Omni,
Isn’t being the coach of a university girls’ swimming team enough for you?
You greedy bugger!![/quote]
Any deep sea fishing going on?
I have the same problem as “travelgoddess” but for the opposite sex (meaning girls/women). I can’t see any attractive or sexy women in Taiwan. Sorry all Taiwanese girls/women here but I just can’t find Chinese outlook attractive. Cute sometimes but nothing more.
I’m happily married (to a Filipina) so I’m not actually looking for anything but some eye-candy might cheer up the day. But no!
We (my wife and me) ones noticed one girl/woman in a shop who we agreed was the most beautilful/attractive Taiwanese woman we seen. Later on we got to know that she is half Taiwanese / half Filipina.
Myself? Well, I’ve seen better looking men. Can’t understand what my wife saw in me!
[quote=“Tomas”]The downside of this, for women in particular, is that it is often hard to find a guy with a trim physique, a good haircut, straight teeth, and a nice-looking face walking the streets of a given town or city in Taiwan. I’ve got a few single male friends in Taipei who fit the bill.
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So let’s have some introductions, if they’re not axe murderers…at this point the above-mentioned characteristics are just about all negotiable…Heck, I’d even consider going out with a guy who was into Chinese literature, if he was a decent sort, spoke English natively and had half a brain… :shocker: 
Is this lady looking for a lover? Someone for the occassional shag? A steady boyfriend?
I find this whole thing a bit doubious. Women have the power; all this woman needs to do is go to a pub or somewhere to socialize and flirt with someone she fancies (and don’t tell me that there is no one suitable).
Although looking at the pic of her (is it?), I’d not go so far as say “good looking,” although the person in the pic is making a silly face.
ok. About the comment saying that there isnt as much emphasis placed on appearance here, what? I think (from 4 months, so I might be wrong here) that this is ONLY true for men. As a woman I am expected (but wont give in, dammit) to be all cutsy and made up all the time. I see it everywhere I go, the women are really overdone and the men look like they rolled out of bed. There is plenty of room between this roll out of bed look and being too concerned about your appearance. That is the area I would like to find someone in. Casual but groomed. But no matter, I will just cuddle up with my betel nut and call it a night. haha.
Wolf, it’s rude to make fun of other people’s looks. You’re not supposed to say a woman is ugly to her face unless you’re being mean.
Not that that’s ever happened to me very often, since as you can see from my pic I am dashingly handsome.
I didn’t say she was ugly.
She is certainly attractive but making a face.
Time for your medication, langster.
Travelgoddess, speaking personally (and for several of my pals), although looks are a factor, my “zone” is pretty wide. Beauty has many faces and someone who might not have stepped out of a glamor magazine can be very attractive to me.
The way a person projects can influence the way they look (I think), to name but one factor.
I’m being serious here (for those of you who expect me to be facitious).
Sound pretty picky to me.
When I was young, I went quite some time without EVER combing my hair (high school-college-law school-graduate school-until I landed my first job)… whoa… that was a long stretch… that was 13 or 14 years!
But, I always bathed at least once daily… and often twice.
Even now, I don’t comb my hair or shave on weekends.
I’m probably not your type.
And that’s OK… my wife likes me and I like her.
We’re happy together…
Grooming is over-rated 
But isn’t it rather good as a mating ritual?
Which prompts the suggestion: maybe travelgoddess could try approaching some of those ungroomed blokes, running her comb (or fingers) through their hair and generally tidying up their appearance, the way our mums did when we were young. I’m sure some of them would love it, and she’d get a highly positive response as well as having her man well groomed as she likes .
Depends on what kind of birds you seek to attract, or whether being in an ungroomed state has disadvantages.
I was a Deadhead farmer growing up and the birds I flocked with were similar (OK, they weren’t all farmers)… they were the natural kind of girls and I did quite well with them. When I came to Taiwan later, most of the Taiwanese birds I flew with just figured my unkempt hair was just a wild foreign guy thing… they didn’t seem to mind. I lived for about a year with a Taiwanese bird and a German bird and neither of them minded that a comb never got near my head.
I also tended, for whatever reason, to date artist birds… just about every one of my girlfiends (including my wife) is a poet, musician and or painter. These birds don’t seem to mind unkempt hair.
Then, I met my wife, and she is the coolest bird I’ve ever known… My hair was quite long when I met her, and never combed… never was an issue.
The only reason I comb my hair now is because I work in an office and frequently meet with clients. But sometimes I just get my hair cut really short, and then I don’t have to comb it.
I hate combing my hair.
Judging your own appearance, travelgoddess, I wouldn’t be tossing stones from glass houses about “sloppy”. C’mon, tell me you didn’t spend maybe 5 minutes max dressing up for a night on the town. You’re a perfect match for all those sloppy foreign guys. Maybe we just dislike in others what we see in ourselves?
Heck, ML, I think she’s cute. But she’d recoil in horror if she saw me. 
I ain’t saying she ain’t a cutie. I’m just a sayin’ the old gal ain’t exactly all that fashion conscious, judging by her pics on her webpage.
Looks like agree then. Here’s what I wrote:
I’ve spoken with a number of Taiwanese women who have told me that they simply don’t care much about their honey’s appearance. Some do, the majority place it very low on the priority scale.
One of the essay topics I have my TOEFL students write on is whether or not personal appearance is a good basis for judging others. Those who agree that it is important write nothing about attractiveness. They write that having a clean appearance is a form of respect, and that people who take certain roles, such as teacher, police officer, company leader, should dress the part. After a few thousand essays on the same topic, I’ve yet to see someone write that being physically attractive is important.
