Contrast and perceptions of Taiwan versus Ukraine - Russian Ukrainian Belarus Travel Music Woman Dating News

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Contrast and perceptions of Taiwan versus Ukraine
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Posted by: rtking

I’ve been in Taipei, Taiwan now for 3 days and have had a few interesting observations. The housing in Taipei (the capital of Taiwan) is closely similar to soviet style architecture… lots of flats packed together in close proximity. Often times flats are built on the neighboring building’s walls so interior units don’t have windows. Flat sizes are a bit small by western standards unless you’re among the wealthier Taiwanese people… then you can have a flat the size of a small western townhouse all the way up to a huge mansion on the hill.

Food in Taiwan is remarkably cheap. A traditional Chinese breakfast this morning for my mom and myself cost $5.58 US. The breakfast consisted of sweet, boiled soybean milk, egg & chive frittata, a fried flour and egg strip called “Yu Tiao” (phonetic spelling) and 8 bite-sized, steamed pork dumplings. It was very tasty and incredibly filling. The housing situation has boomed in Taipei. A flat that would have cost $100,000 US about 5 years ago runs about $600,000+ US now. Many people living in Taipei, in the past, would have immigrated to the US for a better lifestyle. But current day conditions and living standards has many Taiwanese staying because (outside of housing) the living standards are better in Taiwan.

I write this because of the similarities I’m seeing (IMHO) between Taipei and emerging cities (countries?) such as Kiev. Kiev’s standard of living (provided you can find employment) is quite accommodating. Housing has skyrocketed from past years from what I’ve heard. But overall cost of living is quite reasonable. A Westerner could live like a King in Kiev. And that same Western Salary could have you living as a King in Taipei as well. I wonder if Kiev’s land prices will skyrocket as it did in Taiwan?

I had dinner with several of my relatives (mom’s side) last night. The topic of discussion for the evening was Olga and women from the Ukraine. In Taiwan, Ukrainian women have been recognized as incredibly beautiful women who easily can pursue a career in modeling. (Clothing manufacture is a chief industry in Taiwan.) Apparently there are a large number of Ukrainian-Taiwanese marriages as well. A twice-removed 62 year old relative here in Taiwan married a 20 year old Ukrainian girl and recently had a baby. (This was a bit of a surprise to my mom and myself.) Women from the FSU have a reputation in Taiwan as having the traditional values of Chinese women but are unspoiled by the influences of the Western lifestyle. The group went on to lament how many of the Taiwanese girls have become very independent in light of Western influences into music, culture, and behavior. The number of Taiwanese youth listening to rap music andy dying their hair blond (or any other color) is of particular concern to the much more conservative elder generation. Ukrainian women are very well respected in Taiwanese culture from what I was told. I don’t know if they were telling me this to be polite or complimentary, but it was interesting to hear.

Bob

Posted by: AkMike

Hi Bob! Is this your first trip there? My dad was there a couple of times and he really had a good time seeing everything. LOL, I think he was chinese in a prior life because of the way he ranted on about it.
What's the weather there in the southern half of the world?
Mike

Posted by: rtking

Hi AkMike! I've been to Taipei several times in my life. My grandparents lived here and I visited a few times as a child. My last visit (prior to this one) was about 12 years ago.

Taipei is moderate right now... about 26 Celsius (About 80 degrees, I think?) It's a bit more tropical than I'm used to (having lived most of my life in Los Angeles) but aside from the humidity, fairly comfortable. At night it's about 21 Celsius (about 68 degrees... but everyone runs around with a medium-weight jacket here!)

I can't imagine what the Taiwanese people might wear if they experienced a Siberian winter! (A winter in Minsk was enough for me!)

I think there's plenty of things to do here and certainly the Taiwanese people are trying to bolster the tourism industry. There's plenty of hiking, mountain biking and other outdoor activities to do (outside of Taipei), and there's plenty of great restaurants in Taipei. (And, like the FSU, there's McDonalds here. Subways, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Subways, Hardees and Round Table Pizza are here also.) I'm currently on the look-out for the purported "large community of Ukrainians" in Taipei. As soon as I find it...

Bob

Posted by: AkMike

LOL, I'll be with a"large community of Ukrainians" in 1 month. But I'll be there for 2 months.
Enjoy the warm weather, it's almost freezing at night here. Further north it's been winter for a month already.
Enjoy your stay!
Mike

Posted by: Pin Boy

bob,

i'm jealous of your travels but glad you get the opportunity to see such magnificent places..

curious...do you speak taiwanese? are you fluent? was that your first language? what language do you use primarily to communicate with your mom? any of your relatives in taipei fluent in english?

thanks for posting and filling us in on the perception of your relatives.

have a safe trip

pin boy

Posted by: rtking

Hi Pin Boy!

Thanks... but nothing to be too jealous of! It's a bit of family-related work and pleasure that I'm here in Taipei. But in 3 weeks, I'll be back in Kiev (and in Yalta a week after that!

) I'll be VERY excited about that trip!

I don't speak Taiwanese at all. I speak a little Mandarin, but I can't read or write the language at all. My primary language is English and I spoke "Chinglish" (Chinese + English) at home with my mom. (My mom is fluent in Taiwanese, Mandarin, Japanese and moderate in Cantonese, French in Spanish.) Sadly none of my relatives are fluent in English, but we get by pretty well.

I must admit that with the world learning multiple languages (native tongue + English at a minimum), I feel a bit under-educated knowing only English, Latin (the dead language), a bit of Mandarin, a bit Spanish and a ver little bit of Russian.

Bob

Posted by: Khashyar

Hi Bob...

It's good to hear from you

I'm glad that you are finding Taiwan interesting......

Say "hi" to your mom from Lena and I

Khashyar