Job Discussion Forums

[Seth]

What's the lowdown on Chiayi? I'm aware of the Aussie who was killed/died, so I don't need to know about that. Is it a bearable place to live? I'm not too big on nightlife, just a place to have a few beers every weekend. I've had an offer from an English/Japanese school in the city center.

[Okami]

Chiayi is kind of a backwater. A lot of my co-teachers' and students' families migrated from Chiayi to Taipei many years ago. There is a pub popular with expats. If you go, You should start networking from there. I imagine it has a lot of industry. I've never been there, but I've heard of it. They recently busted a city councilman for the largest fraud ring in Taiwan's history. A corrupt city councilman is pretty standard for Taiwan and "honest Taiwanese city council member" seems very much like an oxymoron.

Good luck,
Okami

[EOD]

I would buy a generous insurance policy before working and living there.

[Egas]

Rubbish! I lived in Chaiyi for two years, and it is perfectly safe, unless you count the few dozen people a week you see sprawled out on public roads after scooter accidents. The mobsters live in their own seedy little worlds. The bulk of Chaiyi people are very friendly, but the place is rather quiet.

[EOD]

There has also been a very serous train wreck there, in which an American was killed as well as a few cases of SARS. I was considering going down and having a look for myself. I think I will wait until this SARs thing has blown over, all the same.

[surrealia]

There is a page on living in Chiayi in English you can find at:

Living in Chiayi

You also might want to take a look at:

F.Y.I. South