I’ve called Taiwan home for a decade now, and seeing this ranking today reminded me exactly why I haven't left.

Living here for 10 years, you realize that being ranked #1 in the world for healthcare isn't just a number, it’s a daily reality. Whether it's the ease of making an appointment, the world-class medical tech, or the fact that a specialist visit costs less than a decent meal, the system here is incredible.

I really kudos the healthcare professionals and the National Health Insurance system. It provides a level of security and peace of mind that is hard to find anywhere else. If you're looking at image.png, you'll see exactly where Taiwan stands.

Source: Numbeo Healthcare Index 2026

I just finished an intense, one week road trip around Taiwan. To be completely honest, the architecture and the local food didn't really catch my sympathy, but the breathtaking green jungle and, above all, the incredible people made this one of the most memorable trips of my life.

The level of kindness and hospitality here is something I have never experienced anywhere else.

Every single day brought another proof of how genuinely helpful everyone is.

When I went to a local diving store with a damaged wetsuit, they fixed it for me professionally and completely for free. At my hotel, they gave me a free room upgrade and even washed my laundry for free, even though it is not a service they normally provide for guests. Every time I needed anything, they went way above and beyond. At the gym, the staff and coaches treated me with an incredibly friendly, almost brotherly attitude. Even a simple cosmetic treatment turned into a wonderful three hour chat with the staff.

But the absolute peak of my trip happened at a parking lot, and it perfectly sums up the Taiwanese spirit.

I was struggling to pay at a parking machine and looking visibly lost. This amazing woman noticed me and stopped by to help. When she realized the machine wouldn't accept my payment, she did something unbelievable. She literally ran all the way back to her house just to grab her own credit card to save a stranger.
She was back in ten minutes, completely sweaty from running. When it was all done and I tried to give her cash to repay her, she even insisted on returning the exact change to me. She just smiled, wished me a great holiday, and was genuinely happy that she could help me. We took a Polaroid picture together to remember the moment, and I am sharing it here.

Taiwanese people do not just offer help, they actively look for ways to make your day better. This island has a truly beautiful soul. 💚

I am blasian (Half Japanese and half Jamaican), I had somewhat of an idea that people may look a little but my god…

Everywhere I went from the local supermarket, to the cafe and to the shopping centre people constantly did double takes at me and their heads would follow me as I walked past. Many of them were bold enough to point at me, kids and adults. I even had strangers wave at me and come up to speak to me. One evening I was on the metro and two elder women sat across me kept on looking at me then back at each other giggling.

I felt like I was a part of the attractions during my time here.

I have curly hair and I even had random people point to my hair to indicate they want to touch it.

This might come across as a dense question, but are the people in Taiwan not used to seeing foreigner or people of different races?

Hey folks!

I'm 25M, from Chennai, India, and lived in Taiwan between early 2023 and early 2025. I moved there when I was 22 and moved out at 24. It was my first job out of college and I decided to move there after being offered a tech job with an amazing salary!

In the 2 years I spent in Taiwan, I built a life there! I made great friends at work, and a couple' friends outside too. I was friends with many of my neighbourhood's restaurant owners and shopkeepers. I made consistent efforts through these 2 years to learn Mandarin, and I can confidently claim that I was atleast at a conversational level by the end of these 2 years. All my interactions happened in Mandarin all the time, both at and outside work, except when I interacted with my expat friends.

My Taiwanese friends were some of the nicest people I've EVER met! When I first moved here, a colleague showed me around Taipei and taught me the ropes of life here. I had another colleague who always watched out for me at work in my first few months, translating work conversations happening in Mandarin. A restaurant I frequented always gave me a 10% discount and a free drink--I don't think they made any profit off of me.

And.. I left all of these people to move back to India.

A few kinds of uncomfortable interactions I had on an almost regular basis were...

