Reasons you love Taiwan

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
1

We all like to thrash Taiwan. What do you like about it?

Here’s my list

  1. Food whenever you want it
  2. Beer served at all times of the day
  3. Cheap, but good, food
  4. No shortage of work
  5. Taiwanese girls (or boys depending on whose team you hit for)
  6. Cost of living
  7. Good base for Asian travel
2

ditto to all of them, plus cheap gadgets.

3

being able to speed to work when i’m running late and never ever seeing a cop try to pull me up :sunglasses:

4

Your attractiveness to the opposite sex increasing ten-fold

Oh…

and cheap cigarettes for sure.

5

Been here so long… let’s see… why… Huuu!!!

6

Get to wear shorts to work.

7

No concerns about fashion.

8

BIAN DANGS! the best thing since sliced bread…well better really innit?

9
  1. Being able to stay close to (i.e., not half-way around the world from) my bf.
  2. A plethora of attractive Asian guys to look at.
  3. Good food at good prices, available at most hours of the day or night.
  4. (Relatively good) Available and accessible public transit system. Even though there ain’t no MRT in Neihu.
  5. Mild winter weather
  6. Beautiful mountains, etc… close by
  7. Accessibility to other Asian countries
  8. Being considered an “expert” just because I’m a native-English speaker (whether I know squat about the grammar, etc… or not).
  9. Having people approach you in Starbucks, that are willing to pay you $700+ an hour, just to have a conversation with you.
  10. Being as far away from “George Dubya” as possible. Ok, that is not really a feature of Taiwan, just a nice side benefit.

:mrgreen:

10

Being the hairiest person in an entire city

11

Because I am here.

12

making smart ass comments on forumosan.com…uh, can do that anywhere.

Bing lang…its the best
Its exciting compared to Biloxi, Miss.
Fred Fest II and all night boozing.
I’d still be single otherwise…oh wait, you asked what I liked. :laughing:
Its fun being from somewhere else, and its easier here, for anybody from anywhere, then most other places.
The prospect of missles landing, but not actually happening, in my back yard is a cheap and easy thrill.

Chou

13
  1. Low tax rates.
  2. Inexpensive medical insurance (though I wonder if it is worth anything sometimes).
  3. Friends from all sorts of places.
14
  1. I got a decent job here (of which Taiwan has been blessed with an abundance)
  2. …and an even better girlfriend (ditto).
  3. Lots of cultural stuff, both highbrow and everyday types.
  4. Easy to escape into nature.
  5. Good public transportation, you don’t have to own a car or motorbike. (This is really more applicable to Taipei.)
  6. Low taxes.
  7. Low crime.
  8. Great food.
  9. Basically a free society.
  10. Every day is a challenge and makes me learn.
  11. Nice to be situated nearish to China, without actually being in China.
  12. Life seems to be getting better and better here.
15

Staying here means being able to live my life pretty much according to my own design and whim, substantially free from other people’s interference and spared the usual pressure to conform to prevailing social norms. As an outsider or “outlander”, I’m not only not expected to do things the same way as Taiwanese, but am actually expected to be maximally “outlandish” and different. The freedom that offers is absolutely wonderful.

Though getting married to a Taiwanese girl does entail accepting quite a lot of limits to that freedom, I still remain largely untethered by the restrictions that apply to locals or would hem me in if I’d stayed back in the home country.

16

I always get the chicken breast.

17

I’m not that short :laughing:

18

Reprinted without my permission from my blog:

  1. Seeing literally thousands of people of all ages wearing the same polo shirts for some major Tai Chi event at Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall.

  2. Taking a scooter up along a windy, sandy road with no barrier to stop from going off the steep cliff into the sea in Kenting to watch the sunrise from one of the southernmost points in Taiwan.

  3. Every single smile and laugh inspired by the children I teach.

  4. Hiking through Taroko Gorge and soaking in the crystal clear water there.

  5. Garbage trucks that play Fur Elise to let you know that they’ve arrived so you can take your garbage down to it and put it in the truck yourself while the garbagemen stand around doing nothing.

  6. Learning how to spell “convenience” correctly for the first time in my life because of the fact that the convenience stores here really are convenient. They are everywhere…and I mean everywhere…there are at least seven of them within 100 feet of my front door.

  7. The extremely efficient mass transportation system that is very cheap and the underground train system (MRT) is very clean. Even if I only travel by taxi nowadays.

  8. The very short winter that rarely gets below 10 degrees C…and only seems to last from around Christmas to the end of January.

  9. The proximity of other tropical countries when just going down to Kenting isn’t enough. The Philippines are only 2-1/2 hours away by plane.

  10. All the friendly local people I have met here like the young couple who offered me a ride in Taroko Gorge on that sweltering July day to the woman who complimented my eyelashes ( :shock: ) and tried to get me to date her son by using the argument “the best way to learn Chinese is by dating someone who speaks it.”

Honorable mention: All the taxi drivers who, God bless them, tell me that my Chinese is very good even though we all know it’s not.

19

The fact that you can never tell whether it’s Sunday or Monday.

All the important stores and restaurants are running seven days a week, and for way longer hours than what I was used to in old Europe.

In my home country, there is a law banning stores that are open during the day from operating at night! Try explaining that to someone in this land of 7-11s, 24-hour book stores and restaurants!

20

[quote=“ImaniOU”]
5. Garbage trucks that play Fur Elise to let you know that they’ve arrived so you can take your garbage down to it and put it in the truck yourself while the garbagemen stand around doing nothing.[/quote]

I’ve been lucky to always live in a place that takes the garbage down for you. However, I do like the music. Though, I don’t know how the garbagemen & women stand it over and over again.

In the US, however, that kind of music usually means the ice cream truck is coming around. Not quite the same level of anticipation (or drooling) here. :shock:

I have to agree with this one, wholeheartedly. Me apologizing for my poor Mandarin, them saying it is very good and then blabbering on in Mandarin, none of which I can understand. :mrgreen: