Please continue the discussion here.
I have given it some thought as well.
It’s not that I hate Taiwan, on the contrary, I love the place, and could well spend a few decades here.
However, if you are doing what I do - IE trading, you will one fine day wake up and discover that your business has moved to China. Commercial catering equipment and flexible packaging are increasingly coming from China, and Taiwanese suppliers can only compete on very small production runs.
So far I am coping by flying back and forth when needed. It’s fairly cheap and I have opted for locating my suppliers in Guangzhou and environs, and you have a good selection of them there. That makes the flight relatively fast. Fly ingo HK, get your visa and then jump on a train to Guangzhou.
However, sooner or later I am going to spend so much time in China and so little in Taiwan that it would make more sense for me to set up shop in China. By then - I guess we are looking at 2008-9, I would end up going here on periodical producer meets and vacations, and then have my main base in either Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai or Xiamen.
It’s for work only, and even though I like travelling in China, I would not relish living there.
I actually hope that direct links would be established by then and that they will allow foreigners on them, as I would be able to live here and work most of the time in China.
… you poor thing. Except for maybe Shanghai… 
Xiamen is nice - the good thing about shenzhen is that it’s close to HK, guangzhou seemed “not too bad” when I went there recently.
Whereas livability is a major issue, ease when it comes to reach suppliers is of utmost importance.
i travel to shenzhen a lot for work, its horrible.
I liked guangzhou, even though traffic there would appear to be somewhat horrible.
Schools here are pretty anal about TB tests. They won’t accept them from overseas so if you have kids then be aware of this.
Bought a Taurus. Car payments suck.
Mrs. Bane gets in in a few hours…after that I’ll talk about AIT.
Don’t you folks out on California have county health clinics tht provide free services? I’ve been taking my kid for his shots to the ones in Pittsburgh since he was born… just had his shots updated last month there… kids and dogs… gotta keep 'em updated on thier shots…
[quote=“Tigerman”]
Don’t you folks out on California have county health clinics tht provide free services? I’ve been taking my kid for his shots to the ones in Pittsburgh since he was born… just had his shots updated last month there… kids and dogs… gotta keep 'em updated on thier shots…[/quote]
I’m not sure, but I think you have to qualify financially for free services. In Georgia and California, the kids’ pediatrician did all of the vaccinations and TB skin tests.
Here in Arizona they offer free shots to anyone who lives in the district but my kids were fine with the shots they got in Taiwan. We just showed the school nurse the records and everything was fine. Of course, I also brought the required shot list back to the doctors in Taiwan before we left so they could make sure my kids had all the required shots before we left for the USA.
Here in AZ the parent can opt out on the shot issue if you dont agree for your child to get the shots. You just sign a waiver although they didnt tell us about this at first. DB, maybe you should ask them about this.
Im hoping to settle in Taiwan if I build a good network of friends and find a job that isnt too mind-numbing…
Plan B is Tokyo where I can get voiceover/acting work through a close friend there, or perhaps South Korea where I hear they throw money at foreigners when you step off the plane… 
I have found that I have really underestimated start-up expenses…and that is with my parents and sister helping out with furniture and such. I would guess I have spent over $12,000USD in the 2.5 months that I have been here. I am just getting nickled and dimed to death. I would suggest estimating expenses and then multiplying X 2. At least…
About Mrs. Bane’s GC journey. Let me first say that the folks in Kaohsiung’s AIT branch are first rate. Jizz and friends, quite simply, rock! 
As for those AIT Taipei mother-lovers in an unnatural way, please feel free to kiss my %$#@^&.
Mrs. Bane was approved in Kaoshiung by a seasoned staffer but those Taipei &((^%$# pulled a power play just to “fornicate” with us. It should have never gone to the extreme that it did. It finally took some gwangsyi card laying on the table and a threat to write to my Congressperson to have Mrs. Bane’s application approved. I couldn’t fornicating believe it. I owe some major bar tabs in Oct. when we meet in Vegas.
For those of you with kids…read, read, read. Reading is the key here and no matter how much you think they are reading…do more.
I hear ya DB. I just returned from a visit to NY. It’s expensive there too, and taxes are killer. I’ll be checking into Vermont or Mass. in the future, because the region is soooo nice, but it ain’t cheap to live American any more…well, without the necessities and such…you know…tomatoes…
I empathise with you Mr. He. I feel the same way about China, okay for a short and finite trip, but not somewhere I want to live. However, with the increasing scarcity of tech jobs here I may be forced to relocate to Shanghai and say goodbye to my beloved outdoor lifestyle and hobbies. 
The upside would perhaps be more chances to move back to a decent job in the west from there, after a couple of years in such a hardship posting. Not looking forward to those couple of years however.
RW - why do you think China reads better than TW on the CV? Unless you are on an expat package, your China salary will be lower than here, and the disdain for people with overseas experience back in your home country will be just as strong whether you work in China or TW.
[quote=“AWOL”]RW - why do you think China reads better than TW on the CV?[/quote]I don’t.
[quote=“AWOL”]Unless you are on an expat package, your China salary will be lower than here, and the disdain for people with overseas experience back in your home country will be just as strong whether you work in China or TW.[/quote]Of course I would only be going to China (or any other hardship posting) on an expat package. It just seems that at the moment there are lot more jobs for people in my field over there than here at home in Taiwan. I’d rather stay here in the short term, but it seems like China is where all the jobs are headed. I’m on a local hire atm here in Taiwan and would like (sooner or later) to go work and live in europe. If I worked for a european company it would be a step in that direction, but atm it seems like the most logical way to acheive that is to go work in for a european company and station in China for a couple of years. There don’t seem to be too many openings at european firms in Taiwan these days, at least not in my field.
RW, just what do you do for a living? All I know is that you apparently enjoy blowing stuff up with multi-million dollar equipment.
[quote=“sjcma”]RW, just what do you do for a living? All I know is that you apparently enjoy blowing stuff up with multi-million dollar equipment.[/quote]Yeah well, that’s the upside. 
Breaking really, I break stuff on purpose. Part of my current job description is running a product testing program. Explosions are fun and all but usually accidental. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
I’m a mechanical engineer, though I’ve floated between project management, design and technical sales / sales support for the last fifteen years or so. Taiwan-stylee, Jack of all trades, master of none.
loads of PM work in China… I think a lot of people here dream of getting expat packages here or in China. Unfortunately a lot of those jobs require you to be in the home country of the co sending people offshore. Many co’s are reluctant to just hire and send unknown quantities in terms of new recruits.
Having been there done that, I suggest going home and trying from there. Getting something from here will be real tough.
saw another thread about “escaping” from Taiwan (like Taiwan was some sort of prison or something weird like that) and I thought it was about time I updated this thread.
Moving back has been tough and it is tougher the longer one stays in Taiwan. I would question my decision to move back but I don’t when I see my kids go across the street to play and be happy, then I know, no matter what fate awaits me, that I have made the right decision. My youngest son had some problems in Taiwan and they are gone for the most part. He has really gotten into football and is a wrecking machine on defense. Opposing players run away from him. Today he caught his third TD of the year to go along with a 50yd TD run and a 2 pt. catch. And those of you who have met him are now thinking “WTF?”. 
I see that and I know everything is all good.
My main concern is Mrs. Bane. We live in a small town (read: boring) and I worry about her well-being.
I thank Taiwan for blessing me in so many ways. But it was time for me to leave while I still thought so. Please do not think of Taiwan as some sort of personal Hell that one goes through but rather as a place of growth and opportunity.
Look for the positive in things.