so i have been in taipei almost 3 weeks, and i thought i would compare taipei and bangkok for those interested.
city - definitely a lot less english spoken. i doubt you could live here long term without learning some chinese. most signs don't have english even. also harder to get around than bkk direction-wise, where everything is close to sukhumvit, ratchada, etc. this makes it tough in taxis, especially since most do not speak very good english, and hard to get the tones right. mrt is really convenient as well. taipei is a lot more conservative and modern than bkk. not gonna find nana plaza here. i actually trust taxis out here, unlike in bkk (right johnbeans?)
food/shopping - there are restaurants and shops everywhere, moreso than bkk. very easy to eat different and cheap food everyday. with all the restaurants around, selection of food seems quite diverse. paragon/emporium/central world equivalent is 101, three diff sogos, and new york. seems a little more expensive though. night market is like street stores and offers a lot of random stuff, lots of different food, kind of similar clothes you find at siam square.
nightlife/girls - seems like everything is dead from sun-tuesday? everywhere seems pretty busy the rest of the week though. club setups are a lot different, more like western places. bar, dancefloor, surrounding tables...not like a billion random tables scattered on the dance floor, and no live local band at any place. atmosphere seems pretty awesome, but not like the craziness it feels sometimes on weekends in bkk. places stay open until late, so no after-hours places exist. all-you-can-drink places kind of seem busto, has a spicy/bossy/etc vibe, but none of the isaan girls we have all grown to love. a night out seems like pub/lounger bar, then random club, whereas bkk was like pool/pub crawl, club, scratchdog, after hours (if needed), after-after hours (bless your soul). no scratchdog equivalent unfortunately. for girls, it seems like it is polarized between super nerdy and hot. girls at the nicer clubs are a lot hotter than anywhere i have seen in bkk. every girl is "hiso". cannot elaborate more, due to lots of fail. being approached by a girl or friends happened quite a bit in bkk...not so much here. approaching is more difficult for me, as girls here are not stupid like thai girls. seems like foreigners do decent here though. (fwiw i am tall, asian-american...not much problem with girls, aside from closing
)
overall, not sure what to think. like the city more in taipei. like the nightlife a ton more in bkk. girls are a lot hotter, however lots of fail (they will be solved). still, i think it is a great place to visit, as taipei is an awesome city, weekends are obv better to come.