What next, after Taiwan? - Part 2

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
41

Some random thoughts to update.

Insurance is a big cost here. Last week my two boys and I went to the dentist to get our teeth cleaned. $750 dollars for the three of us. My insurance paid for all but $30 of it. How can people without insurance deal with it?

So many unexpected costs that can really fuck up one’s budget. If I were to do it over I would keep a little more disposable cash in my pocket only to be used for these unexpected costs. I would recommend at least a couple thousand USD earmarked “only to be used for emergencies”. I have too much loot tied up in stuff and I can’t get at it…but maybe that’s a good thing.

For example. Today I am going to see a lady about curtains/drapes. I have forty one windows that need them and I am looking at at least $12,000. Probably more. I’m thinking of just buying some Star Wars bedsheets and nailing them up over the windows. Way cooler than that flower shit and much cheaper.

I would not recommend teaching in the States. Too many hoops to jump through, the high cost of student loans, low salary, and general bullshit. I got pretty lucky with my gig. I’m teaching AutoCAD/Woodshop for a junior high that is a feeder school for a charter tech high school being sponsored by the Bill Gates foundation. Some really cool stuff like designing race cars in both 2D and 3D CAD and then taking those specs to the woodshop to actually build them.

I also wouldn’t worry about the mortgage mess in the States. All you have do to is to buy low and buy smart. Or be lucky. Or have a pair of steel testicles.

For those of you who are planning to move. I recommend having a detailed budget of estimated costs and add at least a third to it.

Hope this helps.

42

Well, it will be one year since we left Taiwan for New Zealand tomorrow, and, with my wife back in Taiwan for her first visit since we left there, the place has been on my mind, so I decided I should update what I wrote in another thread several months ago ([url]10 reasons I am finally leaving Taiwan

I have come to realise that Taiwan is somewhat of a placeholder in my mind representing:

a) a brilliant income to purchasing power ratio
b) some exotic place not quite as boring as many western cities
c) a simple, easy lifestyle

It is these three aspects that hold the attraction for me there.

Some stats to support my first point: The average GDP per capita (a proxy for income per person) in Taiwan is around US$15,200 per person (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tw.html#Econ) - divide GDP at official exchange rate by population.

This makes the country rather unremarkable. However, when we convert incomes into purchasing power. ie. how far your dollar actually goes, the average person in Taiwan earns around US$29,600 a year (on an actual income of just US$15,200). In over-simplified terms, this means that your money goes twice as far in Taiwan as it would in the US.

Now consider the fact that a newby teacher should manage at least NT$50,000 a month, or NT$600,000 a year. This equates to around US$17,150, slightly above the average Taiwanese income. This is (roughly) US$33,500 in purchasing power, which, as this table shows (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html) is above the average per capita GDP of Australia, Japan, Belgium, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, the UK, Singapore and France, and way above lowly NZ, languishing now behind Spain even.

My wife has her shopping list in hand of all the things she needs to buy up and ship back to us over here while she’s in Taiwan. Other countries are cheap, but I believe few combine both livable salaries (and despite the many complaints on this forum as to how hard it is to survive, anyone with the most basic of budgeting skills can comfortably get by on NT$45,000 a month without making much sacrifice at all) with dirt-cheap prices for almost everything the way TWN does.

Yes, China is cheaper for most things, Thailand is too, but your salaries will almost invariably be half or less of what they are in TWN (although that will change over time particularly in China, and has already since I earned NT$13,000 a month there 4 years ago).

The second thing TWN provides is that exotic living experience without the ickiness that China and sometimes Thailand have. There is plenty of grime and muck in Taiwan, don’t get me wrong, and that is one of the primary reasons we moved away, but it’s not hard to find some place for a moment’s serenity in any of the larger towns anyway.

Japan provides a cleaner exotic environment, but again without the purchasing power of a base salary in TWN, and certainly not with any sense of grittiness if that’s what you’re after. I personally wouldn’t mind living in Japan for a while though, but probably not as an English teacher.

Finally, TWN provides that easy lifestyle without the hassles of insurance, long-distance travel, tricky plane connections, and shops that close at 5 pm. It is the sort of place where the years can just slip away, and if you want to live on 18 hours’ teaching a week, and spend the rest of the time studying Chinese, hiking in the hills, drinking in the pub (this may require more than 18 hours a week!), or just generally checking things out as I liked to do, you can.

Again, few places can match it for this, while providing the same level of worldly comforts.

43

Could somebody please get this man one of those chop thingies?

