Living in Taiwan vs. Singapore - an interesting video

Spicy! Unlike Taiwanese food. :wink:

Thought I was in the IP forum for a minute :slight_smile: I do prefer later sundowns, to make better use of after work hours, and getting dark early was one of the few things I did not like about Taipei. Especially in t/e warmer months. Voted for permanent Daylight Saving Time on a recent California referendum–doesn’t help the summers, but will avoid that icky feeling of leaving work at 5 and it’s already dark. Late summer evenings were one if the best things about growing up in more northern latitudes. Not sure the neighbors appreciated us playing kick the can till 10 PM, but good memories.

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Absolutely true.

If we want a complete sync of solar time and official time, short of micro-adjusting everyday, we should at least adjust official time every 15 days or so.

We don’t do that because it’s not practical and official time doesn’t have to be in complete sync with solar time. Many coutnries still do the day light saving’s thing because people want to utilize the sun light as much as possible.

If we can get a whole hour worth of sun light during summer time after work, why the heck not? Since the sun rises around 5:30 in the summer, the day is completely bright around 6AM. Set that to 7AM, now we have more than 2 hours of sunshine after work hours.

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Common sense. The government should be more proactive and flexible here.

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Of course, I agree. I will note, though, that for May, June, and July and for most of August and half of April, sunrise happens at or before 5:30am. And for most of that time it happens closer to 5am than 5:30. Very few people need more sunlight in the mornings. Virtually everyone can benefit from more daylight in the evening. Unless we get all businesses, schools, organizations, etc. to move everything an hour earlier, the easiest way to provide this public benefit is to just change the clocks.

Is there a way to petition the govt to make Taiwan tome zone line hour ahead to enjoy more daylight after work ?

Who originally set Taiwan’s tone zone and why was it set like it is ?

I don’t the answer to either question, but I suspect the latter is because it is Beijing time (and crazily China doesn’t have time zones), so it was seen as a continuation of the KMT/Taiwan claim on being the legitimate government of China. Making the change would put some distance between Taiwan and China and probably piss of the CCP, which are two additional good outcomes.

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There is nothing like the natural beauty of Taiwan in Singapore. And being able to enjoy it in a safe, mostly developed country nearby makes Taiwan a no-brainer stop for those in Singapore.

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I spend most of the summer months going to bed around 9:30pm, in order to get up at 5-5:30am and make use of cooler (relatively!) sunlit hours. It’s annoying. I’d love it if we mimicked Singapore/Malaysia and basically opted for year-long daylight saving time.

There are periodic suggestions Taiwan change time zone - see this thread:

Let’s see if we can get these two flinging insults at each other over whose complaints are stupider than fuck:

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Taipei is top ten on S’poreans wish list, Japan has 4 or the top 10 places/cities Singaporean want to go to. Surprised somewhat Niseko ( in 北海道) is #4 being very cold and somewhat remote but I guess just to escape the heat. That being said Niseko is well know for the many Aussies that live and holiday there. (Also lots of Taiwanese on working holidays in Niseko and 網走市 and many stay)

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A little more on this: Taipei winter can be day after day, week after week of cloud, drizzle and … cool? Cold? Depends on your internal thermostat. Single-digit daytime temperatures do sometimes happen, but quite rarely. Personally I’ve never found a Taipei winter cold, but I don’t get cold easily - plus I live in a more modern high-rise. The older six-floor buildings do get colder; I’ve never understood how I can leave the in-laws’ place at 9pm on a winter night, and somehow the street feels warmer than inside their apartment.

Some winters, the day after day of cloud and lack of sunlight does get to me. However, those winters seem to be becoming more and more unusual, and getting socked in with cloud seems to be less common than it once was.

Some stats on Taipei weather below, although I’m surprised to see September as the month with the most rain (I suspect typhoons are messing with how the stats look). I looked briefly for information on how or if hours of sunlight + amount of winter rain have changed over the past 10-20 years, but couldn’t find anything; I’d be interested in finding out.

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Try living up in the mountains in the north. I guarantee you’ll be cold in winter.

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Thanks for clearing that up for me. :wink:

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They, the Singaporean Chinese, kind of have this idea that Taiwan is more wild and crazy and real Chinese than their own Disneyland country experience in Singapore. Based on a lot of the TV, media, music, etc. So they are interested.

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Isn’t this thread about Singapore vs Taiwan? Why is everyone blabbing on about China?
These things get derailed quickly. :roll_eyes:

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I would argue for Singapore to be top 3 best places for immigration if only Singapore gave citizenship more easily and didn’t have such a hostile view towards personal freedom. As things are right now its not even in the top 10 imo.

As others have mentioned, an expat salary makes Singapore a nice place to live…e.g. a nice complex with swimming pool.

When I lived in Singapore I appreciated the clean air (most of the time) and clean surroundings. I could jog on a nice path for years and never see any trash. The landscaping of plants, trees and flowers were even present in not so “high-end” neighborhoods. I also did not have to risk my life crossing the street.

As a sidenote, the compulsory contributions to their retirement fund forced me to save money. 20% of my salary was deducted for the fund (employer also contributed 20%, which can change according to economic situation). Many of the foreigners I met while living there also found this was a good way to start saving in more major way.

That’s interesting…when I was there they just gave me more cash and counted it as my lack of retirement fund compensation. The same is true of Taiwan, except they force the company to give me a shitload more money.

IMPORTANT QUESTION: what is the forumosa for Singapore?