8 ms·

This was my grand scheme all along - after having a comically high quality of life on 2k/month in Taipei as an English teacher, I moved back to the states to le

This was my grand scheme all along - after having a comically high quality of life on 2k/month in Taipei as an English teacher, I moved back to the states to learn frontend. Now I'm building out my resume and network so I can eventually fuck off back to Taipei, work a couple contract roles, pull in a cool ~4kish a month, and live like a king while having far more time for my own projects. It was inspired when me and my dirty, sweaty, budget beer-drinking buddies were hanging out at a 7/11 with a foreign engineer we had just met. He said he wanted to go to the club, we were like "dude cover is pretty expensive, let's just drink our 50 cent beers." He did a quick count of us, then said "ok, I'll pay for everyone's cover." Rent was 250USD a month, 100mbps internet 20 USD... this on top of the fact that you're getting nearly equal healthcare because all the doctors are US school trained anyway, way better public transit (trains are automated! and CLEAN!!). I mean, it's the dream.

croshan 8y ago
Wow. What are the downsides?
- toomanybeersies 8y ago
  Language and culture barriers can be pretty big downsides to moving countries.
  - DyslexicAtheist 8y ago
    overcoming them is the whole point of traveling
- komali2 8y ago
  Literally nothing. Just kidding haha. I mean their main language is Mandarin, so that can be a challenge, even though tons of people speak English. If you want to work in a Taiwanese company, you may have to deal with a really shitty arbitrary work culture. Sitting on your phone till 8pm cause it looks good, such bullshit. It can get absurdly hot in the summer, 40c levels, with high humidity, and usually you gotta get your own AC installed unless you're in a super new building (few places have central AC). Also taifun (how do you spell that in English...) can be really intense. Also the mosquitoes are a fucking nightmare. If you're a vegetarian, forget about it lol. Nobody there understands or really cares. You'll only ever be able to eat at foreign restaurants which pretty much restricts you to Taipei or maybe kenting. Hmm other than that it is literally paradise to me. Whatever you want is an hour train ride (for one USD) away. Surfing, hiking, bicycling through mountains, rock climbing, art meetup things, entrepreneurship stuff, hackerspaces, hackers... It's such an amazing country. Oh you do have the constant fear that north Korea or China will nuke you.
  - jccooper 8y ago
    "Typhoon" is the silly but fun-looking English spelling.
  - Legogris 8y ago
    I agree on most of your points, except this: > If you're a vegetarian, forget about it lol. Nobody there understands or really cares. You'll only ever be able to eat at foreign restaurants which pretty much restricts you to Taipei or maybe kenting. This is NOT the case. Compared to mainland China (where it's like you say), Taiwan didn't have a cultural revolution and therefore more of the local Buddhist culture where veganism is strong. At most places when I say I am vegetarian or vegan they will ask me if I eat onion and garlic (since local Buddhist vegans will often not eat those either). Of course you'll find nothing vegan in a beef-noodle restaurant. It's not like in the west where all restaurants have at least one lacto-ovo-vegetarian option on the menu, but there are still plenty of options. There are cheap local vegan restaurants littered across the city. Just look for the 素 sign. I would also add pollution to the downsides, if you're near or in a big city. Nowhere NEAR as bad as cities in the mainland, but on the bad days you can definitely feel it. Taipei is going to be SUCH a nicer place once most scooters are replaced with electric ones.
pkaye 8y ago
How do the doctors get US school trained yet can afford a lower income? Medical school is quite expensive in the US. Do they get funding from their government to learn abroad?
- komali2 8y ago
  Sometimes, yea. There's tons of scholarships. Also exchange programs etc. But it's a family oriented culture so oftentimes it's just the family pooling resources. low cost of living doesn't necessarily mean low comparative income, engineers can pull up to 60k USD yearly there which is a huge sum compared to cost of living.
- toast0 8y ago
  There's a limited number of US residency spots, less than the number of med school graduates. If you don't get a residency there, you gotta do something.
yitchelle 8y ago
Why Taipei? There are cheaper places to be in, eg Bali or Phuket.
- komali2 8y ago
  The quality of life there isn't as high imo. Taipei has a better funded education and healthcare system. Bali hospitals, first hand experience, don't even come close. Taiwan is essentially a first world country at a discount. Their populace is largely well educated (last I checked at 99% literate) and there are tons of engineers and entrepreneurs for me to engage with. It really is just a different class of country.
  - jiveturkey 8y ago
    you make it sound very attractive. can one get by with just english? i wouldn’t mind giving it a try if i were single. i have a side hobby of machining. i will only buy taiwan or german equipment.
    - komali2 8y ago
      Oooh you'd love the hacker culture there, lots of builders. There's a little town devoted to their art, near ntu, can't recall the name. You can get buy with just English but you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't spend your time picking up Mandarin. There's often free classes, plus everyone is friendly. Here, I found some of my old blog posts. The articles are relatively short and go over some of the details: http://taipeitips.blogspot.com http://taipeitips.blogspot.com http://ablate.blogspot.com/2014/05/what-does-it-cost-to-live-in-asia.html http://ablate.blogspot.com/2014/05/what-does-it-cost-to-live...? http://taiwanhikes.blogspot.com http://taiwanhikes.blogspot.com
  - yitchelle 8y ago
    Yes, agree with you. I been to Taipei and Bali, and they really are like cheese and chalk, especially when it comes to the supporting infrastructure.
rorykoehler 8y ago
I spent 2 months in Taipei last year. How on earth do you live well on $2k? I'm assuming you are not investing in property or your future at all?
- Legogris 8y ago
  "Investing in property" is not something I would include in "live well". It sounds like you are assuming everyone should be aspiring for wealth. Regardless, I was based in Taipei for about 1.5 years and if you just adapt your lifestyle it's still definitely doable to even save a significant portion of a $2k salary. Rough calculations below assuming a single person on a conscious but not frugal lifestyle: * Rent: ~10000 NTD per month if you're not sharing (you can still find decent places for cheaper). This will put you central enough to have easy access to everywhere but not smack in Da'an. * Food: ~8000 NTD per month * Transportation: ~4000 NTD per month * Other: ~20000 NTD per month That leaves > 30% of your salary left over. If you regularly splurge on coffee shops and western-style bars and restaurants (all of which are relatively ridiculously pricey) you will have less of course. I am guessing that in 2 months you might still have had a more of a "tourist life-style" (eating out at expensive places, paying much more for accommodation than if you have a proper contract or own your place, going to work at Starbucks, etc). It's kind of ridiculous just how much of a luxury coffee shops really are. One coffee at hipster cafe will be more than twice of a good meal at the delicious vegan buffet next door. Median salary in Taipei is somewhere around 2k USD IIRC. I love Taiwan and only reason I left was relocating for building a team in Europe.
  - Chris2048 8y ago
    You might also invest in property to retire (unless you are sure your pension will cover it) and so that you are not as susceptible to fluctuation in rental costs.
  - rorykoehler 8y ago
    I was there to take part in MOX accelerator. Company paid for accommodation, MOX provided work space. Day to day was cheap but property is damn expensive for what people earn. Ypu buy property because you have responsibilities towards your family and living hand to mouth and at risk of being booted out of your apartment by a dickhead landlord is not fulfilling your duties as a parent. You can live like a teenager all you like but you will eventually face reality.

