Taiwan Prep - House Hunting
I went back to DC and got my Visa, nicely placed in my passport- awesome! So now I can arrive with no issues in that department. I will need to find if it is renewable like I think it should be. At least the first term is 60 days, so thats what I planned for. Hopefully I can get a job and an ARC (alien resident card,) that would allow me to apply for the resident Visa.
So now I am looking for apartments in Taichung City. I found two pretty different ones that are both suitable. One is a tiny studio, it is 8 pings (1 ping is about the size of a tatami mat.) It comes furnished and has 1 bathroom and a washing machine. The rooms in this complex cost about $7400 - 8200 NT which is about $320 - 350 US per month, a decent price. Here is a photo:
This other place, its only $50 US more, $10,000 NT but its 50 PINGS! Thats very large, about 166 square meters. My taiwanese friends are warning me to find out more about this place, possibly a bad location or something else would cause a large studio apartment to go this low, possibly it just has extra fee for everything, such as cable, apartment fee. I will find that out and get photos too. I might just be lucky! They mentioned there are 2 French people and a South African living there.
Anyway, at least I know there are places available. Actually there are some Chinese Language only sites that have tons of listings in Taichung, but I am stuck with English sites. Tealit.com has plenty of places in Taipei, but not as many in other cities. Hopefully I can get a pretty good idea of where I want to stay before I am set to leave.
Labels: apartment, arc, house hunting, ping, taichung, Taiwan, visa, washington dc
posted by Ian A. at 7:43 AM
2 Comments:
Ian,
came across your blog when looking for some info on new years events in taiwan this year (i'm heading to taichung too w/ hubby & toddler the week after you). it's funny, i see that you have another visitor from NC . . .we're in NC too, but my mother's family is in taiwan, so i've spent a lot of time off and on throughout my life, plus lived & taught english there in 2000. to answer your question about renewing your visa, yes, you can renew it 2 times while you're there for 60 days each, after which you'll need to leave the country and reenter, even if it's just to fly to japan or hong kong and back. that's how i managed the 10+ months i was there. good luck w/ everything & don't forget to pack some warm clothing . . . most housing doesn't have heat . . . people just bundle up! i moved over at chinese new year just like you and that was my biggest surprise! (i usually visited during the summer)
2:06 PM
Oh, wow, cool. I think if I get an ARC card though I shouldn't have to leave the country because I can apply for a resident visa- do you know?
I am in Maryland, we can sometimes get blizzards here, so I do have a lot of cold weather clothes to bring.
Thanks!
2:23 PM
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