I am interested to hear more about Taiwan. That sounds promising also.
Is there anyone on the forum living the dream overseas now or semi-retired? Can you describe the hoops you had to go through to make it a reality. It always sound easy but I am sure that is not the case or wouldn't more people be doing it?
I may be a bit biased towards Taiwan as i have previously lived there for a few years, and plus i have Taiwanese wife (who still has her Taiwanese citizenship - which therefore gives me household residential status). Even more on the plus side, we already own outright a 3 bedroom apartment in Taipei itself.
But i wouldn't like to retire to Taipei. Too crowded, too hectic and too polluted. I'd much prefer the scenic East Coast of Taiwan and preferably around the area of the regional city Hualien. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hualien)
This city sits on the Pacific ocean and the mountains backing it are incredible for biking, hiking and it is a semi tropical environment - so everything is lush and green. Taiwan does not have the surfing or beach going culture that we have so it is safe to say that the beaches are not crowded. Having said that, their it is deep water on this side of Taiwan and so the beaches are very steep too - but there are some beauty sports too. Fishing is very good.
As per Thailand, beer is cheap, food is cheap, 7-11s are everywhere, bars are everywhere, lifestyle is easy but you are only 3 hours by tilt train to Taipei and 45 minutes by plane. Net is cheap, real etsate is cheap and there are 2 universities in the area as well as teacher college so you can pick up part time teaching english if your heart desires.
Hualien is the marble capital of the world and this is where most of the Asian marble comes from. the Asian Grand Canyon (called Taroko Gorge) is close by and many tourists fly into Hualien, go on a tour of the gorge and then fly back. Some, like me, stay a while and get to know the place really well.
So this is where i would like to park my bones while receiving income from my positive geared properties here in Australia. Possibly open a bar that looks out onto the Pacific and just listen to music all day. Sounds good to me.
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