Job Discussion Forums

[leemillar]

I'm heading to Taiwan in 5 months, and I'm trying to pick a city to live and teach in. There doesn't seem to be too much information about cities outside Taipei. If you've lived in Taiwan before, I'd appreciate some recommendations.

Here are my priorities:
- a medium sized city with some nightlife
- reasonably good employment opportunities
- cheaper cost of living
- a beautiful city with a lot of culture and not much pollution is a bonus

Thanks for your help.

[Aristotle]

Their simply is no place like you describe, in Taiwan. Hualien almost fits, but as far as employment goes, hard to come by. Try F u k u o k a (sorry the, auto editor has a few bugs) in Kyushu, Japan. Has all the attributes you describe and a lot more.
Good Luck,
A.

[betelnutz]

I would like to recommend Tainan. Tainan most all of your criteria, although it's not really beautiful (I don't think any of the cities are!), and the work situation, while not the worst, is not as good as in Taipei. However, the cost of living is lower, and there is some nightlife.

Here's a helpful page about Tainan::

http://www.geocities.com/allhou/tainanscene.htm

[chi-chi]

Come on guys, that picture looks better than a lot of places in Korea...If you're currently living in Korea, does Taiwan actually look that bad once you go there?

[Aristotle]

I believe Sunpower was making an attempt at sarcasm.
A.

[chi-chi]

Sunpower,
Where were those pictures taken?
Chi-Chi

[ImaniOU]

I have worked in downtown Taipei for nearly two years, but I have lived in the outlying areas for the whole time I have been here...first in Xindian, and currently in Muzha in the mountains. You cannot get away from the pollution...you'll note that as you cross over the brown clouds that hang over Taiwan, but Kaohsiung is probably one of the worst places to live as far as pollution goes. I step off the bus or train in Kaohsiung and I can feel an asthma attack. Hualien is beautiful, but there's not much there as far as things to do and no matter how great Taroko Gorge is, you can only do it so many times before it gets old. Taichung supposedly has the best weather and it's the third largest city, but the corruption, mainly due to it being the largest concentration of Taiwanese thugs and gangsters makes it a rather unpleasant place to be and my Taiwanese friends back in the US told me that of the three it was the one to be avoided at all costs. I haven't been to Tainan so I can't comment on it. I say all in all, Taipei is the best place to live when you first get here as there are a lot more teaching opportunities here and then after your feet have been appropriately soaked, then move to a different place if you wish. I would highly recommend living outside of the main city, though, when you first come in because being in the middle of everything may amplify any culture shock you might experience. Plus the air's better and the rent's cheaper up here in the mountains.

[52inTaipei]

If you rused to living in the Mountains, then well you might find that the air is not as clean as it could be. However if you have ever been in any city in the USA that has a population of almost 8 million, then you would find that Taipei has 1. Wonderfully Clean Air, 2. Cleaner streets than ANY city in the States. 3. They collect Garbage here 3 times a day ! Name a city in the Us that does that? 4. clean all of the streets each and every day. 5. Have trash containers most everywhere for trash, and people use them. 6. Have even ashtrays in some areas. 7. Safety so good merchants have continious sidewalk sales of things like digital cameras and not attend the table that is out of their sight, no one would think of stealing one of them. It's the nicest city I have ever found in all of Asia, I should know, I have seen most of them in the ten years I have spent in this part of the world... Now there's my 2 Cents ! Lots of Jobs this time of year too

[Sunpower]

The photos that you saw earlier here were of Fukuoka, Japan.

[leemillar]

Thanks for the tips guys, if there are more, keep them coming. Tainan and Taichung sound most appealing so far. My home (Vancouver, CAN) is probably one of the cleaner and most beautiful cities of North America, so I'm a little worried about the pollution, but will suffer through it for other benefits.

[chi-chi]

So do you have any pictures of Taiwan? That's what we were asking about. I already know that Japan is beautiful (even though I had not seen those specific areas of it before that were in the pictures.)

[Sunpower]

Chi-Chi:

You might be able to see some photos of both Taiwan and Japan, as well as Thailand, here: http://www.pbase.com/sunpower

Yrs.

[chi-chi]

Thanks!
Liked the photos.
I'm sorry people, I still say that Taiwan looks better (now seeing some good photos.)
I hear people talk of how hard it is to dodge scooters in Taiwan-you have to do that here in SK too, but it seems that Taipei has much wider roads not cluttered up with crap like here.

[Sunpower]

Nice warm climate also - walked around in shorts and a t-shirt today!!

[Aristotle]

The auto editor needs a little work. The nice thing about F u k u o k a is the proximity to the rest of South East Asia. It is also a two hours trip from the 1000 islands. A nature reserve close to Saseboe.