City Life versus Country Life in Taiwan

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
1

Anyone else feel like there are 2 Taiwans? In the major citites there are far more thngs liek parks, sidewalks, perhaps slightly more driver care (lol) etc. And even more importantly things like schools are beyond better…hiotting children and punishing them from ridiculous things seems far less common, whereas its daily in the countryside. POlice in citites seem to actual arrive at distress calls, where as here they wait and wait and show up once the people have fleed…damn near clockwork. it really really, at least to me, seems like night and day.

I am not saying country is bad, city is perfect. I prefer the countryside anyday. But in it there is a different set of unwritten rules where “tradition” is almost bigger than modern law.

Anybody else feel this?

2

I feel like there’s Taipei and there’s everywhere else. Taipei has something vaguely (I say vaguely) modern and ordered about it. Everywhere else is the same chaotic mess, as far as I can see. People do (and get away with) all the same crazy shit everywhere else, it’s just that there’s greater population density in the cities, so it affects things differently there. Maybe Xinzhu is different. That’s the only city I haven’t been to in Taiwan.

3

Hmm, I’d disagree. I’ve lived in Kaohsiung and visited Taipei, Taichung, Kenting and Yi-lan and I’d say that Kaohsiung and Taichung are developed to a similar extent to Taipei, although not quite as modern.

My problem with the countryside in Taiwan is that it’s actually dirtier and busier than the cities in the towns there. To be quite honest I thought Yi-lan was an absolute shit-tip with terrible food (we went to all the places that people recommend), with the only up-side being some natural hotspring resort town that we went to - that was super-fun.

4

Admittedly, I’ve only seen a bit of Gaoxiong, so I’m willing to let that one slide, but I’ve seen a fair bit of Taizhong. It’s still marred by all the usual problems of Taiwanese settlements: ugly architecture, wall-to-wall traffic, every form of pollution (especially noise and light) and a general lack of real stuff to do. It does have some wider streets and some nice architecture, but generally, it’s just more of the same, only on a bigger scale. Not having an MRT system is a major drawback and everywhere you go as a pedestrian it’s an assault course of parked scooters, uneven pavements and shops selling 100NTD t-shirts spilling out where you want to walk.

As far as stuff to do, it’s not like you can say, “Hey, it’s Tuesday and I’m not sure which ska, death metal or soul band I want to see.” Likewise, you can’t exactly choose from thirty different international cuisines. It’s more of the same KTVs and crappy Italian noodle shops. I know Taizhong has other types of cuisine, such as that area with about a dozen Indian restaurants, but they’re generally sub-standard and expensive. As far as parks, I’m not sure what you’re on about there. Go to any park in any city in Taiwan at any time of day before about midnight and it’s overflowing with people. It’s just indicative of the fact that there’s absolutely no solitude here unless you’re in your apartment, and even then it’s not guaranteed that your neighbours won’t be renovating at 7:30am on a Sunday morning, the local elementary school five blocks away won’t be blasting announcements by a similar time on a weekday, some fool won’t be letting off Chinese New Year fireworks at 2am in April, or some cretin won’t have set up a funeral tent right below your apartment and brought in the local professional criers at 4am on a Wednesday because it’s deemed auspicious.

On the matter of parks, I live in a town in Taidong County. I have a house with an actual yard with a lawn and huge trees and a garden. It’s almost civilised! There’s even a place to park a scooter or car under cover that doesn’t double as my living room! There’s a park two or three minutes from my house and I’ve never seen anyone else in it, though all the kids play basketball at the attached elementary school. Within another two minutes, I can be surrounded by pineapple and banana plantations. Less than ten minutes from my house in another direction is a proper hiking trail and I’ve rarely seen more than one other group on it and my wife, dog and I are often the only ones on it. Luye Gaotai is about five minutes from my house by scooter. The other day, I discovered a small road up into the mountains behind my town and rode my bike up there. There was no one else on the entire trip and I could see right down over the whole East Rift Valley. A few days later, my wife and I went up a nearby trail and found several areas teeming with the most incredible butterflies. In most cases, you won’t get any of that ten minutes from your house in the cities here.

I just don’t see what the attraction to cities like Taizhong (let alone Taoyuan, Jiayi, Tainan, Yilan, Hualian and Taidong – apologies if I’ve neglected such urban/urbane gems as Jilong, Zhongli, Zhunan, etc.) are. They’re fucking boring and awful as cities go. I think people who rave about Taizhong have perhaps been living in Taiwan too long and need to go travelling a bit. There are much, much cooler cities out there, both to travel to and to live in.