Different set of standards.
[quote=“ironlady”][quote=“Tomas”]The downside of this, for women in particular, is that it is often hard to find a guy with a trim physique, a good haircut, straight teeth, and a nice-looking face walking the streets of a given town or city in Taiwan. I’ve got a few single male friends in Taipei who fit the bill.
[/quote]
So let’s have some introductions, if they’re not axe murderers…at this point the above-mentioned characteristics are just about all negotiable…Heck, I’d even consider going out with a guy who was into Chinese literature, if he was a decent sort, spoke English natively and had half a brain… :shocker: [/quote]
Well, we’ll have to get you out for a night at Barrio’s, a hip new tapas restaurant and pub managed by our very own Mr. chainsmoker. Last week, I was joined by Charles, who is tall, distinguished, and handsome and Malone, who is shorter but quite buff, an excellent dresser and a skilled dancer. I was the geeky guy dancing like I don’t have a Latin bone in my body. I’m fairly sure I’ll be getting summoned this week to pay damages for the toes I broke 
.
There are atractive foreign women in Taiwan, most in Taipei. I’ve met several attractive models from N.Z. and Oz, as well as prostitutes here on a short stint from Russia and S.A.
I’ve only met one attractive N.American woman who had her act together. She dressed the part, wore make up and kept up with fashion - and exercised. She had no problem with dating either locals or foreign men (though she had to work a bit harder to get whitie). She also had no problem getting paid top dollar for teaching and privates as well.
I believe if you want to see some attractive men you can head down to Kenting. You can usually meet a few Japanese guys that come over to surf for a week or so. Other than the few Japanese guys in town, those are the only masculine Asian men I know of that would be considered handsome.
I do understand your frustration of not being able to find attractive men on the island. A friend of mine who was visiting, and had been here less than two hours, asked, “are all the local guys here gay?” My friend, who is gay, thought that he was in homo heaven as to him Taiwan was a sea of feminine men.
Thanks for bringing me into this. I think! I am by no means a “rice queen,” as I also like potatoes and other… uh… foods. However, I have always found Asian guys to be attractive. However, that does not mean I find EVERY Asian guy attractive.
When I first moved over, many of my friends, knowing my penchant for Asian guys, thought I’d be in heaven – an Asian bf and lots of eye-candy. Though the increase in available Asians guys (i.e., 98% of the guys around) has increase the number of good-looking Asian guys I can see on a daily basis, it also increases the number of… ah… not so attractive ones, too. Oh boy does it!!! 
It could be both of those things. Also, depending on how long you’ve been in Taiwan, it is probably just as much that you’ve gotten more “attuned” to Taiwanese/Asian physical attributes and cultural attitudes toward physical attractiveness. So, now you are thinking more along the lines of a Taiwanese.
Well, that is a good suggestion. Though, you’d have to make sure you don’t get caught and accused of “spying.” :mrgreen:
Ultimately, though, attractiveness is in the eye of the beholder. The Asian guys I find attractive, may not be the ones that travelgoddess, other women, or other gay men find attractive. I kind of have an unusual taste in Asian guys. I don’t like the thin, pale, young-looking asian guys (though a bit of boyishness can be cute). I prefer guys who are more masculine, with some muscles, etc… I often find that the guys I find attractive, my other gay friends (both Taiwnese and foreigners) don’t like.
Oh… I dislike with an intense passion this Japanese-inspired-shaggy-hair-thin-trendy-slightly-androgenous-boy-band look.
As for my bf, he has it really bad. He’s not that into other Asian guys (though he does find the occasional one attracitve – often not the ones I do. ). The amount of “foreign” eye-candy here is even less than Asian eye-candy. He is constantly complaining about that. 
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I think you’re probably right there, QM.
So that strikes a note of encouragement for travelgoddess: if she sticks around for long enough, she’ll likely start seeing the local guys with different eyes, and notice that they have all sorts of desirable qualities that she’s totally oblivious to now.
I didn’t like Asian women before I came to Taiwan. For a long time I didn’t find the local girls very attractive - too skinny, no curves, no breasts, etc. But since then I’ve come around. Now I am addicted to checking out the xiaojies. I’m sure it works the same way for Western gals checking out local nanren.
A lot of (straight?) guys here do fit more of the western stereotypes for being feminine. However, I think, in many cases they are just that, cultural stereotypes – what western cultures consider masculine and feminine. IMHO, in the west, we have a more distinct continuum for what is considered masculine to feminine. And, the acceptable place to fall on the continuum, for most people, is the toward the ends – e.g., if you are a man, you should be as masculine as possible.
In Taiwan (Asia in general?) their continuum is less distinct. What I mean is, a behavior that in the west would be considered more feminine, like carrying a clutch bag (male purse), is not considered feminine here. However, it is not considered necessarily masculine either… it just is an acceptable behavior for guys. That is, more people here fall in the center of the continuum.
And, it must be said that it is not just that there are a lot of feminine men in Taiwan. I’ve seen a rather large group of masculine/butch women - wearing more man-ish clothes, with short man-ish hair cuts. So much so that, when you see them walking down the street with their more feminine female friends (girfriends?), you think it is a straight couple.
In fact, I hate to admit it, I once even thought one of these women was a very attractive guy, until I realized he wasn’t a guy at all… but, a women with a more masculine appearance. 
In my defence, though, she was more masculine than many of the men here.
By the way, I think it must be clarified that not all gay men like guys that act feminine. (I, for one, prefer more masculine men.) So, this would not be a “homo heaven” for all of us.