Why are white expats in Taiwan leaving for the Philippines?

Discuss culture, living, traveling, relocating, dating or anything related to the Asian countries - China, The Philippines, Thailand, etc.
Rock
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Post by Rock »

ryanx wrote:I find a lot of Taiwanese girls very attractive physically...after nearly 5 years here I have not lost a single atom of my yellow fever. BUT the problems are language, culture and age.

It is a VERY difficult dating environment. The Chinese culture (with a somewhat Japanese flavor here) simply does not mix well with other cultures. It is not an inclusive or including culture. I think one of the reasons the great majority insist on using English with foreigners (Westerners and perceived Westerners and not their servants, maids and work horses from other Asian countries) is a kind of psychological wall they put up to not mix.

This is all pervasive and the girls feel the pressure too, even if they try to resist it. You never ever see foreigners (the few that are here) mixing freely and comfortably with the locals, laughing, joking, bantering.

I feel my presence always makes people a little bit stressed, uncomfortable and agitated (or maybe it is just me lol) very few act just relaxed and normal.

This kind of atmosphere is not exactly conducive to picking up girls.

If you add in the lack of language proficiency and age to mix (as is my case) then the prospects start diminishing. It is a shame really, because the girls here are so damn hot! but their culture, psychology, small island mentality, repressed sexuality and their fascination with all things superficial...all combine to deny you access.

Ce la vie.
It's interesting that they insist on speaking English with you and perhaps other westerners you know. People I talk to around and about Taipei (restaurants, stores, drivers, banks, schools, mail carriers, repair people, etc.) almost always use Mandarin even if they are the first to speak. I wonder if they can somehow just tell that I'm a LT localized expat.

Once in awhile, I do run into the person who actively speaks English to me. But usually, when they figure out its easier (faster) to communicate with me in Mandarin, they give up and revert to their native tongue. However, when I do come across someone who really wants to practice English with me (not common), I'm usually happy to engage them, especially if they have reasonable fluency or look cute in a miniskirt, joke!

For those who can stomach the cultural issues brought up by some here, I imagine Taipei is still a great dating environment for certain westerners in their 20s and those in their 30s who still look youthful. But, my personal experience is stale by now. It could be that Taipei has gone downhill in this aspect.

BTW, I do see mixed groups (western and Taiwanese) which seem to interact naturally sometimes, especially in unis and certain clubs or restaurants. Such groups usually seem to be comprised of people who are pretty young. What seems to be very common is seeing western guys who live in Taipei with a Taiwanese date, gf, or wife. I see this frequently whenever I go out in Taipei. So the group think might be more challenging but not necessarily dating.
ryanx
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Post by ryanx »

No matter what your or my particular personal experiences may be, the bottom line is that Western culture, looks, fashion, technology and entertainment is greatly admired and emulated. They all have 'English' names, not Arabic or Turkish or Russian or Pakistani or Indian or any number of cultures or countries.

I wouldn't mind if just for a change someone would say oh I really liked this (insert country) name when I visited there last year and now I use it as a nick name when I meet non-Chinese speakers who may find pronouncing my Chinese name too difficult.

Case in point, I am chatting with a restaurant owner and a friend of hers appears and she introduces him by his Chinese name, he immediately corrects her "oh no my name is not blah, it's Peter" beaming with pride. She laughs and says, well I just didn't know your English name.

They are very deferential and accommodating towards Westerners, but little do they know the racism and discrimination their kind face in so many Western countries.

One Sunday morning I happened to be around Taichung train station and as usual it was heaving with all the Asian migrant workers trying to squeeze as much fun out of their one day off a week, for the lucky ones, (for some a once a month occurrence or even every three months or in some cases never!) by sitting around on dirty stone and wooden seats and drinking out of bottles or milling around in the shopping plaza eating their foods prepared by their country men. All good.

Later in the evening I happened to be walking past a pub which is very popular with Westerners, everybody sitting around on comfy chairs with beautiful decor and ambiance and music and menus in English and servers all sweet and English speaking and customers all glowing from a variety of food and drinks before them and chatting and laughing without a care in the world.

The contrast could not be more stark. And the thing is that they could go to that pub or similar any night of the week and not worry about a 9 or 10 pm curfew at some dorm where they have to share a room with up to seven others and pine for a day off in three and a half weeks!

