What do you think of hygiene in Taiwan?

Question

Personal hygiene is so-so, public hygiene is pretty bad here, like spitting binlang, littering, dirty air, the public restrooms.....

I hate the poo on the streets!

I saw cockroaches in restaurants a number of times, an indication of the level of hygiene here. You have to pay a lot of money to eat at clean restaurants here.

Yes, Taipei is crowded, but it's not a good excuse!! There are other cities equally crowded, yet maintained so clean!

The MRT is clean, but it's not because of the ethical standard of the general populace here, because they get fined for eating and drinking during commute.

Answer 1

The expensive shopping malls and the nice hotels are about the only clean places. Everywhere else is a mess. I always see stray dogs and cats, trash is everwhere, and the pollution level is extremely high. The public restrooms are downright gross, though. That is probably one of the top 5 worst things about Taiwan.

Answer 2

Packa has has listed (or witnessed) exactly what anyone with eyes will see if he or she stays in Taiwan long enough. I have seen countless dirty public restrooms, walls and floors and the sides of buses stained with betel nut juice/spit and cockroaches. Litter is usually cleaned up quite quickly, I do not see that as a big problem. Yes, the air is polluted, and part of the reason (other than the 3 million two-stroke scooter engines) why Taipei City's air is so polluted is that the city was built inside a geographical basin.

Answer 3

The Restrooms here at the MRT, Fast Food outlets, Dept stores, Super Markets are a lot cleaner than those in Singapore, Malaysia,Philippines e.t.c.
What other public restrooms are there??

So it's crowded. A lot cleaner that 5 years ago when the Garbage was thrown on the street and not disposed in designated bags as it is now.

Air polution is common in every Asian country.

You really dont seem to be getting on here at all !! Lots of bad experiences all the time.


Add:
Other than Singapore which is reallly sterile most South East Asian cities are about the same as Taiwan -Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia ,Philippines, not much different -like spitting binlang - Indians and Thais also chew Betel nuts, littering, dirty air, the public restrooms......

"packa's Q&As are private."

Answer 4

We live in Hualien, on the east coast, but we also lived for three years in Taipei and my comments apply for there too.

We eat night market and street-vendor food all the time, and we have never gotten sick. Public restrooms are no worse than they are in Canada and the USA--just a bit more basic.

Cockroaches will be anywhere that also has warmth and moisture--they are not associated with filth as they are in North America.

Objection to spitting is a cultural thing--the western objection arises from the spread of TB in the old days. (My grandmother died of it when my mother was only seven years old.)

You cannot drink the tap water, but that is true is most places in the world. The plumbing will not handle toilet paper--you have to use a pail for the used paper.

If you mean by "personal hygiene" soap and deodorant and that sort of thing, I have noticed no difference between Chinese and western people in that regard.

Bearing in mind that Taiwan was a poverty-stricken dictatorship a generation ago, it seems to me that they a pretty good job of running the place.

Anyone who expects a foreign place to be just like home should either go to an expensive resort, or stay home.

Please. Enjoy all that Taiwan has to offer. Take-your-breath-away scenery. Second-to-none cultural experience. Warm, kind, friendly, and hospitable people. Great jobs with good pay. Inexpensive travel all over Asia--we went to Malaysia for the weekend, and Hong Kong is only two hours from Taipei.

Don't concentrate on what makes you unhappy.

Answer 5

In my first 2 years here I would be siding with you. But after travelling more around the area and comparing it to other SE Asian countries, however, Taiwan looks pretty damn good.

2 stroke engines are almost all gone where I live, since the Feds made a law that appears to be enforced and followed well by most people requiring their scooters to have a 4 stroke engine or not being able to re-register their licences. Thus the air quality has gone WAAY up from what it was.

I just got back from camping in Canada and you have to admit pit toilets there are WAY worse than the gas station squat toilets here. I also see alot more homeless people and people spitting/urinating on walls/defacing public spaces/ living in tent cities despite a screaming need for construction workers/service workers there as well. But I dont dwell on it, I am just stating a fact. most of those guys seem to have plenty of cash for tatoos and hair dye and pot, but dont seem to want to stir themselves from their butts nearby the many tourist locations with (stupidly) generous drunks staggering out from pubs.

Dont let that crap get to you, just focus on keeping YOUR own personal hygine up, wash your hands and if some place is really rancid try to avoid it. unless its just the stinky tofu guy outside your apartment... thats a hard one to get past. Sigh.

Cockroaches are a fact of life at this latitude, unfortunately. The places you pay extra to go to... still have em. I have gotten sick more often at (quiet) overpriced fancy places than at busy street vendors.

Keep smiling and stop dwelling on the bad stuff!

Answer 6

Having been to Taiwan dozens of times over a few decades (but admittedly never having lived there) I have found it, if anything, better in terms of general cleanliness, than most other Asian countries (with the exception of Japan and Singapore).

If you're concerned about air quality, take a trip to Zibo (Shandong Province) and then see if Taipei is really so bad.

On my first ever visit to Taiwan (to Kaohsiung) over 20 years ago ,the air was really polluted (strong odour of Hydrogen Sulphide). It's 100 times better now.

Answer 7

Taiwan is sparkling i think of. we've air pollution yet i think of it comes from that genuine huge u . s . a . next to us? The MRT or subway gadget is extremely sparkling. the hot intense velocity trains are spotless. the government rubbish collector will actual fee each and every community in the event that they separate recyclable issues from the trash. Taiwan recycles each and every thing they are able to. the only ingredient I see it particularly is undesirable is the seashores. I lived in Guam years in the past their seashores are sparkling. we ought to continually %. up the trash that washes up on the seashores? Regards,

Answer 8

I have never been there but i would say with crowding it may be dirty. The people shouldn't be though! Public washrooms are disgusting everywhere..lol come to the Wal Mart here on any given day and see for yourself! lol