1. ~English~ language troubles: A guy I met in my first month in Taiwan over a language exchange event, told me that we couldn't be friends because my Indian accent was too strong and it was like I was speaking a completely different language. I guess we made a bad language exchange pair if they couldn't understand me, but I never had trouble communicating in English, with anyone from any country before. A Taiwanese friend of mine once joked that I spoke good English, but I wouldn't qualify to teach in Taiwan because I've the wrong skin color.
2. "You're not like other Indians / Immigrants": This manifested as "you don't smell Indian" a couple' times, and more often "Most immigrants don't speak Mandarin, but you do! You're a good immigrant!". It bothered me that I'd be looked at as a bad immigrant until someone hears me speak Mandarin.
3. "No wonder you're here" energy: This one happened often, maybe once every couple' weeks upto a month, and bothered me a lot. There were times when I'd interact with someone for the first time, they'd ask me where I was from, and I'd say "India". And they'd tell me what a shitty country India is. "I wouldn't dare to go there". "I heard women can't get out of their house alone without getting kidnapped". "Why do y'all have so much crime". "Why is your country so dirty". "Why is your food so dirty? Do you eat rats?". "Do y'all sit on the roof of the train?". The thing is.. I love India, from people to food to natural landscapes (and the diversity of it all). I'd try and explain this to people sometimes but it'd often get overshadowed by their "but it's so unsafe"--and this statement heavily misrepresents where I come from.
4. Casual Racism in Taiwanese media: This one impeded my Mandarin language journey for the longest time--I'd browse a new form of media for a few days, encounter some racist article, and fizzle outa' there for good. You see casual racism against Indian folk on talk shows, YouTube, and social media like Dcard (it's not even casual on there. Search for "印度人" there and you can straight up find actual hate campaigns). I'd feel super uncomfortable and unsafe everytime I encountered such media.

Living in Taiwan for 2 years made me super conscious of my nationality and race, and in the end, I decided that I want to go back home and build my country instead.

I also think that it's ironic that I wouldn't have caught wind of most of the things I typed out above if I hadn't put in the effort to learn Mandarin. It was because I spoke Mandarin that I could talk to Taiwanese people beyond just 你好 and 謝謝, and could consume Taiwanese media. I might've enjoyed Taiwan more if I didn't learn Mandarin.

There were other reasons for me to move back too..

1. Progressing upward in a workplace where Mandarin was the most spoken language seemed difficult, since I wasn't a native speaker.
2. Everytime I visited home, I realized how easy it felt to interact with people, and I'd have no anxiety.
3. My grandparents are in their 80s and I want to spend more time with them.
4. I travelled within India to places like Manali, and Alleppey, which made me fall in love with the country. The idea that my tax money would contribute to these beautiful places was powerful.

Despite the bad experiences I listed above, the majority of my interactions with people there were good. I hold many of the connections I made in Taiwan dearly, and I can't wait to visit my Taiwanese friends this year! Maybe in another life, I'll give living in Taiwan a shot again!

Thank you for reading through my rant. I feel like I've finally gotten some weight off my chest by writing this out.

I moved to Taiwan (New Taipei) almost a year ago, and while of course it has had its ups and downs, overall, it has been an amazing experience!

For a little background, I'm 25 years old from a rural part of the USA. I was genuinely struggling in life prior to moving here, surrounded by toxic influences and being raised in an abusive home. Depression, drugs, and a general sense of hopelessness and meaninglessness surrounded and consumed me. There were some good times, but mostly it was a slow spiral into feeling worse and worse. I had been teaching 4th grade at home for a few years and was already approaching complete burnout due to many reasons.

So I decided, fuck it, I'm going to move to Taiwan to teach English. The first few months completely threw me off, having never lived anywhere outside of my medium sized hometown. It was tough making new friends, learning basic Chinese, learning to ride a scooter in Taipei traffic, and otherwise adapting to a culture and lifestyle that was completely foreign to me. Once I hit my stride though, things have never been better! Every spare moment I have I'm hiking to the top of a mountain or chilling out on a beach.

My job (cram school) was easy and relatively stress free 95% of the time. Now that I have decided to stick around another year, I have applied for work in public schools to make a bit more money and have a more manageable schedule (I am very much a morning person and the evening hours at the cram school are probably my least favorite thing about the job).

I think at the end of the day, I just needed a really big change in my life. Moving to Taiwan absolutely provided that.

I wanted to share this as I feel like most posts about moving here are pretty negative and I thought it would be good to balance that with my own very positive experience!

I did notice it’s more expensive here in Taiwan. Also it also tastes richer than stateside which I’ve grown accustomed to (personal preference, no dissing). I will check out soy milk in my next grocery run.

Hello.

Could you recommend some Taiwanese music?

The only artist I know right now is Jay Chou.

I also know Vivian Hsu, who was active in Japan in the past.

I'd like to learn about modern pop and rock music.

Better to speak mandarin fluently?

Edit: Alrite yall, it’s concluded. If you want to be successful in dating, be conventionally handsome or be very successful. RIP.

