There are always guys who can take any kind of c..p and full spoons at a time, but I beleive that most of the guys who are reading this thread, do so to make up their minds if to join CAL or not. If you are already at CAL, by all means make the best of it and enjoy your time as much as you can but don't try to distort reality as CAL and the agencies do in order to recruit pilots. They know very well that once you have signed on and started to work there, they can get away with most anything. If you don't have a job, do apply. If you want to fly the "HEAVY" and get it out of your system no matter what, do apply. If you have a good thing going wherever you are at, do yourself a favor and stay there.
If you want to join, do it through an broker as they pretty much respect those contracts but if you come direct you are up s..t creek without a paddle. If you choose to sign on as a direct-hire pilot, I can promise you that you will be in for a very rough rollercoaster ride. They will change the conditions, salary and most of what your contract states before the ink has dried. They are very, very, very dishonest people and are only interested in one thing: Money. And consequently, they will try to keep it from going your way whichever way they can. I have experienced both sides of the contracting options the broker and the direct-hire scheme and the broker is the only way to go IF you have to.
You will have no loss of income insurance and can pretty much rely only on the national health insurance in Taiwan (Which is very good I must admit as it is managed by the government and not by CAL). So if you are young and crazy (very crazy) you may give it a shot, if you are not, stay away.