The Taiwan Megathread 2.0: Vacations, Jobs, EarthquaJEREMYLINJEREMYLINJEREM

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > The Taiwan Megathread 2.0: Vacations, Jobs, EarthquaJEREMYLINJEREMYLINJEREM

«‹›15 »

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

HappyHelmet posted:

Those are usually Betel nut stands, and many times the girls will be wearing lingerie to attract customers. Its kinda creepy, but whatever works I guess.

Betel nut girls; it's a thing. You can probably find all sorts of articles discussing the phenomenon by googling it.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2012 04:48

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 3, 2024 02:28

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

On drugs, you may want to add "if you want them, don't bring them yourself"; getting caught smuggling is not a happy place.

Also, other than to work and to visit, lots of people visit Taiwan as a place to study Chinese either through a university, or through a language school like TLI. You can learn Chinese in a country that's less scary than China depending on your views, though you'll be learning Traditional Chinese characters(used generally everywhere but China to a degree) vs Simplified Chinese characters(used in China, and China is big), though it's recommended that if you want to be able to learn both scripts or really get into learning Chinese, starting with Traditional Chinese is the way to go.

For technical writing, generally you'll need both a university degree and at least 2 years of work in an at least semi-related field; it's not that it's necessarily a qualification, it's more that it's what you'll need labor law-wise when getting a work permit(your company will do most of the legwork for this though, thankfully). Otherwise, you'll need something like 5 years and a high school diploma or a PhD and no work experience. I don't know how the rules work if you've already been working in-country for a while(like for teaching). Additionally, if you're interested in learning Chinese fast, I would not recommend technical writing as it's a jobby job with a schedule that will make it very difficult or stressful to try to schedule formal classes. I can post more on this side of things(non-teaching work) whenever I feel :effort:

, though if you're actually, genuinely looking for a tech writing job like now-ish, PM me.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2012 06:59

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

RocknRollaAyatollah posted:

It should be noted as well that the Taiwan accent, which is like the Fujian accent, is awesome. I loved talking to people because they were always clear, reasonably paced, and had good pronunciation. It's almost like textbook Mandarin.

Easy guide: the Taiwanese accent as I know it doesn't have/rarely has the "-er" curling of words, and word choice tends to avoid it; "where" is usually nǎlǐ instead of nǎr, and nǎr isn't curled nearly as much as with the Beijing accent. Also, the Taiwanese accent isn't as strong/sing-songy on the tones as the Beijing accent.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2012 09:26

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

HappyHelmet posted:

I see your point though, I'll specify that when I say Taiwanese food gets boring after a while I mean specifically "food from Taiwan."

G-pie all day, erry day.

HappyHelmet posted:

I don't really have time right now, but I will correct those hopefully this week. The grammar nazi's in the thread will have to ignore it for now.

You fucker.

# ¿ Mar 6, 2012 06:36

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

Haraksha posted:

Like everything in life, it will probably be far more disappointing than the way I described it. However, if you want to get loving trashed on whiskey or beer with the possibility of a guy spending half an hour demanding that you dance like Michael Jackson, then it's not a terrible bar.

I bet you got asked because you're white.

Ravendas posted:

Anything in the middle of Taipei near an MRT with 4 rooms (mainroom, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen) will cost at least 14,000 a month. We've been looking around for a new apartment, but nothing so far is better and cheaper than the apartment I've got now.

I am married, so it's not me alone in here. My first apartment was in Ximen Ding, a studio single room deal with a bathroom in a dirty alley for $9,500.

This sounds about right, and actually not bad considering you're specifying that it's for 4 rooms and near an MRT station. If that's somehow inside Taipei City, that's a loving steal.

# ¿ Mar 6, 2012 08:05

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

Haraksha posted:

Oh, I'm totally aware of all of that. These are terrible, awful bars. I think the reason they were even suggested is because of how bottom rung they are for places to go out to. I think we were picking places ironically.

If we really want to get plastered, then there are definitely more appropriate places for it. But I think the goal was to get as drunk as possible around people who would prefer that we weren't anywhere near them.

