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Taipei, Taiwan The most underrated city/country in Asia : - Chill and relax - Awesome people, polite and clean - Best place in the world to work from cafes.
by eric_khun 6y ago
Taipei, Taiwan The most underrated city/country in Asia :
- Chill and relax
- Awesome people, polite and clean
- Best place in the world to work from cafes. Many cafes shops welcome people who works for long hours. They also care about cafe ;) I actually prefer to work from cafes than co-working here
- Surrounded by nature, mountain, sea, river are within 45minutes reach. Hundred of trails around Taipei.
- Metro / Bus system is top notch, no car needed, it's flat so you can bike everywhere easily. The bike sharing (uBike) is everywhere. I use it daily.
- People are genuinely kind, friendly, curious. Did I mentioned people 2 times? They deserve a 3rd mentioned, they really are.
- Visa is easy to get if you are employed (aka not freelancing), and earn more than usd5.5k/month, or work in a "trendy" field, you can get the "gold card" visa for 3 years that comes with a work visa, that is not attached to any company! Is any other country has such a perk to attract talent? I'm not aware of.
- Great healthcare (and the best best country that managed the coronavirus)
- LGBT friendly
- Warm (but humid)
- Convenient , 24/7 convenience stores, within 2 minutes walk from everywhere, really often, 2 convenience stores face each other (no kidding)
- Awesome international food scene , you can find any western food , and local food is amazing. Japanese food is amazing, as good as in Japan, but cheaper (it's an old japanese colony, and the favorite destination of japanese people)
- It's a better China (I lived in China for 4 years)
Cons:
- It is so relax / chill that it somehow bugs me. I sometimes worry to become "soft", staying here bc it's too convenenient
- Wish the startup / tech scene was better
ps: if you live in Taipei hit me up :)
pps: People often think Taiwan is China, but it's not. It has a totally different vibe and Taiwanese has a totally different personality. The only thing in common is the language
- ejflick 6y agoLooked a bit into gold card recently. Do you currently have it and are you working remotely?
- eric_khun 6y agoYes I do have it. and working remotely for few years now
- ejflick 6y agoIs your company also located in Taiwan? I've been studying Mandarin here for a while after being a software engineer for a few years. Been thinking about what I'm gonna do once I feel comfortable in the language. Working remotely would be great if I could pull it off.
- baby 6y agohe works for Buffer.
- woutr_be 6y agoFor the gold card, do you not need to be employed by a local company? If not, that's a pretty good deal.
- eric_khun 6y agoIf you apply via salary, you need to be employed by any company. Freelancing income doesn't count. You need to justify it with employment letter, and tax return. The other way is to qualify for any of their "talent" needs. Blockchain, VR, IA, and have proof it it (publication, work, projects). They have 8 categories of people that can qualify: https://foreigntalentact.ndc.gov.tw/en/cp.aspx?n=128B875DE9CBEBE3&s=0FCDB188C74F69A0 https://foreigntalentact.ndc.gov.tw/en/cp.aspx?n=128B875DE9C...
- woutr_be 6y agoGreat, just reading up on it. I also have permanent residency in HK, so might be able to do it via that route as well. Just keeping my options open at the moment.
- DXA9zE 6y agoHopefully it's not exploited too much, but yes Taiwan is basically perfect place to live with reasonable comfort on the cheap. I don't think you mentioned gyms. The Taiwanese are an oddly sports-oriented people. Throughout asia I can't think of an equal in terms of availability of cheap gyms. Public sports complexes are also sometimes good enough (but I've also found myself working out in a cramped room with a bunch of senior citizens on occasion :)). I think you also didn't mention proximity to other countries for visiting. It's a very good location, and EVA is one of my favorite airlines. Edit: Note that the things that make Taiwan great for living also, almost by default make it a "boring" country to some types of people. #1 for remote work possibly, definitely not #1 for thrill seeking, nightlife-type interests.
- eric_khun 6y agoSpot on, love the gyms here. They have MANY decent gyms where you pay by the hour, and sometimes by the minutes without any membership. And really cheap, about usd 1,5 per hour . Nice point on being one of the hub for flying in Asia. It's connected to everywhere within 1 or 2 hours reach(Philipine,China,Japan,Korea, SG etc...)
- antigirl 6y agoThis is crazy, Virgin gym in Bangkok is almost £100/$121 per month
- Pandabob 6y agoI've heard great things about Taiwan and Ben Thompson of Stratechery often talks about living in Taipei. What I'm wondering is how worried are the people of Taiwan about China encumbering on their sovereignty in the near to mid future? Or is this something that people over there do not give too much thought to in their day to day lives?
- polymorph1sm 6y agoI am studying master in Taiwan. Chill, cafe, convenience stores are certainly the best three things I loved about. Btw transportation is only top notched in Taipei, so if you are free you should take some time to get a scooter license.
- baby 6y agoI've been thinking about moving to Taipei since I visited you. I wish I could go back to China but 1. pollution and 2. censorship are real deal breakers. On the other hand I'm wondering about how it compares to some cities in Thailand (ChiangMai) or even Korea.
- Markoff 6y agoway more expensive COL than Thailand, but still cheaper than China/Korea
- stubish 6y agoThailand has become very difficult to stay in over the last decade. Unless you marry a Thai or are employed by a Thai company, you are limited to 60(-90) day tourist visas, which are only available from countries a long haul flight away. Expect lots of Visa hassles and day long trips to immigration to extend your 60 day visa to 90 days. Chiang Mai has terrible pollution every year Oct-Nov due to burning crop residue. It affects all of Thailand and neighboring countries, but Chiang Mai and Northern Thailand gets it particularly bad to the point of needing smoke masks. You might be better off looking at Hua Hin if you don't mind trading mountains and cooler climate for a beach.
- baby 6y agoThanks for the advice! I’ll look into it. I wouldn’t be against staying 2-3 months in different places in Asia
- camgunz 6y agoI visited Taiwan last year and can confirm. It's a beautiful, modern place full of absolutely super nice people. The stories are true.
- qiguai 6y agoYes. In Taiwan for 2 years now from SF and it's amazing. I like to visit around Asia but this is most livable by far. Plus it's really underated so it's a bit under the radar which I think is a good kpi for remote centric work. Agreed on cons, it's so good it softens you which is an overindulgence if efficiency problem. Agreed startup scene is hurting. Ironically amazing for hiring and even in high tech. Taida is a serious school and companies like TSMC are here so serious engineering gets done. Ifni was in hardware I'd look to here as a black sheep vs shenzen. Say hi if in Taipei! Not to mention zero new local cases a month now! Enjoying restaurants and life daily :). Shhh don't share about Taiwan
- fxtentacle 6y agolong-term visa in Taiwan can be challenging unless you have a local employer
- moltar 6y agoBeef noodle soup yummm
- eric_khun 6y agoFor the Taiwan Gold Card Visa that gives you the right to stay and Work in Taiwan for up to 3 years , you can find a comprehensive list of Questions and Answers on https://taiwangoldcard.com https://taiwangoldcard.com