I think they are more chill, because they are mostly bored to death from doing nothing.
Do you have an opportunity or just thinking about it?
Lived in one of the townships. Not what Iād consider small town though. Has anything youād need and Taichung is easily accessible. I didnāt enjoy it that much, but it would have been 10x better with a scooter or car
I guess it was fairly laid back. I didnāt make any friends but Iām not exactly the most outgoing person. Some of the people I regularly bought food from were friendly though. If youāre outgoing and can speak Chinese youād probably be able to meet some friends.
Living in town itās mostly just as ugly and dirty as the rest of Taiwan but you can see the mountains over the buildings so itās a bit better.
I donāt think the school I left a few months ago has replaced me yet, if you donāt mind working for less than 50k a month
Yep itās very helpful if you can speak some Chinese in those places. Forgot to mention that. Also that you arenāt a psycho scaring people off .
1 Like
Did you move to nantou
How has it been
Dude, Taichung Man the Second (aka the OP) asked what itās like to be in Nantou, like, two days ago. Give the man some time to make up his mind! : D
Guy
3 Likes
Yeah, then heāll have to find a job and a place, pack all his stuff, move there, wind down and get into the flow of things a bit
Soā¦check back on Wednesday, then? 
3 Likes
What I want to know is if @Taichungguy2 will change his name to nantouguy if he moves there.
3 Likes
rude
Language barrier is obviously a huge factor. I donāt have personal experience but Iām assuming broken mandarin wonāt suffice like it does in Taipei. I donāt even know what they speak in Nantou, is it Hakka or Tiawanese?
I am by no means a Nantou County specialist. But I do know that a critical mass of Hakka speakers is concentrated in only a few places in Taiwan: the hills of Hsinchu County (not the city), Miaoli County, the town of Meinong in what used to be Kaohsiung County.
You wouldnāt need to (or even want to) speak Hakka in Nantou.
Guy
2 Likes
Nantou is probably mostly Mandarin with some Taiwanese pockets and also aboriginal people. Tonnes of South East Asian labourers as well.
Iāve spent quite a bit of time in Nantou over the years as my wife is from there. I thought it was utter shit at first, but I slowly came around to enjoying what it has to offer. If youāre in Nantou City, there is no actual pub of which to speak but many KTVs. As mentioned, thereās a cinema, plenty of restaurants and coffee shops. Thereās shrimp fishing, some amazing pineapple cake bakeries and good old Carrefour if youāre feeling lonely (thatās the place to get eyeballed from other foreigners who were convinced they were the only big nose in town). Western junk food is also well covered with McDonaldās, Pizza Hut and KFC.
While it can get a little boring, itās a very relaxing place to live - especially if you have a car or scooter. There are some amazing trips to be had and some fantastic scenery. Head out to Puli (which is a little busier than Nantou City) or go for day out in Taichung.
With regards to getting a job. All my wifeās nieces and nephews have gone to cram school for years and not one can speak English. The only kid I know there with good English attends a private place run by a foreigner, so there might be an opening for providing quality English tuition lol.
In my opinion, itās really a place that you grow to love and suits westerners wanting away from the big city life. If I could get a suitable job there, Iād buy a house and settle because the prices are super cheap compared to where I am now.
In saying all this, I know a guy from Korea who lived in Nantou City and thinks itās very boring. When his kids were born, he stayed there with the in laws and the boredom part caused arguments with his wife. From what I understood, he found it hard to make friends even though heās fluent in Chinese. They seem much happier now they moved back to Taipei.
1 Like