Why is it so hard to leave Taiwan?

Yes record heat has always been occurring.

OK then.

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Large wildfires have been a part of California ecology since before humans settled there.

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So record heat has been happening forever.

OK then.

Anyway Tommy is smart he won’t live out in them boondocks.

If nothing or little is done, the reports say to expect temperature rises of 3 to 5 degrees Celsius (5.6 to 8.8 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100; a two-thirds decline in water supplies from the mountain snow pack by 2050; a nearly 80 percent increase in the area scorched by fires by the end of the century; and up to two-thirds of Southern California beaches eroding in the same time frame.

It’s pretty frightening.
I don’t live in the boonies but we are very much at risk of smoke from fires. Currently I’m home with the air cleaner on trying to scrub out the smoke from a huge fire 150 miles away.
Our air right now is in unhealthy range.
The fire has burned 18000 acres in just hours. Some people are trapped by this fire.

You can see and smell the smoke if you venture outside.

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Depends on your job and where you live. I was making 85k nt/mo and living in pingtung.

I’m living in Sac now, cpl blocks from the capital building and only commute to campus for events and when I have to teach. Plenty of people have had their electricity shutoff as a precaution (by PGE, were SMUD though so not effected). Better than their home going up in flames. But I can smell the smoke now and ash is everywhere. Wind has been nuts, feeding the fires.

Binglang farming pays well ? :slight_smile:

I guess you are a uni teacher, not a bad gig.

No wonder you want to come back to Taiwan. Sacramento is the butthole of California.

I don’t think you need to be rich to have a good life in London. The “average” professional salary in London is around 35K a year. Assuming you have no dependencies, to have a reasonably comfortable life, where you can go travelling a couple of times a year and do things (within reason) every weekend, while putting away money at the end of the month, that “average salary” should suffice. Granted, you would need to flat share and live in Zone 3 or something. Although, if you’re lucky enough to be in the situation, you could easily afford to rent a one-bedroom flat if your cohabiting, even if you’re only on the average salary and your partner is making less.

In Taiwan, I could afford to live close to work in the city city, eat out every day, and take a taxi whenever I felt like it, but I couldn’t save shit. In London, I can’t be as carefree with my money, but I can still have fun and do what I need while saving money.

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wow 35k pounds a year doesn’t sound like much; Im surprised one can live in London on that and somewhat enjoy life.

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And 31 degrees in “winter”.

The biggest expense, by far, is rent. It isn’t right that professionals in their 30s and 40s should still be flat sharing in shitty houses like students, but if you’re willing to make that sacrifice then 35K is reasonable.

That must have been rather nice.

Is this for real?

I was in the UK this summer and a mate of mine was saying how pleased he was that he’d scored a great deal on a 2 bed flat in Walthamstow. 1500 quid a month and when I went round it was horrible. All I was thinking was what I could get in Taiwan for 60k NT a month.

And just getting about London! Every time you get on the tube you’re forking out a fiver. It’s nuts!

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word. i see buddys of mine advertising rooms on facebook, they must be earning shit loads considering how successful they are but the houses are always bog standard sharing places. no thanks. my place seems really expensive for taiwan but compared to those guys i look like some kind of baller.

A two-bedroom flat for that price in Walthamstow is definitely going to be horrible. But that’s the thing, rent is by far the biggest expense, so as long as you don’t mind taking that hit, London isn’t as bad as people think. But maybe that’s easy for me to say, because I’ve always treated wherever I stay as no more than somewhere to sleep at night. Even in Taipei, I lived in a horrible bedroom in a shared apartment because all I wanted was to live in the centre.

What do you think is the cheapest you’ll pay for a shared flat in London?

The cheapest places I’m finding (that aren’t “horrible”) in areas I would consider are around £450 a month. That’s for places like Crystal Palace, which is actually lovely with great transport links (I have no idea why it’s so cheap!), and Norwood Junction.

But for places that are a bit more central and lively, like Brixton and Hammersmith, £500 to £600 a month is what I’m seeing.

35K a year is around £2300 a month after tax.

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You’re sharing a flat not a room, yeah?

For London’s cost of living (namely the appalling rent), the average salary should be twice as high. I heard in Switzerland rent is slightly cheaper (aka you can get a pretty good one-bedroom in the centre of Zurich with 2000 CHF) but the average salary is like 6000. In London it’s 2000 GBP (and not in the centre) and the salary is 2300. That’s just whack. It’s like Hong Kong level of bad.