Taipei I can tolerate more, though it still wouldn’t make it into my top 20 cities.

5

Yes city life is much more comfortable and safer than country life so we should all stick to the cities.

6

Trust me … there is Taipei and every were else, I lived for 15 years in every were else. And even everywhere else has its secured, gated communities.

BTW, every new highrise development is a ‘gated community’.

7

[quote=“Belgian Pie”]Trust me … there is Taipei and every were else, I lived for 15 years in every were else. And even everywhere else has its secured, gated communities.

BTW, every new highrise development is a ‘gated community’.[/quote]

Exactly… try to walk in past the guard and see how that goes… Even when he is sleeping, he can still see you :smiley:

For myself, I have no interest in living in Taipei. If I do land a job there, I would probably live in Jilong and commute in. The best place for me would be Taidong, Pingdong, or Kaohsiung if I had to live in the city as I really like what they are doing with the area there as before it looked more like a dump but now has many new parks and green areas.

8

I agree. There are many beautiful places in Taiwan and they are easy to get to (barring holiday traffic). The mountains in and around Taipei are also very accessible from almost anywhere on the north-east of the city. The cities are generally fun places but pretty grotty. I would have liked to live in the countryside in Taiwan.

9

We were getting a little off topic. :slight_smile: This thread is about city life versus country life. The split thread can be found here: [url]Insight into Taiwanese Life and Time in Taiwan

10

There are 3 Taiwans

1-Taipei
2-Most other places
3-The odd rural gem where a foreigner can reside

Please stop saying that Taichung and Kaohsiung are just like Taipei, because they aren’t. Yeah, you got a few shiny buildings, modern roadways and even an MRT, but when it comes to offerings for foreigners, restaurants, nightlife, culture, shopping (not 'guangjie’n but buying hard to find Western shit when you need it), practicing hobbies or playing sports with like-minded people, or just having neighbors who leave you the fck alone (if you live in a shit building in Taipei and gt fcked with, well you live in a shit building, sorry, it isn’t Taipei, it is you paying f*ck all rent) Taipei is >>>>>>>>>those cities and it isn’t even close, not by a long shot.

The second grouping (most other places) is Kaohsiung, Taichung, Taipei County, Tainan, Taoyuan, etc… basically almost everywhere else in Taiwan. Same interchangeable neighborhoods and shops, although each area (minus Taoyuan) has a few charms that keep people smiling.

The third grouping encompasses those outposts where people live because they surf, or have this weird desire to be away from everyone. I say weird because Taiwan isn’t exactly the country that works best in.

And please spare me with the “Oh, I hate big cities so that is why I live in Kaohsiung and not Taipei.” The fuck? You chose one smaller but more polluted and probably more fucked up in an urban sense milieu because you ‘hate big cities’? The fuck?
IF you ‘hate big cities’, live somewhere on the East Coast, because most of TW is just smaller big cities, and you’ll inevitably end up very miserable.

11

For sure. If I didn’t have to work, I wouldn’t be living in a small town in Taidong County surrounded by farms and mountains because it’s still not idyllic enough, and we still have our share of idiots letting off firecrackers and driving like hooligans here. There certainly isn’t serenity. I’d be in a small town in the south of France or western Bohemia surrounded by farms and/or mountains. That said, I’m not sure that if you’re after a great city Taipei is the country that works best in either. Again, if I didn’t have to work and could choose to live in any city in the world for its great cultural attractions and stuff to do, Taipei wouldn’t be it either. It wouldn’t even make it into my top 20, and maybe not even my top 50.

12

Life’s what you make of it while you are living, of course there is always somewhere better somewhere else.

13

For sure. If I didn’t have to work, I wouldn’t be living in a small town in Taidong County surrounded by farms and mountains because it’s still not idyllic enough, and we still have our share of idiots letting off firecrackers and driving like hooligans here. There certainly isn’t serenity. I’d be in a small town in the south of France or western Bohemia surrounded by farms and/or mountains. That said, I’m not sure that if you’re after a great city Taipei is the country that works best in either. Again, if I didn’t have to work and could choose to live in any city in the world for its great cultural attractions and stuff to do, Taipei wouldn’t be it either. It wouldn’t even make it into my top 20, and maybe not even my top 50.[/quote]

I’ll bet you someday you’ll move to the much vaunted south of France or wherever and you will inevitably find your mind drifting back to the time you lived up a mountain backwater teaching aboriginal kids here and you will have a smile on your face :slight_smile: .

