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Probably better to wait until the ash from the volcano clears. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42147422 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42147422 On a mo

Probably better to wait until the ash from the volcano clears. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42147422 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42147422 On a more long-term note, though, visa policies are much more friendly in the East than the West. "Indonesia doesn't require visa for Turkish citizens so my family can visit me anytime they want without going through visa application processes. This is one of the reasons I left US; my family and friends always wanted to visit me when I lived in Oakland but they wouldn't go through the expensive and humiliating visa application process." I currently live and work for a local company in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, which runs a factory making microSD memory cards. The salary is low, but the living costs (food & rent) are very low, so I end up saving over 50% of my salary each month. It's comfortable. People who work over the Internet get paid even more, but they have to risk working illegally on tourist visas instead of having an Alien Resident Card. I'd try to stay longer if the government would do something about the education system, dual citizenship, military service requirement, and air pollution. Those reasons make me think it's better to go elsewhere to start a family. This is a nice place to be young though.

tim333 9y ago
Re the ash, I'm in Kuta just now and it's not really noticeable apart from the airport being closed about half the time.
philliphaydon 9y ago
> I'd try to stay longer if the government would do something about the education system, dual citizenship, military service requirement, and air pollution. Those reasons make me think it's better to go elsewhere to start a family. This is a nice place to be young though. Are these issues in Taiwan? I haven't been to Kaohsiung (except when flying back to Singapore) but my wife is Taiwanese so I've traveled to Taiwan a lot. Taiwan care a LOT about education and the people are pretty highly educated AFAIK, They also allow dual citizenship (which a lot of countries in Asia don't), granted it's impossible to get citizenship in Taiwan. And air pollution is no better/worse than say, Sydney - Australia.
- peterburkimsher 9y ago
  High school is stressful and focuses on repetition, not creative thinking. After-school buxiban cram schools are common. But then university is a joke. People are generally quite smart, but I think that has more to do with their interaction with the outside world (no internet censorship and lots of people joining Working Holiday or study abroad programmes) instead of school. Taiwan requires people to give up their previous citizenship to become Taiwanese. But people who were born Taiwanese can take on other nationalities. AQI in Kaohsiung is over 150 today. Sydney is 20. It's better than China or India, but I still have to wear an N95 mask when I go outside, or I'll cough and my sinuses will dry up.

tim333 9y ago

Re the ash, I'm in Kuta just now and it's not really noticeable apart from the airport being closed about half the time.

philliphaydon 9y ago

> I'd try to stay longer if the government would do something about the education system, dual citizenship, military service requirement, and air pollution. Those reasons make me think it's better to go elsewhere to start a family. This is a nice place to be young though. Are these issues in Taiwan? I haven't been to Kaohsiung (except when flying back to Singapore) but my wife is Taiwanese so I've traveled to Taiwan a lot. Taiwan care a LOT about education and the people are pretty highly educated AFAIK, They also allow dual citizenship (which a lot of countries in Asia don't), granted it's impossible to get citizenship in Taiwan. And air pollution is no better/worse than say, Sydney - Australia.

peterburkimsher 9y ago
High school is stressful and focuses on repetition, not creative thinking. After-school buxiban cram schools are common. But then university is a joke. People are generally quite smart, but I think that has more to do with their interaction with the outside world (no internet censorship and lots of people joining Working Holiday or study abroad programmes) instead of school. Taiwan requires people to give up their previous citizenship to become Taiwanese. But people who were born Taiwanese can take on other nationalities. AQI in Kaohsiung is over 150 today. Sydney is 20. It's better than China or India, but I still have to wear an N95 mask when I go outside, or I'll cough and my sinuses will dry up.