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I am doing this in Taipei right now. The living costs are low and there is a thriving intellectual community, but there is definitely a language barrier. Most

I am doing this in Taipei right now. The living costs are low and there is a thriving intellectual community, but there is definitely a language barrier. Most Taiwanese can speak enough English to be friendly and helpful (which they are), but not enough to have intellectual conversations. If you are willing to tolerate the language barrier and put in the time to find the people who can converse intellectually in English then it's a good option. I can't say how much of an intellectual English-speaking community there is since I haven't explored that. Otherwise, I can't say enough good things about Taipei as a city. You can find a nice apartment downtown for $600/mo or less, the public transportation is amazingly good, and I've never traveled anywhere with better food for the money, provided you're willing to eat Taiwanese, Chinese, or Japanese food most days.

askmike 8y ago
What about Singapore, Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur? The first two are definitely more expensive (KL maybe even being cheaper) but in SG and KL English is the primary language and in HK you'll be fine with it as well.
- maxkwallace 8y ago
  Singapore and Hong Kong are options but they're not inexpensive. Haven't been to KL personally, but from what I understand it's relatively polluted and doesn't have the same quality of life as the other three.
  - askmike 8y ago
    I'm in KL right now and I am actually very surprised by the high quality of living here. You're right it's not on par with SG or HK but closer to those than any other big city in SEA (Bangkok, HCMC, Jakarta, Manila, etc) - while still being quite cheap. (That said most people I speak to don't share my opinion here)
    - maxkwallace 8y ago
      Well in that case, it's awesome that you're enjoying things in KL! Glad to hear another opinion.
      - askmike 8y ago
        Thanks, you too :) To make my store complete (for anyone thinking about coming to KL), here are some precise reasons why I think KL is nice: - Literally everyone speaks English, basically fluent. - Great public transport. - Road traffic is light outside rush hours. - Huge middle class, I don't see any poverty here really (compared to the rest of SEA). A ton of nice condos, very very reasonably priced. - Mix of cultures (lots of Chinese Malay and Indian Malay) -> amazing food - Almost no crime (this is the same in all of SEA)
- the_clarence 8y ago
  Hk is too expensive and stressful
szopa 8y ago
I've been to Taipei, and the language barrier was quite horrible. People speaking English seemed to be the exception, not the norm – I'd never appreciated Google Translate as much as I did in Taiwan. And a lot of things work quite a bit differently than in the West – so a few times I had to be borderline rude to trigger someone enough to attempt to explain stuff to me in English instead of just shooing me away.
- the_clarence 8y ago
  It’s better than a lot of places though. If you want an english friendly country in Asia it’s going to be expensive (hk, singapore, tokyo, etc.)
  - askmike 8y ago
    While in Tokyo I was not impressed with my ability to communicate in English. If you don't learn Japanese your options are very limited IMO.
    - TulliusCicero 8y ago
      Yeah, English ability in Japan is really limited overall. My mom (who's a Japanese national) was surprised/disappointed at my cousins' English ability after taking six years of English classes (the norm, I think). From what I understand, part of it is just English being vastly different from Japanese, and the other part is the Japanese school system being really terrible at language teaching.
    - magicbuzz 8y ago
      Agreed. For a long termer, you need to make a 5-6 month full time investment in learning the language. From then on, being immersed means you’re gradually improving and your options and understanding of the everyday expands considerably.
    - epynonymous 8y ago
      very much agree, lived in tokyo for 1 year, i even had a private japanese tutor, but could hardly even order stuff from mcds, sure you could point to the pictures, but the follow up questions would be something along the lines of do you want this as part of a set or individually ordered, would you like it super sized, and/or would you like to swap coke for sprite or something along those lines. the funny thing is that i found out a lot of chinese students worked those menial jobs, so i could use mandarin to order. the machines were the best, just follow the pictures. i love japan in general, had a lot of friends luckily that spoke great english, but the cost of living for me was 1700 usd per month (this was back in 2006, of course i lived in high flying shinjuku), and the english barrier was difficult to get over. probably if i was a bit younger and didn't need to seriously advance my career, i would have stuck it out and learned the language. you could probably find a decent apartment for 800-1200 usd, not sure what the rate is now. i do think the high-tech scene is good in tokyo, the food awesome, the culture one of a kind, i just wasn't patient enough to learn the language.
hnzix 8y ago
How concerned are the locals about the potential of getting "harmonized" by mainland China? I wouldn't want to be there if that goes down.
- the_clarence 8y ago
  0 chance
- maxkwallace 8y ago
  Generally very concerned, but it depends on who you talk to. It's extremely, extremely unlikely China would take any sort of violent military action to bring this about. More likely to continue be a long process of exerting geopolitical pressure over decades.
the_clarence 8y ago
I have friends doing the expat life in Taipei, I +1 this. Everything is super cheap and you pretty much have everything a developed city has.
jaynetics 8y ago
I travel a lot, and the top 3 or so interesting conversations I had with locals were in Taipei. It is also clean, tolerant, laid-back, super bike-friendly, and has some great nightlife as well as outstanding natural scenery nearby. On the other hand, if you live there, it might be necessary to learn Chinese if you don't want to feel like you're living in a bubble in the long run.
restalis 8y ago
Taiwan has quite a lot of (hardware) tech companies. I'm curious, how much exposure by being there can one get from that fact? Is it like an open ecosystem or is it more like a cluster of (Chinese) forbidden cities leaving you wonder about them from outside?