14

[quote=“headhonchoII”]
I’ll bet you someday you’ll move to the much vaunted south of France or wherever and you will inevitably find your mind drifting back to the time you lived up a mountain backwater teaching aboriginal kids here and you will have a smile on your face :slight_smile: .[/quote]
Stuck in the Vaucluse? A smile on your face? I highly doubt that! :laughing:

15

HH: If Taiwan continues to modernise a lot, maybe I’ll stay. I’m sure I would/will look back fondly. Some of my students are great kids, but there will be a time to move on. I don’t feel like a natural teacher. I try to do what I do well, but it’s not my passion. Plus, there are just too many other places I want to be and other things I want to do that I don’t feel I can get here. I don’t think I’ll ever really be able to relate to people here either.

16

I get it and sometimes have the same issues, just saying that when you are older you might look back and think those were good times, working, taking on challenges, having a family etc.

17

[quote=“Deuce Dropper”]

The third grouping encompasses those outposts where people live because they surf, or have this weird desire to be away from everyone. I say weird because Taiwan isn’t exactly the country that works best in…[/quote]

Any ideas where these areas are? I intend to surf all year round. Not kenting please as it is too commercialized…

18

[quote=“crystaleye”][quote=“Deuce Dropper”]

The third grouping encompasses those outposts where people live because they surf, or have this weird desire to be away from everyone. I say weird because Taiwan isn’t exactly the country that works best in…[/quote]

Any ideas where these areas are? I intend to surf all year round. Not Kending please as it is too commercialized…[/quote]

Daxi, Wai’ao, Baishawan. Jinshan, Toucheng, would be the places for you, given you want to stay in the north.

You really should pick up a guidebook. It will answer a lot of your questions and give you an overview of the island.

19

Fighting words… I want to respond, but on the other hand, any post that keeps out the fucking riff-raff is ok by me. :thumbsup:

So yeah, it’s small, shitty, ugly, effing boring, bloody expensive, no public transport, bugger all work and whatever else that’s crappy you want to attach to it. Don’t come. It sucks. I wish I was elsewhere. :whistle:

Edit: Oh, and the food’s crap, too!

20

I like the comment that everywhere in Taiwan is like mini city, that is very much true. Even little villages out in the moutnains are the same as in the city, not as tall mind you. it just doesnt spread far.

With my post i find that all the cities mentioned above are more or less the same, at least to me. With exception of Taipei which actually has some organization (despite what some people that live there might think). K-town, which i dont live near but visit often, is like someone above described. polluted, congested, no level roads, not many sidewalks. but over the last few years i have seen it “cleaned up” a LOT. its still a city, and the quality of roads and pollution level is not so much what i was meaning as its more or less similar island wide.

I am MOSTLY meaning peoples attitudes and how life is run. When i say countryside i am not talking about places like pingtung city (that is a city by my standards anyway), i mean the out of city (and out of outer city lol) mostly farmland/mountain areas.

In the city you see less (i say less, not none) sexism, racism, child beating, physical school punishment, criminal protection, things swept under the rug kind of shit. Men need to pay the wifes parents to get married ( i blew a gasket at my wifes side when that came up and refused!), there is a very real negative attitude towards aboriginals, despite them being neighbours, the age factor IS the rule!

I have never lived in a city, i live through friends/family/visits to think how they run, but they seem, through my eyes/ears, far more civil (for lack of a better word). We live at the bottom of the mountains about 1 hour south of Cishan, close to Sandimen. But for 4 years prior to that we lived in another village about 30 mins from Pingtung city, which is VERY bad for these types of things. Here is bad as well, but we have not been here long enough to really get the dirt lol.

Here our only fancy restaurant is a $125 hot pot restaurant connected to the only 7-11 lol. We go to K-town or Pingtung to eat something western/fancy. I always thought they had a lot of choices, sure not close to Taipei, but still a lot I find.

It is funny Taidong was mentioned as more laid back. Everytime i am there i get the same feeling. There are also more things to do there than here. There are funky little bars with live bands all the time, beaches, dancing, artists etc…As far as country side, Taidong is probabyl my favourite area (up the coast from the city)

EDIT: also find outside of Taipei/Taijong/Kaohsiung it is very hard to find hobby things. Almost all my hobbies i just dont do here because they are so hard to find things. Another hard thing for a foreigner in the country is that very few speak English, or any other language. And a lot of people dont even know chinese, just Taiwanese/Hakka/aboriginal languages. Me and my wifes parents rarely understand each otehr as they speak classic “old person Taiwandirin” lol.