Of all the answers, the ones who start speaking to me in English, give me when I take them to task for it, the one about wanting to respect me rankles me the most.
momopi
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Post by momopi »

Winston wrote: And also, how do you know if the three who say they had a great time really did?
You don't, nor do you define what a "great time" is for other people. As far as we know, the person could have a serafuku fetish and teaching English in a Japanese school is having a great time. Do yourself a favor, stop thinking about it and move on with your life.
NeighborhoodNetBang
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Post by NeighborhoodNetBang »

Variety is the spice of life I suppose. If I were White I'd stay in Taiwan or go to other NE Asian countries where the women are easy and attractive. As a Black man, even I wouldn't go to the PI because even if pinays are more open to brothas they just don't turn me on at all. Most SE Asian women turn me off like Black men turn off quality women of any race.
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Post by Anonymous1 »

NeighborhoodNetBang wrote:Variety is the spice of life I suppose. If I were White I'd stay in Taiwan or go to other NE Asian countries where the women are easy and attractive. As a Black man, even I wouldn't go to the PI because even if pinays are more open to brothas they just don't turn me on at all. Most SE Asian women turn me off like Black men turn off quality women of any race.
im not suprised...black men seem to attract low end type filipinas or SEAsians
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Winston
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Post by Winston »

That expat friend in Taiwan I told you all about, Shawn, told me that he is moving to the Philippines. See what he told me below. Look what he says about his friends in Taiwan. It sounds like what you'd say about America! I can't imagine being happier abroad in Taiwan. What is Rock smoking? lol

Here is what Shawn said:
Thailand is ok...but, i guess i'm just used to Phil now..plus i have a pretty good group of friends in AC now, and Phil in general. so, wherever u go, its good to have friends to hang out with, otherwise it can get pretty boring...most of my friends here in Taiwan are married, and, once they get married, they never come out. so, i sometimes think i have more friends in Phil than here. at least in Phil, people still go out once in a while...i dont mean partying, even a simple lunch or dinner...but, here in Taiwan, i usually have to schedule a dinner like 1 month in advance to be able to see any of my guy friends...
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Falcon
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Post by Falcon »

Winston wrote:I can't imagine being happier abroad in Taiwan. What is Rock smoking? lol
Actually, I can imagine being happier abroad in Taiwan because of the Indonesian ladies there! Haven't really checked out the Filipinas, Thais, and Vietnamese yet, but I can imagine they're all much easier for me to connect with than many young Taiwanese women.

I'll need to write a trip report about this when I have time. :wink:
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Re: Why are white expats in Taiwan going to the Philippines?

Post by Winston »

Update:

Guess what guys? I was just in taichung today. On my way back, at the bus station I saw a tall athletic looking white guy with long hair approaching girls at the train station trying to chat them up.

Every girl he approached leaned away from him as though they didn't want to talk to him and were trying to keep the conversation short. After a while he gave up and sat down in the waiting area.

How do you all explain that? It appears that Taiwan isn't easy for young athletic white guys either. No wonder why most white guys have left Taiwan and many went to the Philippines too. You don't see as many white guys in Taiwan nowadays.

Another update:

You can add rock to the list of expats who fled Taiwan to the Philippines now. He told me he's given up on Taiwan and has a lot more fun and better dating life in the Philippines. I guess nothing beats the Philippines now. Lol

And this fact also validates what I said about Taiwan all along.
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green1976
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Re: Why are white expats in Taiwan going to the Philippines?

Post by green1976 »

Winston wrote:Update:

Guess what guys? I was just in taichung today. On my way back, at the bus station I saw a tall athletic looking white guy with long hair approaching girls at the train station trying to chat them up.

Every girl he approached leaned away from him as though they didn't want to talk to him and were trying to keep the conversation short. After a while he gave up and sat down in the waiting area.

How do you all explain that? It appears that Taiwan isn't easy for young athletic white guys either. No wonder why most white guys have left Taiwan and many went to the Philippines too. You don't see as many white guys in Taiwan nowadays.

Another update:

You can add rock to the list of expats who fled Taiwan to the Philippines now. He told me he's given up on Taiwan and has a lot more fun and better dating life in the Philippines. I guess nothing beats the Philippines now. Lol

And this fact also validates what I said about Taiwan all along.
Philippines,Thailand,Cambodia have the lead in SEA.
Reading all around it looks PI is the best place to date everywhere.
I would keep Thailand for P4P but travelling to the other part of the planet to try to meet women who don't want to interact with me or demand thousands of condition to meet a guy because if it's not like that,it's weird,that's not the country i would go.
I will happily leave alone SK type women..i don't need them,they don't need me..Thai or PI ladies are willing in general without so much hassle to meet new faces.
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Re: Why are white expats in Taiwan going to the Philippines?

Post by MrBlueLight »

Winston wrote:Update:

Guess what guys? I was just in taichung today. On my way back, at the bus station I saw a tall athletic looking white guy with long hair approaching girls at the train station trying to chat them up.

Every girl he approached leaned away from him as though they didn't want to talk to him and were trying to keep the conversation short. After a while he gave up and sat down in the waiting area.

How do you all explain that? It appears that Taiwan isn't easy for young athletic white guys either. No wonder why most white guys have left Taiwan and many went to the Philippines too. You don't see as many white guys in Taiwan nowadays.