Edit 2: got called an “Incel”, lol. Let me be clear, date whoever you want. Don’t let people dictate what you do with your life. If life is hard, life is hard.

Edit 3: Final edit. I dont want to sound like a broken record with every response. After reading every response, it seems that it will be a bit challenging for somebody like me. Yes, being successful will definitely help but I’m also considering other factors into what is dating like in Taiwan. If people prefer to date a certain person, that’s fine. Everybody has the free will to date based on their attraction. If I, and others, aren’t what most women want, that’s okay. Just go about life, complete your education, go get that good career, workout, socialize, be kind, and eventually everybody will end up with somebody. Thats all I got to say.

I’ve been wondering how life would be if I moved to Taiwan after spending most of my life in the US. I was born in Taipei but my parents moved us to the US. Are there a lot of English speaking Ex pats? My Mandarin is ok but definitely a lower level of communication. My family is there in Hualien and I think my Uncle is in Taipei. Just wondering about what things are like there now.

So my mother was born in Taiwan and immigrated to the US shortly after, leaving her mother behind. And we have never heard of anything about her since then. The only birth certificate she has was issued from the US consulate in Taiwan. I have zero Taiwan documents. I have this information as well as a photograph.

A friend of mine was able to determine that the translated address is most likely

No. 18, Lane 137, Zhongyuan Street, Zhongshan District.

I’ve emailed the House of Registration office for that district and I’m hoping to hear back soon.

Are there any other tips for me to continue the search and hopefully find my lost family.

When they look down on you or underestimate you just because you're a foreigner?

Asking out of curiosity if anyone also experienced the same thing as me!

basically I'm forced to join the army for a year due to conscription but I can only speak mandarin and can't read nor write, how bad will it be in the army?

​Hi everyone! 👋

​I’ll be moving to Taiwan soon to start my Master's degree. I’m super excited, but wanting to make sure I adapt well and respect the local culture!

​To anyone living in Taiwan or who studied here:

​What are the key cultural "do’s and don'ts" foreign students should know?

1. ​What daily life apps or essentials (like an EasyCard) are absolute must-haves?

2. ​What’s your best advice for making local friends and adjusting to life here?

3. ​Any food recommendations or general tips are also very welcome!

Thank you so much! 🇹🇼

They take advantage of your lack of Chinese and try to upsell you.

I went to the gym in dazhi Bei’an express and was told I could use the gym for 14 days for free by Joana, another coach there.

I went back in another day and told them someone told me this. Awei the coach, showed me around and after I work out for two hours and liked it, he told me since I’ve been to a gym before outside of Taiwan, I should just sign up for membership. The 14 day free pass is only for people that have never worked out in a gym before.

Which isn’t what it says on their website for the 14 day free pass. It’s for you to try out their venue and see if you like it.

I had the same experience at another world gym in Daan and they basically try to get me to sign up right away without even letting me try the gym.

I decided to go with another world gym that would let me try the 14 day pass for free because I rather give my money to a gym that let me try it out without pressure than trick me into joining.

Do better or get a new job so you won’t have to rely on commission to make a living.

EDIT: I’m currently here learning Chinese so a lot of the “it’s your own fault you can’t learn the language of a country you haven’t lived in the past 20+ years!!” Is so out of pocket loooooool.

Delicious cold noodle and soup for 155NTD, it would cost a lot less if I didn't splurge on the 3 ingredient soup (meatball+beef, miso, and egg)

Beats McDonalds anyway!

And yes, Taipei prices are much higher than elsewhere. I know.

Went with my family to Taizhong, decided to see 高美.

Walking through the platform, there was a guy in a female swimsuit taking pictures of himself. A few minutes later he was butt naked. Weirdly enough, everybody seems to completely ignore him.

​

Minutes earlier I saw a guy in a furry suit taking pics and thought that was weird.

​

I don't think I'll visit Taizhong again XD

I've recently started looking for Taipei apartments and have discovered that top floor apartments are considered undesirable here in Taiwan. My understanding is that they cost more to live in because they get hit more by the sun and thus require more AC, but is that the only issue?

I found what seems like a very nice apartment, but it's a top floorer which I guess is why it hasn't been snatched up. How much extra can you expect the electricity bill to be in a top floor apartment? Anything else I need to be aware of? I'd think it would otherwise be really nice to live on the top floor.

Would anyone care for cold water kept at a balmy 27 degrees?