere else. Even if there is some reason keeping us in Taiwan, foreigners are paid well enough by local standards to be able to find somewhere more aggreable to live.
The many South-East Asian workers here, on the other hand, dohave something to complain about. To earn maybe a third of the salary of an English teacher, they have to endure seperation from their families, long hours, bad working conditions, and often abusive bosses. They must leave the country every three years for a short period, which excludes them from any possibility of naturalisation or even the benefits of long-term residency. If Taiwanese are found employing these people illegally the fines are significantly higher than if they employed a Westener illegally. The faliure to provide adequate legal protection to these people and the exsistance of laws that are blatantly discriminatory is the biggest stain on Taiwan’s democracy.
It’s just a place. Having lived in many different countries, I never gave it much thought. Life’s what you make it. Of course, Taiwan is great in many ways, loathesome in others, just like evry other spot on earth. Why would you give the matter any thought?
I’m from Marseille but having spent 15 years living in Togo (W. Africa), Taiwan’s a paradise in comparison - at least there’s no coup d’etat here in Taiwan.
Unemployment is a big issue in Marseille, with illegal immigrants from N. Africa flooding the job market and all. That’s why I’m here. And Taiwan has been good to me. I’ve got a great boss who pays me well enough for me to indulge in my hobbies. So I have nothing to dislike abt Taiwan. 
[quote=“Tomas”]I like the low taxes, inexpensive medical care, and overall affordability of living in Taiwan. I also like many aspects of local culture, and appreciate the relationships I have with many Taiwanese relatives and friends. I find transportation systems to be easy to use, though driving is a nightmare because traffic laws are not enforced. I think Taiwan is naturally beautiful, and ideally located as a travel take-off point. I like the work I am able to do here. As with any country, there are many fine individuals in Taiwan. Finally, I think the Taiwanese work ethic is largely something to be admired.
I don’t like the incredible rudeness toward strangers. Not everyone is rude, but there are so many who are that it makes going outside and into the public realm a real chore. I don’t like the racist attitudes towards people who aren’t Taiwanese. I hear enough garbage about foreigners coming out of Taiwanese people’s mouths, and I’m a white male. It gets much worse if you are black, brown, from Southeast Asia, etc. Taiwan as a society wastes much of its potential to be better, more environmentally sound, more organized, and more internationally minded because so many of its people are focused on themselves and themselves alone. I find it disappointing.[/quote]
Finally yes, I would agree with that feeling more than anything. I find myself disappointed in Taiwan for the lack of economic, social and environmental progress in the last 7 years since I’ve been here. Personally I believe earnings in Taiwan are very low for both foreigners and locals and have not kept up with other countries. This has been the case for my own financial progress. I wish that Taiwanese would learn to see through the fog of indedpendence politics and finally concentrate on their local and living quality issues instead. I see the DPP and how they changed most of their cabinet ministers at least 4 times over 8 years and cry over the fact that Taiwan uses a presidential system of politics instead of a prime ministerial where we wouldn’t have had this mess.
Maybe MaYingJeo can help with this critical issue (economic growth and wage stagnation)
.
When I look at my earnings compared to earnings in western Europe it doesn’t make any sense to work a salaried job here. When I add in the fact that my wife works for almost third world average wage here (standard 30k-40k/mth for women) it means the double income reduced earnings issue becomes critical. Vacation time is almost non-existent and unpaid overtime is almost obligatory.
When I add in the fact that I will never receive a pension here and my wife and her family are entitled to miniscule pensions upon retirement and almost no free allowances it makes the case to leave. When I add in the fact that education costs more here than in my own country but is of MUCH lower quality that makes a depressing case.
I like Taiwan because I could see my first naked woman here.
And women don’t run away from me but say I would look like Tom Cruise.