YouTuber Ceylan claims 'each Taiwan apartment is uglier than the last'

YouTuber 錫蘭稱“台灣公寓一間比一間醜”

Belgian-Chinese YouTuber moving to Taiwan on business visa


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Belgian-Chinese YouTuber Ceylan Le Compte, who goes by the handle 錫蘭 Ceylan on Wednesday (June 8) took to Twitter to complain about the ugliness of Taipei's apartments.

On May 31, Ceylan announced on his YouTube channel that he would be moving to Taiwan after having obtained a visa as a business traveler and that he would arrive in mid-June. On Wednesday, he began uploading a series of posts on his Twitter account complaining about the state of some Taiwanese apartments.

In the first tweet, Ceylan wrote that he had been looking for apartments on the 591 rental website for nearly a month. However, he said that the interior decoration aesthetic in most of the Taipei apartments he had seen was "really bad."

He said that he could not find any that he was willing to view at all and that "each apartment is uglier than the last." He wrote that he was now at his wit's end.

According to Ceylan, most of the rental properties in his home country of Belgium are unfurnished and renters can select their own furniture. He complained that this is not the case in Taipei.

He said that all the apartments in his ideal price range of NT$150,000 to 200,000 (US$5,000 to 6,700) per month are "equally ugly." The YouTuber said that he was used to European standards and "I can't stand the look of these, looking at them makes me feel uncomfortable."

American bilingual comedian Alex Farley, who goes by the handle LeLe Farley, quipped "insulting Taiwan alert!" However, a few Taiwanese Twitter users wrote that they agree that some rental apartments in Taiwan are typically ugly, over-priced, in poor repair, and tacky.

Some locals tried to help him by posting ads for apartments in his price range that are unfurnished and have more modern decor. Others suggested he expand the scope of his search to New Taipei City.

His Twitter comments also went viral on the online message board PTT where some agreed with his sentiments:

"I can't refute... That price doesn't commensurate with the (poor) quality of the indoor and outdoor environment."

"Really ugly, that's the truth."

"It seems that only Agora Garden is suitable for him."

Some netizens pointed out that the reason for the poor conditions may be due to the "landlord mentality." They alleged that regardless of the rent range, landlords often choose the cheapest and ugliest furniture for sale in hypermarkets, while many building owners refuse to spend money to regularly clean the exteriors.