44

I’m in HK airport, wearing my oh so cute red hat. Any ideas, anyone?

45

Get on a plane back. We miss you already.

46

You’ll have heard of the wooden racecar, though, right? Wooden body, wooden engine, wooden wheels. Wooden go.

47

DNS wrote:

And this is a good thing? :astonished:
I would describe it as a warning!

48

[quote=“almas john”]And this is a good thing? :astonished:
I would describe it as a warning![/quote]

Time flies when you’re having fun?

49

I’m hoping to get a job in Japan later this year. Anyone gone from Taiwan to Japan and care to share some experiences?

50

[quote=“almas john”]And this is a good thing? :astonished:
I would describe it as a warning![/quote]

Time flies when you’re having fun?[/quote]

It sure does. Of course it also flies when you are in bed with dengue fever/Q fever/rikettsia.

Great new avatar by the way.

51

I’ve never worked in Japan, but I have stayed there for maybe a total of six months in my life (stayed at a friends place who was a uni pal/skiing buddy in Canada for 10 years). He holds a party for his international friends every three years (attended three times), so I will probably return there from time to time for the rest of my life.

I like visiting there, but I don’t think I would want to live there unless the remuneration package was out of this world. First of all, it is a very expensive country. A nice meal with some sake with friends can easily run you up about 100-200US. Taking the subway frequently adds up as well (10-15 US to 40US US a day) Apartments are about the same price as Taiwan. For buying a decent apartment in Tokyo, look at spending about 500,000US. Renting is about 1500US/month, but you have to put down lots of money (as much as 6 months) and you likely won’t see it again. If you want to live in a nice area of town or have an apartment that is different from the standard shoebox variety, easily double or triple that price.

Since the English language capabilities of most Japanese are much worse than your typical Chinese person, it isn’t easy to get some logistical things done. In other words, Taipei is a hell of lot easier to live in for foreigners. Furthermore, despite the technological prowess of the Japanese, banking is light years behind the rest of Asia. International ATM cards won’t work, except at Post Office Bank machines (not always the easiest to find).

Furthmore, the conformist nature of the middle-class Japanese annoys the shit out of me. My friend comes from a publishing/travel tour business-owning family (who own hotels and ski resorts in my hometown in Canada) and they are pretty international in many respects. The great majority of Japanese aren’t. Furthermore, they can get pretty aggressive with foreigners when they think we are being rude on cultural issues. For example, I’ve had a middle-aged Japanese salaryman admonish me for smoking outside (one was outside of the painted box, one was inside) of the box area (now all of central Tokyo is non-smoking–I thought Governor Ishihara was supposed to be a politically incorrect neoconservative :unamused: ) on the subway. Secondly, when we stayed at a hot-spring resort in Hakone near Mt. Fuji (which my friend’s father partly owns) a bunch of us we were wearing the traditional gowns while drinkiing copius amounts of beer in the VIP room. We stopped by in the restaurant to talk to the hostess about making reservations for dinner. As we were finishing our conversation with the hostess, I had a old Japanese couple scream at me that we shouldn’t enter the restaurant dressed like that. I laughed and said when your host partly owns the hotel you bloody well can. Nothing remotely like this has ever happened to me in Singapore and Taiwan. Nice country, but i don’t like the blue- or black-suit drones or the xenophobia amongst the older generation.

Outside of the big cities (Tokyo, Osaka) and cities with historical and cultural charm (Kyoto), I think many Japanese small towns are very ordered and boring (especially after the chaos/excitement of Taiwan). Teaching wages, if that is the field you would be entering, have remained static since before the death of Hirohito in 1989. Some companies have also gone bankrupt recently, so you might be facing stiiff competition from unemployed westerners.

The pluses? The “bushido” spirit of the Japanese. Beautiful, ordered big cities where a lot of people take pride in what they do. The food is my favorite in the world, I love the different topography (from tropical Okinawa, to crowded Tokyo, to desolate Hokkaido), and once you overcome the traditional reserve and become friends with a Japanese, they are hospitable and as loyal as they come. Oh, and of course, the women. While not as beautiful as the Chinese IMHO, they sure know how to dress and make themselves presentable (as with women in Paris). Furthermore, it’s the country of panty fetishes/school outfits, bizarre toys, lewd comics, and quirky love hotels on every corner. If you’re a single person, you will probably have a very fun time indeed.

52

Great review of Japan :bravo:

I occasionally go to Tokyo or Osaka for business and it’s always a very refreshing break, but the more time I spend time over there the more I feel really at home in Taiwan.

