Oh, where to open this topic?
‘At the start!’ cry many. So in I delve at the opening. The orifice of the beast.
What holds the mid to long term immigrant to Taiwan?
Me? Depression, prescription med attachments that wouldn’t have flown in any country where they read the backs of the packets, fear of the unknown and being too bullied and downtrodden at work to believe I could get a job in the UK. I also had a great network of friends in Taiwan.
I don’t miss it any more, to be honest. It was all a bit dreary. Taiwan can be great but it’s just a place. Choose any country with an average economy and no wars going on and you’ll find stuff to be happy about.
I’m guessing there’s going to be a lot of stuff about wives and walking up hills …
I basically do a short term visit of most things in Taiwan, while I stay in bed rather long.
For me, probably the easiest way to get a business in my field off the ground. With a large amount of hours needed before money starts rolling in, having been able to earn relatively good money teaching while still having enough time to put those hours in has been great. I could have done it elsewhere just the same, but it would probably have meant taking on debt to do it. As it stands now, I may have the bank balance of a FOB teacher, but I have the makings of a successful business and it’s debt free.
Wife and walking up hills.
Plus the local shopping mall. What’s not to like?
Yes, for me it’s the wife and the hiking, definitely. Is there any other reason to stay?
Stupidest.
Fucking.
Topic.
Ever.
Best thing about Taiwan is the sushi train-style depletion/replenishment cycle of companions.
Just when they’re starting to beome a real drag, whoosh! they’re off home to England (or, you know, wherever), and there’s a fresh lot delivered to your doorstep.
And the Mod of D&R is a hottie.
Inertia. Fear of the unknown. Complacency. Laziness. Wife. Hiking.
What is this “hiking”? You mean like walking up the stairs at Sogo instead of using the elevator? Or when your car is parked around the corner and it takes a full 5 minutes to walk to it? Or is hiking a kind of salami that can only be bought in Taipei?
It’s a typo… they mean ‘high king’ as in the High King of Taiwan, Wang Jian Ming… He used to play baseball for the Yankees don’t you know, what more reason could anyone want to stay in Taiwan?..
Something like this:
Something like this:
[/quote]
Photoshopped. No human being could possibly traverse such terrain. Let’s try and keep the discussion pertaining to the real world, and not some fantastical whimsy in which people climb mountains with their actual feet.
That was just for show. Of course I used sedan carrying porters for the rest.
[quote=“the chief”]Stupidest.
Fucking.
Topic.
Ever.
Best thing about Taiwan is the sushi train-style depletion/replenishment cycle of companions.
Just when they’re starting to beome a real drag, whoosh! they’re off home to England (or, you know, wherever), and there’s a fresh lot delivered to your doorstep.
And the Mod of D&R is a hottie.[/quote]
Yeah WHATEV, d00d.
Here I live in a 3 bedroom apartment in a gated apartment block with a swimming pool and gym. Something goes wrong in my apartment, I phone security and it gets sorted. My trash gets taken away by someone else. In England all I could afford was a crappy one bed ex local authority flat.
Here I can afford to raise a family with my wife not working, if she so chooses. In England this was impossible.
Here I can go to a local Taiwanese restaurant and buy a big beer for just over a pound. In England how much is a pint nowadays? At least three quid I’d guess, even in the provincial towns.
Here I can start a business paying a reasonable level of tax with minimum govt. interference.
I’m an economic migrant.
Well, I definitely think it’s worth staying in Taiwan longer.
I love the humidity that is good for my skin, the tasty food, and the people in Taiwan are generally really friendly.
It helps that I have a lot of relatives in Taiwan and so it’s always fun to visit them. But I also think Taiwan is just an interesting place to live.
I love the fact that hardcore drugs are horrifically expensive and relatively hard to find. Otherwise I’d be dead now, not a productive member of society.
[quote=“immediatechinese”]Well, I definitely think it’s worth staying in Taiwan longer.
I love the humidity that is good for my skin, the tasty food, and the people in Taiwan are generally really friendly.
It helps that I have a lot of relatives in Taiwan and so it’s always fun to visit them. But I also think Taiwan is just an interesting place to live.[/quote]
Horses for courses; if you’re white, the climate wrecks your skin. The food is melamine filled shit and the people are the same as everywhere and not really that friendly, especially if you’re a ‘foreigner’. Taiwan is interesting when you are new, then it is the same as everywhere else.
TomHill, who is possibly trolling as he loathed living in Taiwan and left years ago, would disagree with me that where you live is irrelevent to a certain extent, but then again he still has a bourgeois fixation with leisure and travel, so you can’t really trust his opinion.
jp, do you not prescription, la, or have you grown out of that?
[quote=“Buttercup”]
jp, do you not prescription, la, or have you grown out of that?[/quote]
Quite difficult to get heroin and crack on prescription. 
cheap cigarettes, 24 hour booze on every corner, loose women, a loyal wife, cheap labor and parts, friendly and ubiquitous rickshaw drivers, betel nut, the exotic allure of the orient, the easy-going general malaise of the tropical inhabitants, convenient convenience stores, cheap high-speed internet, 6% income tax, proximity to other oriental hot-spots, policemen who ask ‘have you had anything to drink?’ when you are reeking of alcohol and falling off your scooter, then wave you on when you reply ‘no’.