I’ve been here for two days my three additons will likely only be useful for people who’ve never been here. I hope the more experienced memebers of this forum can add some meat to this sandwich, as it were… Thanks to anyone helping out – it’s the kind of info I can probably use now.
Taipei isn’t cheap. Expect to spend at least 20USD a day here even if you’re subsisting on noodles and living in a cell.
The government’s big on regulations but a lot of the people aren’t. By which I mean there’s usually a way around some obstacle. That you pay for.
General English level isn’t what you’d expect for a place where there seems to be so much English teaching going on. To be expected, I suppose.
If that US$20 a day includes rent and utilities, I agree totally. If not, it’s easily doable to live off less than US$10 a day. Hell, if you’re really scratching you can get by on US$5. It’s not pretty, but it’s doable.
And that US$20 a day thing is a little misleading, because of the amount you can make here. When you can make US$15 an hour teaching at the low end of the scale, US$20 a day’s not as bad as it sounds.
Wow, Mrs Bane gives me a budget of 200NT a day. If I were to go over that she would give me a spanking…wait a minute…why am I trying to stay under 200NT a day?
Anyways, establishing a budget if you are living here is your first, and most important, step in meeting any financial goals you may have.
[quote=“jdsmith”]When I got here I wanted a bed and a bike.
After that…it’s all cake.[/quote]
I had 50 USD dollars in my pocket when I first got here and the customs dude told me, while standing in line entering Taiwan for the first time, that I couldn’t wear my shirt I was wearing at the time into Taiwan.
Broke, half-naked, and hungover is not a good way to enter any country.
I wasn’t hung over or half naked but I did arrive here from the Philipines once with a grand total of NT100 to my name. My then soon to be wife bailed my ass out of that one and has been pretty much bailing it out ever since.
[quote=“Tetsuo”]If that US$20 a day includes rent and utilities, I agree totally. If not, it’s easily doable to live off less than US$10 a day. Hell, if you’re really scratching you can get by on US$5. It’s not pretty, but it’s doable.
And that US$20 a day thing is a little misleading, because of the amount you can make here. When you can make US$15 an hour teaching at the low end of the scale, US$20 a day’s not as bad as it sounds.[/quote]
The 20 USD a day is about the lowest I can see myself paying in the forseeable future before I find a job and get established. So, something like 400TWD on a cell and 200TWD on food.
I just came over from Thailand, and seeing movie tickets at 8 or 9 USD a pop is a shock to the system after getting used to 2 USD tickets.
Im actually moving into Taipei on Wed(1st June). I find that the MRT is probably the most sneakily expensive thing there! (Especially if you got an easy card, just swipe and walk!)
Otherwise things like food are the same as anywhere else, Noodle or rice dishes are usually NT50 a pop, but things like Bien Dun(Those trays of different foods with rice) will sometimes set you back more.
Work is really easy to find tho, if you perform a good demo tho…
Someone mentioned a cell phone in one of the above posts. They are SO right. It is extremely hard to find work without one. When I first started my job search, I didn’t have a cell so I’d just ask people if I could call them back at a specific time. They acted as if this was the craziest thing anyone had ever suggested. Budget for getting a cell right away!
Hmmm, so they were. My skim reading skills apparently aren’t what they used to be. I really wouldn’t recommend living in a tiny cell of an apartment myself. My experience with teaching here has been that I have no personal space at school so I want some when I get home. And you don’t have to fork out that much money to get a little more space.
I really wouldn’t recommend living in a tiny cell of an apartment myself. My experience with teaching here has been that I have no personal space at school so I want some when I get home. And you don’t have to fork out that much money to get a little more space.