croshan 8y ago

Wow. What are the downsides?

toomanybeersies 8y ago
Language and culture barriers can be pretty big downsides to moving countries.
- DyslexicAtheist 8y ago
  overcoming them is the whole point of traveling
komali2 8y ago
Literally nothing. Just kidding haha. I mean their main language is Mandarin, so that can be a challenge, even though tons of people speak English. If you want to work in a Taiwanese company, you may have to deal with a really shitty arbitrary work culture. Sitting on your phone till 8pm cause it looks good, such bullshit. It can get absurdly hot in the summer, 40c levels, with high humidity, and usually you gotta get your own AC installed unless you're in a super new building (few places have central AC). Also taifun (how do you spell that in English...) can be really intense. Also the mosquitoes are a fucking nightmare. If you're a vegetarian, forget about it lol. Nobody there understands or really cares. You'll only ever be able to eat at foreign restaurants which pretty much restricts you to Taipei or maybe kenting. Hmm other than that it is literally paradise to me. Whatever you want is an hour train ride (for one USD) away. Surfing, hiking, bicycling through mountains, rock climbing, art meetup things, entrepreneurship stuff, hackerspaces, hackers... It's such an amazing country. Oh you do have the constant fear that north Korea or China will nuke you.
- jccooper 8y ago
  "Typhoon" is the silly but fun-looking English spelling.
- Legogris 8y ago
  I agree on most of your points, except this: > If you're a vegetarian, forget about it lol. Nobody there understands or really cares. You'll only ever be able to eat at foreign restaurants which pretty much restricts you to Taipei or maybe kenting. This is NOT the case. Compared to mainland China (where it's like you say), Taiwan didn't have a cultural revolution and therefore more of the local Buddhist culture where veganism is strong. At most places when I say I am vegetarian or vegan they will ask me if I eat onion and garlic (since local Buddhist vegans will often not eat those either). Of course you'll find nothing vegan in a beef-noodle restaurant. It's not like in the west where all restaurants have at least one lacto-ovo-vegetarian option on the menu, but there are still plenty of options. There are cheap local vegan restaurants littered across the city. Just look for the 素 sign. I would also add pollution to the downsides, if you're near or in a big city. Nowhere NEAR as bad as cities in the mainland, but on the bad days you can definitely feel it. Taipei is going to be SUCH a nicer place once most scooters are replaced with electric ones.