askmike 8y ago

What about Singapore, Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur? The first two are definitely more expensive (KL maybe even being cheaper) but in SG and KL English is the primary language and in HK you'll be fine with it as well.

maxkwallace 8y ago
Singapore and Hong Kong are options but they're not inexpensive. Haven't been to KL personally, but from what I understand it's relatively polluted and doesn't have the same quality of life as the other three.
- askmike 8y ago
  I'm in KL right now and I am actually very surprised by the high quality of living here. You're right it's not on par with SG or HK but closer to those than any other big city in SEA (Bangkok, HCMC, Jakarta, Manila, etc) - while still being quite cheap. (That said most people I speak to don't share my opinion here)
  - maxkwallace 8y ago
    Well in that case, it's awesome that you're enjoying things in KL! Glad to hear another opinion.
    - askmike 8y ago
      Thanks, you too :) To make my store complete (for anyone thinking about coming to KL), here are some precise reasons why I think KL is nice: - Literally everyone speaks English, basically fluent. - Great public transport. - Road traffic is light outside rush hours. - Huge middle class, I don't see any poverty here really (compared to the rest of SEA). A ton of nice condos, very very reasonably priced. - Mix of cultures (lots of Chinese Malay and Indian Malay) -> amazing food - Almost no crime (this is the same in all of SEA)
the_clarence 8y ago
Hk is too expensive and stressful

szopa 8y ago

I've been to Taipei, and the language barrier was quite horrible. People speaking English seemed to be the exception, not the norm – I'd never appreciated Google Translate as much as I did in Taiwan. And a lot of things work quite a bit differently than in the West – so a few times I had to be borderline rude to trigger someone enough to attempt to explain stuff to me in English instead of just shooing me away.

the_clarence 8y ago
It’s better than a lot of places though. If you want an english friendly country in Asia it’s going to be expensive (hk, singapore, tokyo, etc.)
- askmike 8y ago
  While in Tokyo I was not impressed with my ability to communicate in English. If you don't learn Japanese your options are very limited IMO.
  - TulliusCicero 8y ago
    Yeah, English ability in Japan is really limited overall. My mom (who's a Japanese national) was surprised/disappointed at my cousins' English ability after taking six years of English classes (the norm, I think). From what I understand, part of it is just English being vastly different from Japanese, and the other part is the Japanese school system being really terrible at language teaching.
  - magicbuzz 8y ago
    Agreed. For a long termer, you need to make a 5-6 month full time investment in learning the language. From then on, being immersed means you’re gradually improving and your options and understanding of the everyday expands considerably.
  - epynonymous 8y ago
    very much agree, lived in tokyo for 1 year, i even had a private japanese tutor, but could hardly even order stuff from mcds, sure you could point to the pictures, but the follow up questions would be something along the lines of do you want this as part of a set or individually ordered, would you like it super sized, and/or would you like to swap coke for sprite or something along those lines. the funny thing is that i found out a lot of chinese students worked those menial jobs, so i could use mandarin to order. the machines were the best, just follow the pictures. i love japan in general, had a lot of friends luckily that spoke great english, but the cost of living for me was 1700 usd per month (this was back in 2006, of course i lived in high flying shinjuku), and the english barrier was difficult to get over. probably if i was a bit younger and didn't need to seriously advance my career, i would have stuck it out and learned the language. you could probably find a decent apartment for 800-1200 usd, not sure what the rate is now. i do think the high-tech scene is good in tokyo, the food awesome, the culture one of a kind, i just wasn't patient enough to learn the language.

hnzix 8y ago

How concerned are the locals about the potential of getting "harmonized" by mainland China? I wouldn't want to be there if that goes down.

the_clarence 8y ago
0 chance
maxkwallace 8y ago
Generally very concerned, but it depends on who you talk to. It's extremely, extremely unlikely China would take any sort of violent military action to bring this about. More likely to continue be a long process of exerting geopolitical pressure over decades.

the_clarence 8y ago

I have friends doing the expat life in Taipei, I +1 this. Everything is super cheap and you pretty much have everything a developed city has.

jaynetics 8y ago

I travel a lot, and the top 3 or so interesting conversations I had with locals were in Taipei. It is also clean, tolerant, laid-back, super bike-friendly, and has some great nightlife as well as outstanding natural scenery nearby. On the other hand, if you live there, it might be necessary to learn Chinese if you don't want to feel like you're living in a bubble in the long run.

restalis 8y ago

Taiwan has quite a lot of (hardware) tech companies. I'm curious, how much exposure by being there can one get from that fact? Is it like an open ecosystem or is it more like a cluster of (Chinese) forbidden cities leaving you wonder about them from outside?