Well that's easy; just buy some Tunnel 88 and drink in a church.

# ¿ Mar 7, 2012 05:42

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

Engineer requirements(which tech writing falls into) are 4-year university degree + 2 years experience in a related field, high school diploma + 5 years experience in a related field(not 100% sure on this one), or a PhD + who cares years experience in a related field, last I remember. The "related field" could be something like tech support or repair, or maybe a newspaper job; a lot of different jobs could possibly count as related experience so long as the position wasn't something like "sandwich artist".

^^^ For the companies I worked with so far, there is no translation; English is the source language for documentation, and any translation comes from that document, including Chinese.

# ¿ Mar 7, 2012 18:51

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

OrangeGuy posted:

What about like buying a guitar, amp, computer parts to build a desktop PC, DSLR cameras, and the like? Having studied in a rural college town campus, I am just used to mainly relying on Amazon and NewEgg to deliver my crap to me.

(assuming you mean Taipei)
Guitar stuff; I think there's a nice shop called Galaxy Guitars or something around Shandao MRT station-ish, and there are other ships besides.

Computer parts: the Guanghua digital plaza (aka Guanghua market) and nearby shops at Bade/Civic will do great, Nova at Taipei Main Station if you're lazy.

Cameras: Hankou Street neat Taipei Main Station has a lot of great shops(edit: some of those places will prey on foreigners, I'd recommend the shop with tons of used and old cameras in their window, they're pretty on the level and even have darkroom supplies god I miss Ilford), though their prices may be higher. There's some place near Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT on the 3rd or 4th floor of some building that normally advertises on yahoo auctions that isn't bad.

All this said, expect to pay a bit more than you would in the states on average. (my theory is that the US has massive competition through the internet that drives prices down) :saddowns:

There's also PC Home, which is definitely more than market price usually, but they 1) deliver, 2) have a 7 day return policy that includes opened items and "I don't like it" returns, 3) will take care of return shipping.

duckfarts fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Mar 8, 2012

# ¿ Mar 8, 2012 17:37

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

Haraksha posted:

Only in this thread could a post like that be taken completely at face value.

So, exactly what is a "show girl"? Are we talking girls that hold up products at Samsung events, or... the other kind?

The first one.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2012 08:27

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

Haraksha posted:

Some of them can speak English? I didn't realize talking was in their job description at all. I thought they were just there to draw customers over but they had trained sales reps on hand to actually talk about the products.

Maybe this will blow your mind, but the showgirls that make the big bucks are the ones that can talk about the products.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2012 16:04

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

open24hours posted:

I was looking at the 18000( or a bit more for short term) ones, but I'm open to suggestions.

I'd start your standards at 10,000, then maaaaaaybe up to 15,000 if you need wiggle room. An 18k place had better be pretty baller for one person only. I can't speak for short term stuff though.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2012 08:21

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

TetsuoTW posted:

As far as I'm aware, you only need a full FBI background check for getting permanent residency. I don't know about Americans, but I know as a New Zealander I've never had to produce a criminal background check for a normal ARC.

This is accurate for Americans, and it's an amazing pain in the rear end because it needs to be notarized, translated, and notarized again.

E: vvv yeah, this is part of why I'm being lazy about getting around to it myself

duckfarts fucked around with this message at 03:29 on Mar 16, 2012

# ¿ Mar 16, 2012 01:47

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

Haraksha posted:

I liked when they asked me what I'd do if I needed to buy toilet paper and couldn't find any. There's basically no safer answers than, "I'm willing to be a clown for free on the weekends."

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo you're an assclown?

# ¿ Mar 22, 2012 08:14

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

RocknRollaAyatollah posted:

In Taiwan, do they do the thing where you work a weekend to "make up" for a three day holiday?

Yes, though it depends on the company.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2012 04:56

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

TetsuoTW posted:

Wait people actually get paid time off here?