Another update:

You can add rock to the list of expats who fled Taiwan to the Philippines now. He told me he's given up on Taiwan and has a lot more fun and better dating life in the Philippines. I guess nothing beats the Philippines now. Lol

And this fact also validates what I said about Taiwan all along.
What did I say? You don't freaking cold approach girls on the street in Taiwan. It's against their cultural value to be receptive to random strangers. Completely disregarding the cultural difference and trying to run the western game here will only run you into a wall. Like I said, get to know girls through friends and social circles, and watch these girls open up.

Quit beating a dead horse. And what you said above pretty much described all North-eastern Asia (save some parts of China). If you think Taiwanese girls are like that, then boy wait till you go to South Korea and Japan.
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Re: Why are white expats in Taiwan going to the Philippines?

Post by newlifeinphilippines »

winston why aren't you dating the filipina and indonesian maids and factory workers?
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Re: Why are white expats in Taiwan going to the Philippines?

Post by Winston »

newlifeinphilippines wrote:winston why aren't you dating the filipina and indonesian maids and factory workers?
Because I have no way of meeting them and plus they work everyday and have no freedom and also they tend to be below average. I knew one Indonesian cutie who I liked but she got married.
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Re: Why are white expats in Taiwan going to the Philippines?

Post by Winston »

MrBlueLight wrote:
Winston wrote:Update:

Guess what guys? I was just in taichung today. On my way back, at the bus station I saw a tall athletic looking white guy with long hair approaching girls at the train station trying to chat them up.

Every girl he approached leaned away from him as though they didn't want to talk to him and were trying to keep the conversation short. After a while he gave up and sat down in the waiting area.

How do you all explain that? It appears that Taiwan isn't easy for young athletic white guys either. No wonder why most white guys have left Taiwan and many went to the Philippines too. You don't see as many white guys in Taiwan nowadays.

Another update:

You can add rock to the list of expats who fled Taiwan to the Philippines now. He told me he's given up on Taiwan and has a lot more fun and better dating life in the Philippines. I guess nothing beats the Philippines now. Lol

And this fact also validates what I said about Taiwan all along.
What did I say? You don't freaking cold approach girls on the street in Taiwan. It's against their cultural value to be receptive to random strangers. Completely disregarding the cultural difference and trying to run the western game here will only run you into a wall. Like I said, get to know girls through friends and social circles, and watch these girls open up.

Quit beating a dead horse. And what you said above pretty much described all North-eastern Asia (save some parts of China). If you think Taiwanese girls are like that, then boy wait till you go to South Korea and Japan.
Well rock told me for years that cold approach was easy in Taiwan and he had great success with it and so did almost every guy he knew.

I know now that he was twisting the truth and playing devils advocate to try to make me look and feel bad and confuse me. I've caught him red handed doing this about a number of things, to my disappointment. It's no longer a theory, I'm absolutely certain of it and that it's done deliberately, sometimes just for fun or to prove others wrong.

So you gotta learn to take everything he says with a grain of salt since he sometimes will twist the truth for his own hidden agenda.

What I've learned sadly is that not all guys here are lovers of truth and knowledge. Some like to play head games and brag and b.s. and show off to make themselves look big, or put down others to bully them. It's very toxic.

I had assumed that every man here had a philosophers soul and loved truth. I guess I was wrong. It's a fallacy to assume that others are the same as yourself, and sometimes I make that fallacy too.

Regardless, I can't accept this facet of Taiwanese culture and that you have to act super innocent. Cold approaching girls is something I need to be happy. So I guess I'm way too incompatible with Taiwan.
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MrBlueLight
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Re: Why are white expats in Taiwan going to the Philippines?

Post by MrBlueLight »

Let's put it this way, if you want to cold approach in Taiwan, you better be young and good looking, and accept the fact that only bottom-tier desperate girls will be receptive to your approach. I would always take any white expats' reported experiences in Asia with a grain of salt. Through their yellow fever goggles (or what they would call difference in perception of beauty), any of these white expats are hitting on girls that are judged as bottom-tier by the locals. Their 7s and 8s might be what the locals consider as 3s and 4s - girls devoid of attention from local men, so of course they are going to feel that a particular place is "easy". It would be like foreigners coming to America with "fat fever" would feel like the king too.

I put Taiwan in the same train as Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore (Chinese Singaporean only). "Normal" girls from these places are not receptive to cold approach, but social circle is the name of the game.
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Re: Why are white expats in Taiwan going to the Philippines?

Post by hammanta »

I put Taiwan in the same train as Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore (Chinese Singaporean only). "Normal" girls from these places are not receptive to cold approach, but social circle is the name of the game.
I've been saying this awhile but no one seems to listen. Though I've never been to the aforementioned countries, I've heard and read that most relationships start from work and/or through friends. I don't think the girls are completely against dating foreigners, it's just a matter of getting in. That's one reason I could never work from home when abroad because of the lack of available connections. Being extroverted is another positive characteristic that I think one must have to be successful in more closed societies.
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