pkaye 8y ago

How do the doctors get US school trained yet can afford a lower income? Medical school is quite expensive in the US. Do they get funding from their government to learn abroad?

komali2 8y ago
Sometimes, yea. There's tons of scholarships. Also exchange programs etc. But it's a family oriented culture so oftentimes it's just the family pooling resources. low cost of living doesn't necessarily mean low comparative income, engineers can pull up to 60k USD yearly there which is a huge sum compared to cost of living.
toast0 8y ago
There's a limited number of US residency spots, less than the number of med school graduates. If you don't get a residency there, you gotta do something.

yitchelle 8y ago

Why Taipei? There are cheaper places to be in, eg Bali or Phuket.

komali2 8y ago
The quality of life there isn't as high imo. Taipei has a better funded education and healthcare system. Bali hospitals, first hand experience, don't even come close. Taiwan is essentially a first world country at a discount. Their populace is largely well educated (last I checked at 99% literate) and there are tons of engineers and entrepreneurs for me to engage with. It really is just a different class of country.
- jiveturkey 8y ago
  you make it sound very attractive. can one get by with just english? i wouldn’t mind giving it a try if i were single. i have a side hobby of machining. i will only buy taiwan or german equipment.
  - komali2 8y ago
    Oooh you'd love the hacker culture there, lots of builders. There's a little town devoted to their art, near ntu, can't recall the name. You can get buy with just English but you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't spend your time picking up Mandarin. There's often free classes, plus everyone is friendly. Here, I found some of my old blog posts. The articles are relatively short and go over some of the details: http://taipeitips.blogspot.com http://taipeitips.blogspot.com http://ablate.blogspot.com/2014/05/what-does-it-cost-to-live-in-asia.html http://ablate.blogspot.com/2014/05/what-does-it-cost-to-live...? http://taiwanhikes.blogspot.com http://taiwanhikes.blogspot.com
- yitchelle 8y ago
  Yes, agree with you. I been to Taipei and Bali, and they really are like cheese and chalk, especially when it comes to the supporting infrastructure.

rorykoehler 8y ago

I spent 2 months in Taipei last year. How on earth do you live well on $2k? I'm assuming you are not investing in property or your future at all?

Legogris 8y ago
"Investing in property" is not something I would include in "live well". It sounds like you are assuming everyone should be aspiring for wealth. Regardless, I was based in Taipei for about 1.5 years and if you just adapt your lifestyle it's still definitely doable to even save a significant portion of a $2k salary. Rough calculations below assuming a single person on a conscious but not frugal lifestyle: * Rent: ~10000 NTD per month if you're not sharing (you can still find decent places for cheaper). This will put you central enough to have easy access to everywhere but not smack in Da'an. * Food: ~8000 NTD per month * Transportation: ~4000 NTD per month * Other: ~20000 NTD per month That leaves > 30% of your salary left over. If you regularly splurge on coffee shops and western-style bars and restaurants (all of which are relatively ridiculously pricey) you will have less of course. I am guessing that in 2 months you might still have had a more of a "tourist life-style" (eating out at expensive places, paying much more for accommodation than if you have a proper contract or own your place, going to work at Starbucks, etc). It's kind of ridiculous just how much of a luxury coffee shops really are. One coffee at hipster cafe will be more than twice of a good meal at the delicious vegan buffet next door. Median salary in Taipei is somewhere around 2k USD IIRC. I love Taiwan and only reason I left was relocating for building a team in Europe.
- Chris2048 8y ago
  You might also invest in property to retire (unless you are sure your pension will cover it) and so that you are not as susceptible to fluctuation in rental costs.
- rorykoehler 8y ago
  I was there to take part in MOX accelerator. Company paid for accommodation, MOX provided work space. Day to day was cheap but property is damn expensive for what people earn. Ypu buy property because you have responsibilities towards your family and living hand to mouth and at risk of being booted out of your apartment by a dickhead landlord is not fulfilling your duties as a parent. You can live like a teenager all you like but you will eventually face reality.