# ¿ Mar 30, 2012 11:52

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

Spanish Matlock posted:

Well poo poo. Guess it's plum rains time. Thought it was extra rainy today. Yeah, that means it'll pretty much piss down for the next month or so I'd suspect. Happens every spring. It's been an unusually dry March, so I guess it'll be a lovely April.

On the other hand, weather forecasts other than "let's look out the window" tend to be pretty inaccurate, so there can be nice days mixed in.

# ¿ Apr 5, 2012 18:09

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

HappyHelmet posted:

Its all about hitting up the night markets for lovely t-shirts with hilariously bad English/weird graphics that fall apart after a couple washes.

Though you can also get all the lovely, poorly made One Piece "oriented" shirts you could ever want, you can get lucky and find some pretty awesome stuff; I found a classy(yes, really!) Keroro baseball-style T-shirt that was pretty goddamn awesome for 100NT, and I still have a thick-ish(which is why I don't wear it often) yellow T-shirt with a felt checkerboard pattern that's cut so it makes out an image of Bruce Lee with the text "Bruce Lee is my homeboy". I sincerely regret not picking up a very poorly OCR'd(how most of the English is awful) tee that had Black Flag's Police Story cover on it; I didn't get it because it was salmon colored, but wow, should've looked past that. I'll put up a photo if I can find it somehow.

vvv: salmon != pink in this case

duckfarts fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Apr 12, 2012

# ¿ Apr 11, 2012 17:17

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

HappyHelmet posted:

haha, indeed.

Also, oh god... kaoliung night is never a good idea ~~(the next morning)~~.

# ¿ Apr 14, 2012 06:10

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

Haraksha posted:

Taiwanese people don't seem to drink with the frequency of other Asian countries or Americans, but good god when they drink it's like a marathon to puke town. The local bar's urinal is stained with goon vomit (you know who you are) and no one minds. They only drink beer by downing small cups of it rather than casually sipping it and everyone is on your rear end to drink as many cupfuls in a row as you can. There's a peer pressure mentality that I rarely see outside of college parties. Few things seem to make guys happier than to watch you collapse in the booth while the party rages on around you.

In short, I love these people and I love this country.

Basic rundown as I know it:

Most drinking is beer, whiskey is also common, sake/kaoliang/other hard liquor works too
Beer is poured from medium sized bottles(not your standard beer bottle, not the ginormo ones either) into small glasses, about 3/4 to full (equates to about a half cup or more).
When you drink, you drink all of it, and it promptly gets refilled either by you or another. Helping fill others' glasses is polite and encouraged, and should be done for people of "more importance" (boss, guest, the guy picking up the check, etc)

Exception: if you're drinking whiskey, it's fine to sip and not drink an entire glass. This isn't to say you may not be requested/pressured to do so.

Exception: if the place only has large glasses or mugs or something like that, then you're expected to drink the same amount or more than the other guy. Finishing the glass is optional, or used to try and pressure the other guy into finishing his.
You never drink by yourself; you always toast another guy to drink with you. The idea is that if you drink by yourself, why are you even out it's like you have no friends to drink with you aren't we your friends c'mon don't be like that, it's not that serious but something along those lines.
When toasting others, you generally either drink with one person or everybody, but not trying to get multiple specific people to drink with you(it's not fair); if you want that, you drink with them one at a time.
Use these above rules to try and get people drunk, possibly with friends ganging up on a specific person(s)(usually person of importance) to get them shitrocked and make them time travel

The above rules don't just apply to drinking at a restaurant/bar/club/hole in the wall, they can also apply in parts to weiya(company end of year parties) parties and wedding banquets(well, perhaps with less "trying to get people drunk" at some events, but no wait it still happens).

Random side note: when clinking glasses, you generally clink with the lip of your glass slightly below theirs - don't clink with the lip above the other person's glass, and don't tap the bottom of your glass to the top of theirs; the clink height is like saying "you're above me/below me", and you should tend towards being humble.

