3 ms·

Wow. What are the downsides?

by croshan 8y ago

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.

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.