Inga’s family enjoys a cheaper life in Taiwan: comparing prices, Lithuania looks like an expensive country | Life

One of the first questions I learned in my Chinese language course was “Duō shao qián?”, meaning how much does it cost? Today I can name local prices and compare them with Lithuanian prices.

Lithuanians would be happy with municipal taxes

I will not compare housing rental prices, because everyone chooses a house according to different needs. That’s why we all wash, so we can talk about it. Since it is hot here, we bathe a lot and often.

Water is heated for each apartment in its own boilers. Therefore, we avoid paying for hot water. And the costs for cold water are small. Comparing the amounts paid for water here and in Lithuania – a cubic meter of cold water in Lithuania costs about 2.2 EUR, here – 0.60 EUR. I.e. almost 4 years cheaper.

Of course, after being happy that you don’t have to pay for hot water, you should also mention the other side of the coin. We pay for electricity to heat cold water for bathing, a washing machine that runs frequently, and air conditioners that run day and night in the warm season. The good news is that electricity is also cheap here. In Lithuania, we paid about 71 EUR per month, here – only 18 EUR.

Almost 80 percent electricity in Taiwan is produced by burning fossil fuels, which results in significant air pollution.

This stick also has two ends. Almost 80 percent electricity in Taiwan is produced by burning fossil fuels, which results in significant air pollution. Since there are mountains in the middle of the island that hinder the movement of air masses and air circulation, the locals constantly wear masks, not only because of viruses, but also to protect their lungs from dirty air.

We also need to mention gas, for which we pay 13 EUR here, while in Lithuania we used to pay 25 EUR for the same amount. But the locals are not happy with such prices. Most people eat outside, because not only does the house burn paid gas and waste the hostess’s working time, but also the rooms get too hot from the working stove.

Eating on the streets is cheap and fast

Although we still maintain Lithuanian traditions and I like to cook myself and give my children the food I prepare, the locals think differently. Since breakfast, the outdoor eateries are already full of people. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served here, and the cafe is full of friends and neighbors.

After living in Taiwan, we will miss the cheapest canteens in Lithuania for ordinary people in a hurry. Nobody puts white tablecloths on the table here. Sometimes you have to eat out of plastic takeout boxes.

No one uses utensils – everyone gets two disposable chopsticks, which they can use to try to scoop up the rice nicely or just eat everything from the plate into their mouths. Ordinary people do not care about the appearance of the eating process. Satisfying, cheap and fast is important. And after eating, they definitely burp loudly, showing that they ate really deliciously.

There are eateries and eateries to suit every budget in Taiwan. We say that 200 New Taiwan Dollars (about 6 EUR) per person is already expensive and we are looking for cheaper places. At a tin eatery next to our house, which we call “the garage,” lunch costs $80. (2.30 EUR), at the university I attend – for 40 dollars. (1.15 EUR).

Ordinary people do not care about the appearance of the eating process.

I checked that even the cheapest places in Vilnius offer lunch for 2.70 or 4.70 EUR. You can find it elsewhere for even more, so you will have to get used to high food prices again when you return.

Taiwan does not care about the happiness of the chickens

I’ve already learned how to use Google Translate apps in stores and know where to find my favorite items. Although the shopping cart here has changed a lot, I can compare the prices of the same things in Taiwan and Lithuania.

I buy 10 eggs here for about 60 Taiwan dollars (1.73 EUR). The price in Lithuania ranges from 1.14 to 2 EUR. Last year, when we arrived in Taiwan, we were aware that the country was facing a severe shortage of eggs. in 2022 the island faced a shortage of 1.6 million eggs due to bird flu, higher feed prices and supply chains disrupted by the covid pandemic.

After receiving criticism about this problem, the local Ministry of Agriculture increased the import quotas of eggs from twelve countries (including Canada, Brazil, Australia, Japan, USA). In our eyes, the problem is now solved and Taiwanese can eat eggs three times a day, but there is information on the Internet that the egg wars in Taiwan are not over and this product continues to raise passions.

The egg cartons do not say whether the hens are free-range or on litter.

