I often hear from local friends and colleagues a question: What's good in Taiwan? This is because many times I've been complaining about things or telling what should be changed. Also my foreigner friends or colleagues have asked me what keeps me here.
I want to go through in this post several positive, happy and different things in Taiwan compared to other places or countries I've been living, traveling or having chance to do projects. I could compare, but this will not be the case. Rather than comparison I want to upraise the greatest things!
General things I have found great in Taiwan
1. Water, free supply. Many, many places you need to buy a bottle of water, but in Taiwan you can easily find a water dispenser to refill your own bottle. This is great!
2. Convenience, easy to go different places. There are public transportation, public bikes and cheap prices in Taiwan. You can even use the same card in different cities. However it doesn't mean exactly everywhere, but biggest cities, local trains, and so on. Same card which you can buy small things in convenient stores as well applies.
3. Public toilets without someone to ask you to pay. Yes, when the nature calls it's good to find a place easily.
4. Buy and get many services in thousands of Family marts, 7evelen and other minimarts. This means nearly anything, 24/7. Food, snacks, drinks (soft drinks or alcohol, hot or cold, anything).
5. Public parks and places to exercise. There are a lot of places to go to hang out or exercise in Taiwan. It will make you happy and keep you healthy.
How about the society
1. I'm coming from Finland, of course I feel good about taxation here. You can get deductions by just telling your name and local tax officials will even make sure you get all you can. General tax level is very low already, but if you ever get kids or need to take care of your parents, you'll get more help.
2. Safety, any time of day. You can easily go out and only some areas you may see a bit more insecurity. I haven't had any safety issues ever in Taiwan. Not a single time of day. People even leave their wallet on the table when they go outside for a smoke in bars. Nobody will take it.
3. Healthcare, this will be very easy to use. You can get to a doctor or a dentist easily. Basic healthcare is good and you will find specialists easily. National health insurance doesn't cover everything, but for basic things and checks I appreciate the options. You can choose by yourself.
4. You can settle in easy. Taiwan is quite open place for moving in and finding a simple job. It wasn't difficult to do all the things after I found a place to live and even got a job. This doesn't mean flexible job market, but at least you can solve the issues with public organizations easily.
5. There's not much visible corruption, but I believe it exists still here. Government is working on it, but if you're a local or foreigner living here, normally you'll not see that. I have heard you can get easier to a special care in hospitals or such by paying extra, but you can also think this as a tip.
These are my ten things about Taiwan I wanted to share to you. If you are more interested, join Skillshare today and take advantage of two free premium months/access and join my class. You can also join my Udemy course to get even more for now. I will update Taiwan topics in Skillshare later on, but you can already take your free premium months now.
Have a great day and welcome to Taiwan!