Hey I’m looking at moving to Kaohsiung from the North in a few months. What’s the best area to live in for foreigners? Not too familiar with the city, just know it has beaches and better weather than up here. (Me likey the sun)
You will be disappointed by the beaches. there are a couple but merely okay. the summer is hot (as many will say) but it’s also hot in taipei. And the winter is perfect. sunny and cool/warm.
The popular areas to live are the Love river area (considered downtown I guess) and Zuoying. I’ve also had the cultural center area recommended and quite a few people live out by Chen ching lake but it’s kind of disconnected from the rest of the city imo. and there are probably a couple of other nice areas to live in but these are the places that I know of.
Isn’t there a beach by Sun Yat Sen University?
I didn’t say that there wasn’t. I merely said that you will be disappointed by the beaches.
I am not arguing – just asking. I heard there was a beach over there but have never seen it. What’s the problem? – litter and crap? That’s what I find up my way.
The beach is small and not very accessible. Nice place to see the sunset though.
The best beach I have seen in a city area is at Anping beside Tainan City…lovely spot! Loads of people windsurfing and sailing.
Which beach? There is more than one and some that are not so well known but are not so far from down town. I have lived in a couple of places in Kaohsiung but my favourite would definately be where I am now: http://www.haskellco.org/escape41/pho29.jpg
It is in the ChaiShan area inside ZhongShan university (Sun-YatSen). It is about 15 mins from down town. Ie no further than ZuoYing (TsoYing). It is not so easy to find a place to live in this area though now.
I don’t live there but I go by a lot and Zuoying seems like a nice comfort zone, the residential area there seems pretty nice.
[quote=“naguoning”]Which beach? There is more than one and some that are not so well known but are not so far from down town. I have lived in a couple of places in Kaohsiung but my favourite would definately be where I am now: http://www.haskellco.org/escape41/pho29.jpg
It is in the ChaiShan area inside ZhongShan university (Sun-YatSen). It is about 15 mins from down town. Ie no further than ZuoYing (TsoYing). It is not so easy to find a place to live in this area though now.[/quote]
That looks really much nicer than I had imagined. Thanks for the photo.
I used to live in Gushan district, just near sun yet san university. It is quite nice with the mountain in full view, but the area is older and not so nice looking, but on the flip side the rent is dirt cheap and it is quiet.
Also, there is a art gallery in zuoying that has a lot of new condos that they are having trouble selling where you could try to find a rental. It is not so far away from things, but it is a lot quieter if you like your peace and quiet. (I think it is Jiouru 1st rd)
As far as beaches, you are not far from Kending when you are in K-town, so its all good.
hmm Zouying sounds good I guess. I’m in a tiny village right now starving for foreign company on a regular basis. I know most wai gau ren in Taiwan think the opposite (from what I hear), but try living in isolation for a year haha. Not my cup of tea. Just enough foreigners not to learn the language and not nearly enough to have choices in friends, even if I did luck out in that respect.
ANYwho, a few more questions if u dont mind.
I’d like a pool/gym to work out in. Inside the apartment building is highly preferred, is this common in K?
Average rent prices for no roomates or 1 roomate for an average or slightly above average place?
THINGS TO DO? My god my town doesn’t even have a restaurant open after 11 pm…
[quote=“dasmania”]hmm Zouying sounds good I guess. I’m in a tiny village right now starving for foreign company on a regular basis. I know most wai gau ren in Taiwan think the opposite (from what I hear), but try living in isolation for a year haha. Not my cup of tea. Just enough foreigners not to learn the language and not nearly enough to have choices in friends, even if I did luck out in that respect.
ANYwho, a few more questions if you don’t mind.
I’d like a pool/gym to work out in. Inside the apartment building is highly preferred, is this common in K?
Average rent prices for no roomates or 1 roomate for an average or slightly above average place?
THINGS TO DO? My god my town doesn’t even have a restaurant open after 11 pm…[/quote]
Dunno about apts having gyms but there’s a pretty popular gym a bit south of zuoying on bo ai rd, just north of the new hanshin department store next to a subway restaurant.
Not a ton of stuff to do in Kaohsiung, honestly. There’s a few popular foreigner joints to eat at around (the Bayou is supposed to be good around zuoying, though haven’t been there yet)…not much in the way of clubs though. But if you don’t care too much about nightlife, Kaohsiung is more relaxed/less stressful than Taipei for sure.
That’s the best I can do, I live between K-town and Tainan basically.
There’s no point in living out of contact with people from your own culture if you’re feeling isolated, and no loss of honor in admitting you’d like to hang out with some foreign buddies in Taiwan. You can still learn Chinese, of course, and we can also learn from each other as we learn.
I’ll let others field questions about the apartment specifics in K-town, but my guess is having a pool/gym would be easy enough to find though a bit more upscale. How much, I don’t know, but I am interested too, so Kaohsiung folks please fill us in!!!
Yep, I’d say 1 year is enough for anybody in the boonducks, I had a mate who nearly became a full on alcoholic after a year in rural Hualien. You’ve done your crime now do the time…eh no that’s not it…you’ve done the time now for living fine…that’s it!
Please put up prices/pics…I’m interested to compare to Taichung too.
I live in Zuoying a block from the Kaohsiung Arena MRT in a 2 bedroom apt (no kitchens in 1 bedrooms from what I have been told). It’s nothing special but everything is nice and is probably one of the cheaper apts as far as I can tell. I pay 9000/mo, 1000 guard fee and electricity/water/gas/cable/internet. it seems that 2 bedroom apartments range from 9000-12000+ in Kaohsiung.
