Some good things Tainan has that Taipei doesn’t:
#1 Convenience. If you have a motorcycle, everything is minutes away–none of this “going-to-Wellcome-and-making-an-evening-of-it.”
#2 Sunshine and manageable rain. With a raincoat, you can easily get past the rainy summer days. In Taipei, raincoats and umbrellas are standard equipment. (Seems depressing not to see the sun for over a week at a time, doesn’t it?)
#3 Cheaper rent. For an individual living in Tainan, paying more than $8000/mo for rent is very unusual and indicates that you are renting a very expensive new small apartment, or maybe an older family-size 2 or 3br apartment. Your option to save money is expanded. This leads to:
#4 Lower overall cost of living. Incomes do not differ that much between the two cities, but the cost of living difference is great.
Some good things Taipei has that Tainan doesn’t have:
#1 Alleycat’s Pizza. Alleycat’s is the ONLY thing that I truly miss about Taipei.
#2 Page One bookstore in the 101 building. Tainan has Eslite and Caves, etc. If you really need something, you can VISIT Taipei for that.
#3 Jason’s Market in the 101 building (basement). There may be a few things there you can’t get in Tainan, but not much. A lot of their canned food is “vegetarian”–fuck that!!!
#4 Yoshinoya Japanese fast-food. Not important, but I really did like this place.
Myths often heard from people who have lived in Taipei since the '80s:
#1 “The Metro system is convenient.” Partially true.
If you want to go from point A to point B, you can take the Taipei Metro. If you VISIT Taipei city and take the Metro system, you will find it to be very convenient. I highly recommend it. The bus systems are also excellent, and are for the most part reliable. Morning and evening rush-hours crowds are very Japanese-style. Living there was a different experience for me. I took these modes of transportation every day, but they really wore on me. Having to use public transportation at least twice a day caused me to have very different feelings about the Taipei life. You have to walk to a station, go down, go through the turnstiles, go down again, wait, get on the train, get off at the appropriate stop, sometimes involving a transfer to another train or bus… Waiting at bus stops in the rain isn’t fun and may take longer and be more expensive than the Metro. If you spend 80 minutes a day going to work and back, that ends up being 27 hours per month. You’re actually wasting one whole day per month in transportation. My Tainan transportation still averages less than a half hour per day. My current fuel cost per month (work and back: $500, average). My former Taipei transportation cost for going to work and back, which was 7 stops from my apartment (that’s company->evening job->home 3 days a week, and company round-trip 2 days a week: $1500, roughly).
#2 “Taipei people get more “modern” information faster than those outside of Taipei.” Illogical.
“Hello? Have you heard of something called “Internet”?” Taiwan is not so big that anyone can not visit Taipei for shows or conventions of interest. Especially with the second freeway and upcoming bullet train, it makes little sense that simply living in Taipei is somehow going to make you automatically ‘absorb all things new and be a more modern person’ before anyone else. That’s tacky, ridiculous '80s bragging.
ONE-NIGHT-STAND HEAVEN?
Women are nicer and easier-going? Perhaps. Depends on how you look at it and what “easier-going” means to you. Taipei seems to be a big dormitory. Many people who live and work in Taipei are not really from Taipei–they got jobs in Taipei and actually have homes elsewhere. Away from the strong arm of parents, people will do just about anything. I have never had a one-night-stand, but Taipei is good for one-nite-stands, if that’s where your interest is. (My former co-worker slept with seven different women in his 10 weeks in Taipei.) Finding a serious relationship might be tough, because bringing you home (eventually) to meet the parents might be … (Enough of this–the Dating and Relationships forum is where this facet of the discussion belongs.) During Chinese New Year, Taipei seems very empty.
LOVE IT, OR LEAVE IT:
26 years growing up in the US made me love the south of Taiwan. 8 months in Taipei made me love Tainan very much. The world is a “salad bar” of different environments. Try some, pick one or mor you like and enjoy your life!
DISCLAIMER:
This is a long post and there are bound to be people who disagree with some things I have written here. Please do not flame me about certain points. Instead, add your experiences here. I did not write anything here with the intention of being dogmatic. It is my subjective comparison of Taipei and Tainan and/or the south in general. Flash Basbo sounds like he likes nature and I’m offering these details for him and anyone else who may be interested. Since Flash Basbo has just arrived, I avoided anything related to “driving a car in Taipei”, “riding a motorcycle in Taipei”, and “southern stereotypes about Taipei and its people”, because that seems to be irrelevant to him.
I was, in fact, dogmatic about my comment regarding vegetarian “food”. If any “veggies” out there flame me about that I will LMAO and use the flames to heat up some bratwurst!