Read @jimipresley’s post.
Speculation.
You seem a bit uninformed about Taiwan here, @Gain.
How can you call first-hand observation “speculation”? You are the one speculating, because you have no idea what you’re talking about.
- Fried oyster Po-Boy.
I like this list with the exceptions of
Weather. Its hot and horrible, but no winter which is nice. i wouldnt add it to the list cause the heat cancels out the lack of winter
Fruit arguably is food…so doesnt deserve 2 spots. I dont think taiwanese food is amazing so wouldnt think its a plus. And im from canada…
People are hit and miss. They are great as foreign guest, but when you merge with the culture, learn the language, work for enough companies and are invited to funerals, you probably have a different opinion about how nice and real people here are. I wouldnt add them to the cons either, good with te bad. Cant.say my place of origin is much better, but vastly different.
Hang on a tick, is gain saying drug abuse isnt extremely common in taiwan? Havent we discussed this many times already? Its a huge problem here. HUGE. This along with your denial of pollution makes me wonder if you just think drug use isnt an abuse and allows you to see blue skies and rainbows everyday. I envy your optimism.
I wonder though, do you actually live in Taiwan? Seem a bit disconnected on certain common issues. Honest question not tryin to be rude.
@gain is taking a leisurely swim in a certain river in Egypt…
Hehe, i like to swim there eveytime i glance down at my beer belly.
I think you guys are on crack.
Thank you for finally taking note of Taiwan’s drug epidemic. 
cons: people will stare at you
pros: uhh the bubble milk tea is refreshing after a hot day
For Taipei in particular:
Pros: Most people are nice and polite, convenient transportation, a lot of nature nearby, very safe in general, good healthcare, good hub for exploring Asia
Cons: Lower salaries (esp. for highly skilled jobs such as engineering), language barrier (quite hard to master), high population density (rent in Taipei will be comparable to many cities in US if you want the same amount of square footage and features), non-Taiwanese food is expensive (even more expensive for vegetarians),
weather sucks for most of the year, real estate prices are crazy (very hard to buy a house with a reasonable mortgage plan), foreigners (excluding S.E Asians) make up less than 0.5% of the population so it’s hard to build meaningful friendships with locals (Even if you are good at Chinese, you will always be thought of as someone’s 外國人朋友 instead of 好朋友. Very different from the US where friend groups tend to be much more diverse)
Taiwan is a great place to be for a few years regardless of where you’re from. But for settling down, it ultimately comes down to your job and where you’re coming from. For my field (Tech), I would choose Taiwan over most Asian and European countries, but maybe not over the US.
Or just observant. either way, if you start a thread on taiwans drug problem, i will surely join in. Im not going to be the one to derail this thread on that point because that point is actually worth having a long, dedicated, conversation about. Regardless if we disagree. actually, especially if we disagree :).
Absolutely depends where you are eating. I had barely eaten any decent Taiwan food in years living here and then I met my Taiwanese wife-to-be, born and raised in Taipei City, and she took me to so many great places. The problem is these joints/stalls look no different to the crappy places, so without local knowledge you are lost. But, at a push, look for places with a bunch of matriarchal grandmas running the kitchen and stay away from stuff cooked by students.
Pros:
- World Renowned Food. I so friggin’ friggin’ miss the street food. I can’t get oyster omelet in Northern Virginia I have to go to Maryland.
- People are friendly and warm, so safe you can leave expensive electronics.
- Three of the world’s 100 top hospitals, nine of the world’s top 200.
- High standards among women filters out sexpats and a lot of loser Westerners.
- Government is in great fiscal shape.
- Exciting to be at the forefront of making the world’s most difficult technology to make, nanotechnology. Only one competitor in sight (Korea). Who wouldn’t want to live in a democratic technology power?
- High concentration of talent, even after brain drain, makes your own education more valuable.
- Asian values of family, industry, and thrift means Taiwan doesn’t suffer from a lot of social ills.
- Interesting mix of indigenous, pristine pre-cultural revolution Chinese, and Japanese influences.
- Virtually no poverty. 99.3% of the people live lives of dignity, buoyed by their families instead of the European welfare state.
Cons:
- Personal situation doesn’t allow me to be here and enjoy the pros.
- I have to go to Taiwan to my hukou and get a passport, such a hassle.
- I can’t relate to Taiwanese people really well.
- I have no idea what Taiwanese women are like romantically. Asian women have flat butts because they drink soy milk instead of whole milk.
- I choose to use my vacation days to explore Latin America and Europe, for romantic reasons, so that I don’t have any room for Taiwan.
- Banking
Edit: Changed something from 100% true to 99.3% true because OCD people weren’t having it.
not surprised.
Sounds pretty silly, and i think its genetic. A lot of people keep them flat for preference, although IG suggests that’s somewhat changing.
It’s an Eddie Huang joke.
I really really want to see whatever homework PowerPoint presentation the OP manages to pull from the “data” in this thread.
I doubt OP could make a PowerPoint presentation. Anyway, we’ve got the usual “Taiwan food is FAMOUS, Taiwanese are so friendly!” crowd, and then the "You know where to stick your oyster omelets and rotten tofu " camp. Hilarity abounds!