VVV: as long as the level is reasonably close, it's not a big deal, also it's usually the person who first moves their glass to drink that'll do it anyway. Basically, the thing to avoid is tapping the bottom of your glass to the top of theirs. (also not a big deal if you're drinking with people you know and/or non-assholes)

duckfarts fucked around with this message at 10:18 on Apr 14, 2012

# ¿ Apr 14, 2012 08:45

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

thegoat posted:

Do you have a 4 year degree in something? A 2 year diploma and a tefl/tesol certificate? You qualify.

If you do not have either of these, are you married to a Taiwanese woman or man?

If the answer is yes to one of these three you qualify. Otherwise you don't.

...unless you have a lot of directly relevant experience, like 7 years or so I believe.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2012 05:05

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

PaoFerro posted:

I've only read the OP saying that Taiwan isn't a great place for a vacation but I thought I'd come grab some information off people if they can help!

I'm from Australia, serial traveller and I'm looking for another trip, maybe only for two weeks or so before Christmas (university holidays). I understand this probably works out favourably for more comfortable temperatures in Taiwan. The reason I'm thinking of going to Taiwan is quite simply I've been almost everywhere else in South-East and East Asia (some countries on several occasions) and I want to add another country to my list of experiences. It's not a massive flight away so I figured I'd see if it can keep me entertained. I want to travel again but to be honest I can't be hosed doing a 24 hour return journey to somewhere else, I only just did that a few months ago and I'm sick of it for a year or two.

I'm really into hiking, peace and culture, especially in East Asian nations. I really loved Japan, China and Hong Kong for these reasons. Is Taiwan similar in experience opportunity? How much would I expect to spend in $US per day for budget travel? I like the idea that the country has efficient rail transport, it makes travel in East Asia and Europe so much more enjoyable. Hopefully it's the same in Taiwan? Obviously I can't speak the language, how much of an issue is this? Is it ok to play charades and be obnoxious or should I try to learn some of the language?

So there it is. Is Taiwan worth my time and money?

Taiwan can be pretty cool for hiking and naturey poo poo; the bits that immediately come to mind are poking around in Alishan, seeing the sun rise (or looking at the stars) on Yangmingshan, Taroko Gorge in Hualien, some old railway stuff somewhere, and you can take the Maokong gondola to a tea area. There's a bunch of cool temples in Taipei, as well as some giant ones around Taizhong and Pingdong I think, and night markets are rad. Getting around should be way cheaper than Japan, though I don't have a lot of numbers I can think of. I do know that the longest high speed rail ticket you can get is $50USD, and that's from Taipei to Zuoying(in Kaohsiung), and all other tickets should be cheaper than that, particularly for normal trains for going to the east 'n stuff. If you're just talking about the MRT(subway), that's really cheap, with most rides being less than $1, and the longest one being $2, and that's going a looooooong way(like an hour's ride). Buses are stupid cheap.

Other than that, Taiwan's reasonably English friendly and you can get away without knowing Chinese, moreso in the north than in the south, and of course more in scenic/tourism areas. Generally, the prevailing opinion/feeling is that Taiwan is really friendly, so as long as you're not a dick^*, people are generally helpful(it's a "friendly helpful people at 7-11" vs "rude soulless people at 7-11" place). Last, Taiwan's pretty safe, and it's hard to think of places "you shouldn't be in".
_{* OK, sometimes you may need to be a dick}

# ¿ Apr 18, 2012 11:40

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

Ravendas posted:

My wife's coworkers eat lunchboxes twice a day, every day, forever. When we told them we went to Tasty the other day (500nt/person, steak + a ton of courses place), they just divided it out and said "That's like the cost of 8 meals for each of us!!! Why would you ever do that!!!"

I do however like the Taiwanese black pepper steak for ~200nt. Noodles, egg, random veggies with a steak on top, with the sizzling black plate it's served on. UGH so good and well priced.

FYI: That's kinda high priced, probably from being in a convenient location or having good service or quality; standard is something like 150ish(see most food courts), night markets sometimes have 120 or 100NT ones, includes fill it yourself tea if you like that kind of thing.

GoutPatrol posted:

I can get (almost) the same thing in a box for 60NT.

