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Very good food, too. The downside of Taiwan is to learn the local language.

Which, unless I am terribly wrong, involves ideographic characters and not alphabetic. This should be a major obstacle.

The written language is Traditional Chinese.

Exactly. I can recommend the work for Shaolan, Chineasy, for having the basics for Chinese language ideograms - and she is from Taiwan.

Unfortunately, if ideograms is all you have in the place, it will take quite some time and effort to be proficiently integrated.

Actually, I would say anywhere in Taiwan other than Taipei, you'd be fine on $1k USD / month... so for those that would still prefer urban/city life, you should definitely consider Kaohsiung or Tainan -- both urban centers that are in the southern part of Taiwan.

Weather may be a bit more of an issue though (especially in the summertime), but cost of living is still very very reasonable.

Agreed on the language though -- Taiwan in general is a bit tougher to navigate for non-Chinese speakers. You may be able to get by with just English in Taipei, but in the rural areas or in the central/southern urban centers, it'll be a bit tougher.

Having cycled much of it I would recommend the east coast around Taidong. Best pineapples ever.