I see that the organic egg fad hasn’t caught on here yet and few care about chickens. The egg cartons do not say whether the hens are free-range or on litter. Eggs are sorted by size only. On the box of the most expensive eggs, you can only find the information that the eggs are washed, sterilized and free of salmonellosis bacteria or drug residues.

There is no river of milk or sour cream in Taiwan

Compared to Lithuanian milk, milk is quite expensive. Only one store managed to find a liter of milk for 49 dollars. (1.41 EUR) Meanwhile, in Lithuania you can buy a liter of milk for both EUR 0.95 and EUR 0.99. According to statistics, about twice as many cows are kept in Lithuania as in Taiwan, although the population in Taiwan is more than 10 times.

Due to the high demand of the population, a lot of milk is imported from abroad (USA, New Zealand, etc.), and the long distance transportation of milk increases the prices.

We are longing for kefir, but so far we have not been able to find it here. There is only a probiotic drink that doesn’t taste like kefir at all, but it’s healthy to drink, so I buy it for the kids. They also drink yogurt drinks of various flavors, which cost around 70 dollars here. (2 EUR). In Lithuania, such a drink is both cheaper and tastier, but here they are not good specialists in dairy products.

Sour cream is not available in regular stores, because the locals probably don’t use it anywhere. I found it in a specialty bakery store. Only in unusual large packages for us – half a kilogram and a kilogram, the price of which is 275 dollars. – 7.98 EUR.

Maybe sour cream is used here to spread some cakes. We use it to put on potato dishes, so such a large package lasts for a very long time. Butter and cheese in ordinary stores are also imported, and often in ridiculously small packages – Taiwanese people probably only taste it.

I miss tap water

What we can enjoy in Lithuania and what we often underestimate – drinking water from the tap. Buying bottled water in Lithuania has always seemed like a big misunderstanding to us. In some parts of the world, the opposite is true. Drinking water from the tap is either not allowed at all or is not recommended. One such country is Taiwan.

Although in the capital city of Taipei it is said that tap water is good and it is encouraged to use it, in cities far from the capital it is the opposite. Instead, the city is full of water fountains, where everyone can fill up with different filtered water for a small fee – 5 or 10 dollars. per liter (0.14-0.29 EUR). Those who don’t want to carry water in their containers from the column can find it in all stores at low prices as well.

We are faced with a kind of moral dilemma. Our house has a water filter that makes all water drinkable. We pour it from a small tap into a teapot or sometimes we drink it just like that, unboiled. And so far we do not feel any harmful effects. But the broker through whom we rented said that the water in Kaohsiung is not good and she would not drink such water.

Of course, then the question is, why is that filter installed here? Although we think that not drinking tap water here is more a habit than a necessity, once a month we also go to the fountains to bring back 10 liters of water. There is no shame in reserve.

You will not overpay for medicines – as many tablets as needed are calculated

We had to use some services in Taiwan, the prices of which also made us happy. When the children got sick, I took them to a private pediatrician. The doctor examined, asked the lungs, checked the ears and throat. I don’t really like the fact that so far no one here has suggested doing blood tests for colds to find out what really happened – a virus or a bacteria. I paid 600 Taiwan dollars (a little more than 17 EUR) for the doctor’s consultation and medicine. The children have recovered, so I have nothing to complain about.

I can only be glad that the pharmacists here carefully count the medicines and pack them into single-dose packets. This is never the case with untaken tablets, which in Lithuania we tend to save for another time. Of course, the extra plastic waste from those individual pill packets isn’t a very good thing either.

I also took the children to the hairdresser. There is a chain of hair salons in Taiwan where haircuts are done like on a conveyor belt. You come, you punch a ticket, you are quickly cut off. And a haircut at this conveyor belt barber shop costs only 120 Taiwan dollars (3.5 EUR).

So we enjoy the low cost of living in Taiwan, but at the same time we complain about the heat, and the air pollution keeps the windows and surfaces at home covered in black dust. It is not known what happens to our lungs at the same time.

Electricity is cheap here, but at the same time telephone connection and internet are expensive. And although the grass behind the neighbor’s fence always looks greener, looking at a lot of concrete and high-rise buildings, I long for Lithuanian parks and the baroque old town of Vilnius. Because sometimes it’s cheaper elsewhere, but home is still the sweetest.