Does your box sizzle? Hmmm?
_{_{on second thought don't answer that}}

# ¿ Apr 19, 2012 06:26

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

thegoat posted:

It should also be mentioned that Tasty is disgusting. You couldn't pay me 500nt to eat a steak there

Never been there myself, though I confuse it with "Eat Here" or "Eat Free" or wherever that Goon Meat was at. I take it Tasty is like Noble Steak House in that it's pretty lousy/kinda ghetto?
_{also you could totally pay me 500NT to eat there, PM me if you're interested}

# ¿ Apr 19, 2012 07:32

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

USDA Choice posted:

I would suspect it'll be more than 3 hours. At 30 pages that's 5 minutes a page to do both the reading and revising. In addition you'll want to check your work either page-by-page or at the end. More pages would only increase the pace. I'd call it 5 hours in all, maybe with some stipulation for more if the writing is really crappy. If the writing is already good though I doubt it'd be more taxing than kindergarten.

Totally unrelated: 15,000 words just to get into a school? Will admissions counselors even read that?

For something that long, chances are that it'd be more appropriate chopped and condensed down to a focused 7500 words of non-Engrish. All of this can be way better than the :effort:

a lot of kids may put in.

# ¿ Apr 20, 2012 15:37

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

dtb posted:

Does anyone have any experience with taking evening classes to learn Mandarin in Taipei?
A friend recommended the Taipei Language Institute (http://www.tli.com.tw/). I'm looking for something while I'm there for maybe 3 months. Right now I speak no Mandarin...

TLI and Shida are both recommended for "no seriously I want to learn Chinese".

Haraksha posted:

Has anyone ever heard of a teacher having to buy their own classroom supplies like whiteboard markers?

This is stupid and yes I can see that happening actually and also this is stupid.

E: on the other hand, I can see teachers wanting to do this themselves if the markers they give you to use smell like assholes(there is a brand...) or just suck.

duckfarts fucked around with this message at 10:03 on Apr 25, 2012

# ¿ Apr 25, 2012 06:38

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

Don't buy it in the US; if you want to buy one straight, it's $700ish here, no locking shenanigans, works anywhere with whatever SIM card you chuck in it. If you plan on being here for 2 years, set up a contract; you'll get it for about $300-400 depending in your model, and you will need to pay about a year's worth of bills in advance, but provided you have the funds, it's not bad(you generally have a $0 bill each month for a pretty long time or maybe a few bucks at worst for international calls or texting). Pick whichever of the 3 medium rate plans (monthly will be around 1300NT or $40-45ish including tetherable unlimited data) fits your needs best because all but the most expensive plan ends up being more or less the same in the end(with the weird sliding discount on the iphone) over the 2 years. Prepaid is really easy to get, but I wouldn't recommend it for data myself.

For those that don't need data at all, you can have a monthly plan that's retarded cheap; I had a 200NT monthly plan for the longest time that I hardly went over on.

# ¿ Apr 25, 2012 17:39

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

TetsuoTW posted:

drat dude I don't know anyone who's been so fixated on getting all the details before arriving in Taiwan. poo poo, when I decided to move here I couldn't even place Taiwan on a map. I honestly thought it was what is actually Hainan.

FYI: not everybody is dumb.

# ¿ Apr 28, 2012 09:51

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

Hey kids, don't forget it's tax month, where you apply to get a nice chunk of your last year's salary this year!
_{_{in like August}}

# ¿ May 4, 2012 10:19

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

Spanish Matlock posted:

What kind of oven are you looking for? In my experience Carrefour sells the counter-top models for like 2000-3000. Big enough to cook a chicken maybe. If you're looking for something big enough to do thanksgiving turkeys in you may be SOL.

If you don't have a place with a f'real oven*, you'll need to get a toaster oven. Granted, some of the ones you can get can be really nice, but generally, just look for one with temperature control and a rack that can slide in and out and it should do for most things.

* :smugdog:

# ¿ May 7, 2012 12:10

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

HappyHelmet posted:

Already found one (finally). I'm looking to start my own bakery here in Taichung next year. So I needed something a bit more heavy duty than a toaster oven .