As far as a gym/pool are concerned it’s probably a lot cheaper to get a gym membership unless you want the more upscale apartment. the two nearby gyms cost 1100/mo (IIRC) and 1688/mo (plus the 3500 BS joining fee). But I’m guessing that an apartment with a gym/pool worth using would probably add 3-5K/mo. But I really don’t know since I didn’t look at any.
There are quite a few foreigner aimed bars in Zuoying and downtown. I don’t drink a lot but there are 5 that I can think of within walking distance of my apartment. Kaohsiung clubs are like the beaches. there are a couple but nothing to get excited about.
edit - I will say that taipei should easily blow Kaohsiung away as far as bars (and things to do) go. but it’s not like you’re drinking at a local noodle/beer restaurant.
Hi,
I will probably move to Kaohsiung in July for work close to Shihjia Station. I have been browsing the web for quite some time to get more info but its difficult to get an idea without being able to see it in real life. I have been in Taiwan (mostly Taipei) for 4-5 months last year so have a little bit experience at least. Now I am trying to find in which area I should try to find an apartment. I will make a list in order of importance to make it more easy to view, but bear with me, this is just my dream list:
- Preferably under 12 000NT for a “nice”/okey apartment
- I would prefer to live close to work
- Close to MRT
- Near a gym/martial art studio
- Close to the beach (or shore)
- Maybe not in the party area (even though I’m 24, some calmness can be nice after a long workday)
Also saw this post from naguoning, about ChaiShan: haskellco.org/escape41/pho29.jpg - Which looks really nice! 
Do you think around that area and ZuoYing is what I’m looking for, or would you recommend some other areas? Thanks for the help! 
This should get you a decent apt in Kaohsiung. 2 bedrooms with a small but usable kitchen. I pay a little more but I have newer apartment with a great view of Kaohsiung.
I don’t know the shijia (R7) area very well but if you can walk to work then anywhere on the red line should be good. imo transferring between the orange and red line is a PITA.
MRT is convenient if both your apt and destination is really close to a station but this is rare in Kaohsiung. I rarely use it since I have a motorcycle and that’s considerably faster and cheaper.
Lots of gyms in Kaohsiung. I just bike/hike/run for exercise.
The at Siziwan beach (Jhonshan/SunYatSen Uni) isn’t real close to anywhere you want to live but it’s not that far from the typical places in Kaohsiung. 30 mins probably. the Escape41 restaurant is a little farther in the same area. Nice views.
I wouldn’t consider them party areas but rather foreigner areas. If you live outside of a foreigner area you might not bump into a foreigner ever. the big foreigner areas (Zuoying, Central Park and a few others) have other good stuff that you might want. I wouldn’t consider any places calm in the city but I’m a farm kid.
Thanks for the nice reply, really appreciate it
Great to hear that around 12000NT is enough for a decent living. I’m willing to go a bit higher for a nice apartment but it depends on a few things like what my salary will be, location and the actual apartment.
I will work very close (100m perhaps) to the mrt so red line it is then. PITA like the bread or a certain spanish word close to it? 
I have this mindset that the west side of Kaohsiung city is pretty much all harbour and shore and generally good areas to live in. Is that somewhat close to the reality?
Okey nice to hear, when I lived in Taipei I noticed that some areas like close to the clubs or nightmarkets was pretty loud (I like sleeping), and since I’m a farm kid as well… I can go to the parties but I dont want the parties to come to me 
[quote=“Tazzie”][quote=“naguoning”]Which beach? There is more than one and some that are not so well known but are not so far from down town. I have lived in a couple of places in Kaohsiung but my favourite would definately be where I am now: http://www.haskellco.org/escape41/pho29.jpg
It is in the ChaiShan area inside ZhongShan university (Sun-YatSen). It is about 15 mins from down town. Ie no further than ZuoYing (TsoYing). It is not so easy to find a place to live in this area though now.[/quote]
That looks really much nicer than I had imagined. Thanks for the photo.[/quote]
Yeah, take a photo in the other direction LOL.
I have lived in the area near Dreammall for half a year back in 2010.
I recently (well, since dec 2011… omg times flies!) moved back to Kaohsiung and looking for an apartment I specifically was worried about the air quality. Checked out some sites and looked for areas around parks or near seaside.
I couldn’t have found a better place. Big bedroom, big living room, big kitchen, 2 balconies (one for laundry etc.), modest bathroom and an extra guestroom for when we have guests coming over. Best thing is, we’re living in between Yan Cheng Pu and Xi Zi Wan MRT station (little closer to the latter), for… 7500 nt excl. Some ‘friends’ of my girlfriend even said it’s rather expensive for a place in KHH but granted they haven’t been to our apartment yet. I reckon it’s a sweet deal.
The MRT is 5 minutes walk, the shops are all in reach (Jian Guo road will take you to the trainstation in about 10 minutes by scooter), and best of all, I step out the door, walk through the park, onto the bikelanes in either love river direction or take a looong stroll around the ferry-pier or ZhongShan university campus.
If I were you I’d worry about quality of living first; that deluxe condo might seem appealing, but consider that you might breath the air of the scooters on that intersection below all night long when you’re sleeping.
Maybe come to Kaohsiung for a few days and sample the vibe of the different districts and see which best suit your needs.
Good luck