Here’s why you should be living in Taiwan
My first trip around Asia was tumultuous, to say the least. Japan was a crazy blur of being swept around in crowds under the neon lights — Korea was a strange patchwork of super-modern and old and decayed — Thailand was like a big Southeast Asian Disneyland — India was next-level chaotic — Taiwan however, just felt like home. It’s culture is more laid-back and accepting than many other east Asian countries, yet it still manages to have the infrastructure, convenience and first-world amenities of it’s more workaholic neighbors.
Taiwan is frequently placed close to the top in surveys of the best expat-friendly countries year after year, and for many who take the trip to this beautiful island it’s easy to see why. Both the government and people are very friendly and open to tourists and people who come here for work. Convenience stores where you can do anything from buying train tickets to a full breakfast are on nearly every block. Delicious and cheap food is almost like a human right here, and you’re never far from a great place to eat. Public transportation is reliable, fast and can get you to any destination on the island in less than one day. Here are some more reasons why expats should definitely consider living here, or at least visiting.
Friendly people
The local people here have a reputation for being extremely welcoming and friendly to outsiders and other cultures, which makes it an exception in east Asia. On my first trip here I was a bit of a mess. Well, it wasn’t more than an hour after I got off the plane here that someone offered to help me find a bus. A few hours after that a stranger let me borrow their phone after an information booth closed on me. Not much later, some friendly college students in the subway tried to help me find an address I was looking for. This all happened in less than a span of a day. Apart from this, as you make more friends here you’ll find how interested they are in learning about different cultures and sharing their own with you. Don’t be surprised if someone invites you for dinner with their family, or even to a celebration like Moon Festival or Chinese New Years!
Food
You’ve probably heard a bit about Taiwanese food, if nothing else at least bubble tea. Cheap, delicious food is available everywhere you look from roadside vendors, shops and of course, Taiwan’s famed night markets. A filling meal of noodles or meat on rice will set you back about NT 100, or $3 US dollars, while a fancier meal set in a restaurant could go for around NT 300, or only $10 US dollars. There are endless staples to try, such as oyster omelets, Taiwanese meatballs, fried chicken cutlets and beef noodles. In the major cities you can also find lots of trendy restaurants and haute cuisine.
Convenience
Things are crazy convenient here. Forget having to bills in the mail or jumping through endless hoops for bureaucratic things like visas and the like. 7–11 and Familymart are the centers of convenience here, and they exist on nearly every other block, sometimes even opposite each other on the same street! You can buy food, clothes, household items, simple ingredients and anything else you would need here. You’re also able to pay any kind of bill you can imagine at the counter. The IBon machine is a little gadget that you can also use to pay for your parking, buy event tickets, check schedules and more. The larger cities have subway routes and busses to get you anywhere quickly. The smaller places just have busses, but they do the trick. Trouble deciding what to eat? Just walk out to any street and there will usually be multiple options.
Medical care
Medical care is something that should be affordable for everyone, and a basic human right. All residents of Taiwan pay a small monthly fee for access to the numerous clinics and hospitals around the island. Just find which kind of doctor you need to see, make a walk-in appointment and you’ll be out in usually less than an hour, it’s as simple as that. The entire fee is usually NT 200 to see the doctor and get medicine, that’s around $5 US dollars. The medical care here is very high quality, and doctors take their job seriously. Even if you’re just a tourist, uninsured medical care is still a lot less than it would be in some countries. During my first week in Taiwan, I unfortunately got appendicitis, uninsured. The total cost was still light years away from what it would be back home.
Cost of Living
If I haven’t mentioned it already, the cost of living in Taiwan is phenomenal. Many expats who come here are overjoyed with the fact that with a normal job, they can still afford to go out and eat, go to fun events with friends and do some traveling on the side. Maybe a reason why Taiwanese are so friendly is that they can enjoy their lives and have fun without next months bills looming over their shoulder.
Nature
This island is filled with amazing natural sights, from national parks to word-of-mouth local waterfall hangout spots. A large mountain range runs through the middle of Taiwan, with all major cities popping up along the coastlines. This mountainous geography gives way to things such as waterfalls, differing ecosystems, mild beaches, natural hot springs, wetlands and amazing hiking. In the span of a single day you could wake up in the morning and go hiking, soak in some hot springs at the top, go back down and enjoy watching the sunset and surfers at the beach.
Culture
Chinese culture is the oldest living culture in the world, considered by many to be the predecessor of all other east Asian cultures. You’ll be able to learn about Chinese food, traditional customs like doing a baibai at a temple, and witness wild things like the ghost month parade. Unlike some other countries, Taiwan has decided to keep Chinese history alive to show the world, instead of destroying it. At the national palace museum in Taipei and Tainan, you can see tons of artifacts and relics of ancient China, with a vast showcase that changes seasonly.
The border has just recently reopened to tourists, so it’s the perfect time to finally come and see what Taiwan has to offer!