I always thought that if business settled down I might move somewhere else, but now it has Taiwan makes more sense than ever. The quality of life for a specific income is probably about as good as it gets. Japan is full of beautiful, pristine public spaces with excellent transport and high standard of living, but sometimes it just seems so boring. I don’t think it’s incredibly expensive - I eat out for little more than I would pay in Taichung - but rent is certainly a killer. Then there’s car/bike ownership and other expenses. My salary is considered high in Taiwan and I can have pretty much any lifestyle I want but I feel like I really have to watch the spending over in Tokyo. I know a few high-flying foreigners in Japan working for investment firms and making a bundle. They seem to be enjoying the ride but I certainly wouldn’t want to be an English teacher out there. =

53

You’re right for fast food or convenience type of foods. Noodle restaurants, sushi conveyor belt places, Japanese curry houses etc. are all pretty reasonable. However, I find the quality restaurants to be quite expensive. I remember eating horse sushi and whale meat and having to pay about 150US for a pretty small-sized meal.

Likewise, I remember eating pub finger food and sake at a very old fashioned pub (great environment) and having to pay around 250US (perhaps we had some expensive sake). If you want to eat quality French or Italian cuisine (lots of world-class restaurants in Tokyo), you’re looking at paying even more.

Cars aren’t that expensive if you buy a Japanese model or cars with superficial damage. In fact, you can get some really good deals. My friend bought a reasonably new Volkswagon car for only 1000US a few years ago (before his old man gave him a Range Rover). It had hail damage and no Japanese wanted to buy it. What is expensive is buying a drivers license and insurance. In fact, my Japanese friend maintains his Canadian license rather than obtain a Japanese one. It is much cheaper for him to fly to Canada and renew than pay Japanese prices.

54

[quote=“chewycorns”]

Cars aren’t that expensive if you buy a Japanese model. In fact, you can get some really good deals.
My friend bought a reasonably new Volkswagon car for only 1000US a few years ago (before his old man gave him a Range Rover). It had hail damage and no Japanese wanted to buy it. What is expensive is buying a drivers license and insurance. In fact, my Japanese friend maintains his Canadian license rather than obtain a Japanese one. It is much cheaper for him to fly to Canada and renew than pay Japanese prices.[/quote]

The reason why no Japanese want to buy old cars are the taxes, insurance and inspection fees :wink: I looked at buying a yellow plate car but the maintainance cost and tolls made it completely unfeasable. Just the tolls from Osaka to Tokyo cost more than a round-trip HSR ticket from Taipei to Kaoshiung. Didn’t even bother pricing up a regular white plate. What’s funny though is that vehicle rentals are pretty reasonable.

As for food etc. I never bother with foreign restaurants and always eat very heartily for a reasonable price. My friend introduced me to a fantastic little sushi place that charges around NT$25/plate and I practically live in there for the first week of every visit.

55

Great info guys - cheers :slight_smile:

I have to admit after spending a week in Manila last month, coming back to Taiwan felt ‘right’.

It’s like the wild west in Manila. I have never felt so nervous walking around as I did there.

Some Filipinos I spoke to at the airport said nonchalantly ‘Don’t worry, you will be mugged. Just don’t take too much money out with you’. Nice :s

Next time I’ll try the provinces I think…

About Japan. I think I would end up having less success with my savings plan than I did here during the last year.

Too much weird junk, video games and panty fetish porn to tempt me…

I’ll go for a holiday before coming back here. Stay for a few weeks and travel around a bit :slight_smile:

Contract finishes in March and then I’m going home to see family and friends. The last 18 months have gone so fast…

56

40 acres in the Northern AZ high desert.
I want to build my own homestead out of either Adobe brick or rammed earth, solar and wind power, subsistence farming, and a horse or two.

Less than 700 USD per acre.

57

No kidding!!! My hubby and I are planning on finding a property to buy in the US next year and Arizona is on the list of possibilities. Will have to check that out…

58

How about this place in New Zealand?


nytimes.com/2008/12/03/great … -sale.html

Of course, there’s just one catch, the price tag: about US$3.4M. That and the long commute to buy dou hwa. Other than that, I’m ready to pack my bags.

59

Just the one catch? What about being surrounded by kiwis?

HG

60

far out place, but the lifestyle is important too, not just the home. How far away are you from pubs, shopping, movie houses, restaurants, jobs, etc. I guess u wont need a job if u live there but, still u need friends to be able to visit you, and places to go outside of the home.