Living in Yilan - the pros and cons?

Hi folks

Thanks to a kind reader from this forum, I have just found out about a teaching job in Yilan city.

I did a search here and found out that living in Yilan can be mouldy, and it has a lot of tourist attractions.

If anyone has every lived there, could you please give me some info on the pros and cons of life in Yilan?

I dont drink or go out clubbing so nightlife isn’t a big deal for me. Give me a decent video game shop and Im a happy camper. And apparently its only an hour or so from Taipei which is a big bonus.

So lets hear it - warts and all :slight_smile: Or … athletes foot by many accounts :s

If you’re going to move there you should learn how to drink alcohol like most adults, then expand from there.

That’s cool…I’m jealous

Clean air, Cheaper cost of living, bigger apartment (and/or house), Chance to improve your Chinese and surfing!..You got it made.

Just making light of the positive aspects

I lived in Yilan (Luodong to be specific) for two years and I quite liked it. The weather does suck from about November to March, but it’s friggin’ gorgeous during the summer. For the typical 600NT/hour teaching job, I think it’s one of the best places to live in all of Taiwan (certainly better than Taipei.)

The one disadvantage I guess is the lack of foreigner amenities. Last I checked, there was one foreigner bar in the whole county (when I lived in Toucheng for 6 months, a night out for me involved driving home drunk or a 800NT taxi ride), and the only Western food you’ll see is McD’s or Pizza Hut.

Assuming the school in Yilan isn’t sketchy, you should absolutely go for it.

Thanks for the input guys

I don’t particularly dislike drinking, but it wreaks havoc with some medication I have to take every day and makes me sick as a dog… Trust me, it sucks being an Australian that can’t drink. I’ve lost count the number of times I have been abused for being a ‘pansy’ etc…

Yilan is definitely sounding very tempting. The boss at the school sounds nice and the guy who told me about the job is very up front about the pros and cons. Thankfully there are more positives than negatives.

I applied for a job in the local area here (Shalu) and if they dont accept my application Ill go check out Yilan on the weekend

Dude, I once lived in shithole Taichung county for a year as well and trust me, Yilan is WAY better than shithole Shalu (love the alliteration on that.)

PROs: You are living
CONs: It is Ilan

[color=#FFFFFF]just kidding, one of the nicer places on the island with plenty of fun things to do, as long as city type things aren’t your style.[/color]

[quote=“Deuce Dropper”]PROs: You are living
CONs: It is Yilan
[color=#FFFFBF]
[color=#FFFFFF]just kidding, one of the nicer places on the island with plenty of fun things to do, as long as city type things aren’t your style.[/color][/color][/quote]
:laughing:
I had some students from Yilan here in Jiayi. They said it was a beautiful area but that it often rained like a bastard.

With the new tunnel the travel time between Yilan and Taipei is, what, one hour?

If I were looking for a teaching gig and not tied to a scrimp farm in rural Jiayi, I’d be up for it.

NO place rains as much as Keelung. Where its raining like 280 days a year.

Yilan is awesome. In the future, I will probably try to live there.

As has been mentioned, the weather is hardcore wetness. It rains and then some, and it also bears the brunt of many typhoons.

Also, as has been mentioned, it lacks many of the big city amenities (though as has been mentioned, Taipei is only an hour away).

The pros are all to do with the cheaper, more relaxed lifestyle. Waiao/Toucheng is great for surfing and the mountains are literally right next to the ocean. The locals seem pretty nice there, even if they can’t speak English, though in Toucheng, there’s a fair percentage of English speaking surfers and blow-ins from other parts of the island.

The typhoon thing bugs me because back home the worst rain weather we get is maybe a few strong winds and some hail…

I remember freaking out last time I lived here in Dong Shr when the first typhoon hit the island. I went out and bought supplies and barricaded my apartment :laughing: what a joke - it was all over in about an hour

I’m guessing it’s a little bit more serious on the East coast though…

The surfing thing is interesting although the image of me on a surfboard is pretty damn hilarious. Maybe I can go and buy the guys chico rolls and winnie blues from the takeaway shop (Australia joke)

I’m planning a trip to go and check it all out. Just waiting to hear back from the boss and find out what is a good day to visit. Wish me luck :slight_smile:

Yes, typhoons hit Yilan harder than they hit the western side of Taiwan, but because people know that, they’ve actually got good infrastructure over there. When you see some bridge washed out or some street flooded on the news, where is it? Western Taiwan. When you see some schmuck who has to be helicopter-evacuated from some mountain pass, where is it? Western Taiwan. When you see footage of people grocery shopping like the apocalypse is about to come, where is it? Western Taiwan. The people in Yilan just shrug when the bigger typhoons (and bigger earthquakes) hit unlike the sissy babies in Taibei, etc.

The upshot is that you’ll have a few more typhoon days off in Yilan.

[quote=“pubba”]
The surfing thing is interesting although the image of me on a surfboard is pretty damn hilarious. Maybe I can go and buy the guys chico rolls and winnie blues from the takeaway shop (Australia joke)[/quote]

hahahaha (Aussie laughter)

“Chicks don’t surf.” (Puberty Blues)

I like this part of the deal :wink:

And I just got a 100US voucher from expedia for complaining about a late refund. Think I’ll stay in a nice hotel somewhere in Taipei on the way back to Taichung.

Just waiting to hear if the job is still open and what day the boss has some free time.

Urodacus -puberty blues! Now there’s a classic drive-in movie

I like this part of the deal :wink:

And I just got a 100US voucher from expedia for complaining about a late refund. Think I’ll stay in a nice hotel somewhere in Taipei on the way back to Taichung.

Just waiting to hear if the job is still open and what day the boss has some free time.

Urodacus -puberty blues! Now there’s a classic drive-in movie[/quote]

I might have to start quoting Bad Boy Bubby!

Woah that movie did my head in… I was coming down from a huge night out and it just blew my mind :ohreally:

Seriously twisted. More people should watch it :slight_smile:

You’re a sexy woman Flo!

Or how about the Coolangatta Gold? There’s another Aussie classic for you.

Or this guy should have his own movie (doesn’t he look like the guy in Bad Boy Bubby?):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlmH5lCh8vs

Now there’s a flashback! Thanks guyintaiwan. I used to love ‘Hey Hey it’s Saturday’

Darryl presented an award on TV last year and said ‘How about we bring back Hey Hey?’ I think they were hoping for a huge round of applause, or cheering youtube.com/watch?v=98pyUGy92Tg :s

Actually some of the local TV shows remind me of ‘Hey Hey It’s Saturday’. 3 hour variety shows with music, comedians etc… No ostrich puppet however :frowning:

I am heading to Yilan this weekend, and working on Monday and Tuesday to show the boss that I can teach. Hopefully it all works out and I’ll be living in Yilan soon :slight_smile:

At serious risk of totally derailing this thread, and as you’ve already mentioned Coolangatta Gold, how about BMX Bandits?

or some other choice first movie roles, like (for something a little different) Romperstomper? Dogs in Space, maybe? or even the one and only Mad Max?

Cars that Ate Paris? Stone?

etc.

It would be far too obvious to mention The Castle, of course.

Wasn’t BMX Bandits Nicole Kidman’s first acting role, or was it Kylie’s?

Well, since we’re posting classic TV clips, we can’t go past this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_NqulhmZWc&feature=PlayList&p=C65D16F752CE9609&index=2

pubba: Good luck with Yilan. I’m probably heading over to Toucheng myself tomorrow.