Found a slightly used one at a restaurant equipment re-seller for $14K yesterday though:

That oven is pretty goddamn sweet.

# ¿ May 7, 2012 16:07

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

USDA Choice posted:

Obligatory disclaimer: Theoretically possession of a controlled drug can lead to the death penalty. Practically that never happens, but it does show how serious they are about it. Still, just like anywhere else it takes extreme stupidity or bad luck to get caught in the first place.

Death penalty is for trying to smuggle it in; they're not as warning happy as they used to be, but it remains a terrible, terrible idea for any amount.

# ¿ May 20, 2012 17:34

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

Spanish Matlock posted:

Well 18% tax is only for the first year, then it's like 9-10% or something. Plus cost of living in Taiwan is probably lower than most other places. I mean you can really scrape even in Taipei, if you go out into the sticks you'll earn more and have to pay less. But yeah, your average teacher here is a trouble drifter with a shady past.

Edit: Whoa poo poo, apparently that's also just about median income for women in the US too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_States#Income_distribution

That high tax bracket is if you're not here for over half a year; otherwise, you get the standard tax bracket of like 9 or 12%, and the excess tax paid during the first six months is refunded(in July/August of the next year).

# ¿ May 25, 2012 03:02

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

Ravendas posted:

Have you left Taiwan or something? That taxes info is from like 4 years ago.

Now its 18% for the first 6 months you pay every year, with the rest of the year being 6%. You get a refund the following year for the 12% difference the first 6 months. If you have dependents or other things you can actually get your tax rate lowered to almost 0% for a huge refund.

So if you come late in a year, say August, you'll pay 18% for August, September, October, November, December, then the year rolls over and you have to pay 18% for the next 6 months as well. It's pretty terrible.

Month and a half till the taxes lower for those of us who've been here since the beginning of the year though! It's like getting a bonus.

It's like a great, yet awful way to force you to save money.

# ¿ May 25, 2012 05:03

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

caberham posted:

Geeze, never knew Taiwan would be this authoritarian, sucks for tourists. Got to register and all.

It's weird that you are actually suppose to register for a Sim card in motherland but people just skip the process for you

Kind of but not really? It's actually pretty easy in that you can pretty much go to any mobile provider's service store and get a prepaid SIM card on demand, and they just copy your ID there; it's not like you have to send in forms and stuff. Renting just seems like it'd be a scam.

# ¿ Jun 2, 2012 06:24

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

dtb posted:

On the broader subject of earnings vs living costs, what do you guys usually spend in a week on food and other non-rent/utilities related disposables?

I was in Taipei for about a week last month and spent ~4,000TWD on taxi's and meals (excluding business dinners where it was about that per meal for two). Does that seem within the realm of the norm if you're living there?

Generally, Taipei is as expensive or as cheap as you want it to be(with the exception of housing). Taking the MRT or a bus will cut commuting expenses drastically VS taxi. If you have a scooter, it's even cheaper to get around. My own weekly spending habits vary wildly, but you can easily get a decent meal for 150-200NT, or even as low as 60-70NT(or less).

# ¿ Jun 6, 2012 03:11

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

hitension posted:

Why would such a policy exist. I could see it occurring naturally as a result of demand but why set that policy?

HappyHelmet posted:

There is a minimum wage set by the government for foreign English teachers that is set at $42K per month (not including part-time jobs). For any other kind of job no there is no minimum wage beyond the state mandated amount. However, like USDA choice said no foreigner is going to take job where he is making less than $25K a month and working 6 days a week like many Taiwanese people do.

Its the main reason you don't really see many white collar jobs for foreigners in Taiwan. Why should they pay a foreigner level salary when there is ample (well-educated) cheap labor to be found locally.

This this this. The policy is to encourage using the local workforce first(which you can pay less, hooray! COST DOWN COST DOWN), then pull from a foreign work pool if you have specific needs that they can fulfill(hi, you look foreign enough for our customers to believe your English is probably fine). High salary(relatively) countries aren't the only job pool that could be drawn from for these jobs, you know. Easy reason? Imagine a huge influx of cheap, educated Chinese/[SE Asian Country] tech workers takin' are jaaaahhhhbs.

It also applies to teaching too; it's still desired to have local qualified(hopefully) teachers fill the position rather than outside labor. Don't forget there's currently an issue with graduates not being able to find work.

# ¿ Jun 12, 2012 03:22

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

url posted:

I didn't have a yellow thingy on me, so there was nothing left to do but enjoy the ride home (35 mins).

Closet racist spotted.

The next time it's retarded rainy out, put all your expensive stuff inside your bike and go drive in the rain - it's pretty fun, mainly in the summer, provided there's little to no traffic.

Haraksha posted:

I got a car recently and it's mostly terrifying to drive anywhere but the freeway. Taiwanese drivers are so bad. My biggest fear was the scooters loving around, but that's only really an issue at the stop lights where they bunch up. When traffic is flowing, they're not a problem at all. It's the assholes in cars who don't think their decisions have any consequences and just do whatever that drive me nuts. It also doesn't help that the roads in the towns are awful.

Driving yesterday got me riled up with plenty of "TURN ON YOUR loving LIGHTS" hatred, which is a pet peeve of mine, among many.

# ¿ Jun 13, 2012 06:59

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

TetsuoTW posted:

Turn on your loving lights, use your loving blinkers, stop at (and not right on top of) loving pedestrian crossings, don't change lanes on a loving whim....

pick a loving lane already and stay in it
scooter drivers need to stay right unless there's traffic in front of them or they're actually turning left(this applies to me driving a scooter too)
riders "dancing" need to kiss the pavement
be nice and let people into a lane, and don't force your way into a lane
pedestrians cross at a loving crosswalk so I don't hit you
pedestrians should not cross on red
stop loving with your phone you're driving a scooter why are you texting
i don't care if you don't like helmets, your child needs a goddamn helmet
you make a left turn by going straight into the intersection then making a 90 degree turn left, not by making racing lines that shave into the other lane
cars shouldn't be in the scooter area
scooters shouldn't be in the crosswalks
if you give me a bag of werther's, I could keep on complaining for hours about traffic or your stupid loving lensless glasses

I swear, one of my life dreams now is to transform into Ghost Rider and destroy people's vehicles and watch them rash, and then give them a stern old man talking to about driving conscientiously.

_{_{i'll admit, I kinda like to speed if there's enough room}}

# ¿ Jun 13, 2012 10:52

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

Spanish Matlock posted:

How about "Keep your loving buses, cars, taxis and scooters out of the goddamn bike lane (Dunhua, I'm looking at you)"

I can't blame drivers on this one because the implementation of this "bike lane" is incredibly dumb and was doomed to failure right from the start. If this was an actual bike lane/path, it would be part of the sidewalk with a curb keeping traffic out of it like the bike path near that one park near xinsheng or jianguo south of Zhongxiao. Instead they make it part of the regular 2-lane road that already has major traffic congestion. They should just stop with the dumb charade and make it a proper third lane like it was supposed to be in the first place as it's pretty much the opposite of where you'd want to be when riding a bike and dunhua needs a third lane badly.

# ¿ Jun 13, 2012 12:34

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 3, 2024 02:28

duckfarts: Jul 2, 2010; ~ shameful ~; Soiled Meat

USDA Choice posted:

Except for those who are salaried, in which case huzzah.

Speaking of which, my company is looking for another technical writer. If you're interested in a jobby job that's not teaching English, aren't an rear end in a top hat(most of the time), and your English is loving ridiculous*, check out the ad or PM me. If you're planning on also taking a Chinese language course or only staying for a year or so, the job's probably not for you seeing as it's a full-time actual job thing.

*I have to say this because most people have lovely writing skills, college degrees be damned.

# ¿ Jun 14, 2012 11:58

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > The Taiwan Megathread 2.0: Vacations, Jobs, EarthquaJEREMYLINJEREMYLINJEREM

«‹›15 »