I have been told this area is a good place to live. I will be moving to Taipei August 26th. I am wondering if this area is affordable and if the apartments are good to live in. Any help and comments are appreciated.
Thanks
I have a 21-ping apartment with a 9-ping yard at the base of the tea mountains, and I pay NT$12,000 per month.
It’s quiet, the air is fresher, it’s cooler, you can hear birds singing, there are swimming holes and waterfalls just 30 minutes away, and you’re only twenty minutes from downtown by MRT.
I like it. 
Neighbours can be a bit funny, though. 
SD,
do you ever lose your water supply there after typhoons?
Not yet!
Mucha (Muzha) is a nice place. You got NCCU (Zhengda) right over the bridge, Maokong, the City Zoo, the Guang Ming movie theater (two films for 70 NT), to name just a few of the attractions.
Historically, it started out as a pretty poor suburb of Taipei–witness the An Kang community along Xinglong Rd Sec. 4–but now it has its new apartment blocks going up just like everywhere else, especially around NCCU. I don’t believe it is still thought of as the poor part of town.
I think people are attracted to it for the reasons Stray Dog mentions above. There’s good freeway access, and you feel like you’re definitely out of the city, but you’re still living in the realm of His Higness Ma Ying-jeou, and not far from the MRT.
I wanted to get one of those “Reprezent your Hood” sweatshirts with MuZha written in gang-style lettering across the front, but it’s too hot for sweatshirts in TW.
Anyway, HTH!
Others have piped in already. But I’ll reiterate. Mucha has mountains right on your doorstep. In 10 minutes you can be on trails that literally go on for hours. And you are unlikely to meet more than a few other souls, even on a weekend.
Great hiking
Mucha has teahouses up in the mountains. Great to go up on a winter afternoon or a summer night and sit on a veranda overlooking the city. Again, just 10 minuets away. If you live in Tienmu you are looking at a long commute into Yangmingshan to do the same thing.
There are a number of new communities being built up. I’m not exactly sure where stray lives but you want to make sure you aren’t too close to the incinerator. Wangfang community is very nice. Lots of greenery. But it can be pretty humid. Didn’t bother me but it did my wife (or her skin).
It’s not quite true you can be downtown in 20 minutes as you must factor the taxi or bus ride to the MRT. In 35 minutes I can be at Guting Station area.
By car you can drive from my place throgh the new tunnel to the 101 area in 12 minutes
I can be in Gunguan from Mucha in about 12 mins too. If it’s taking you 35 then you must be going in a wheelchair.
I said by public transportation. I live almost exactly between the two MRT lines. Takes 10-15 minutes by bus to Qizhang and 5 minutes to Muzha. Guting is another 10 minutes from Gongguan. Gongguan is not downtown.
Look, I take public transportation to Guting everyday for work. I dont relish getting up at 7:30 to make it there by 9. If there was a fast way believe me I would know it and use it. After all, I am the Mucha Man. 
And I am also factoring in the waits you have to make for the buses and the MRT. The Xindian line does not run as often as it should. It’s usually 5 minutes between trains. You guys are giving ideal times. I hate that.
Muzha is for the proles. Bitan is where its at. That’s where the cool people live.
[quote=“Hwozdecki”]I have been told this area is a good place to live. I will be moving to Taipei August 26th. I am wondering if this area is affordable and if the apartments are good to live in. Any help and comments are appreciated.
Thanks[/quote]
I guess your question about affordability hasn’t really been addressed except for by Stray. Yes, Muzha is as affordable as any other part of town. More so than living closer to the centre.
Bitan, where Sandman lives, is very close and also a good area. Basically, for under 15,000 a month you should be able to find a nice one bedroom or studio no problem. If you want to share you can get a nice 3 bedroom for 20,000 or less.
And if you have any interest in hiking give me a shout when you arrive.
See, Sandman, we can be cool out here, too. Well, neighbourly anyway.
[quote]And if you have any interest in hiking give me a shout when you arrive.
See, Sandman, we can be cool out here, too. Well, neighbourly anyway. [/quote]
If he moves to Bitan he can buy me some beers. See, I can be neighbourly too.
Let’s just hope he knows how to spell neighbour.
Mucha is great; you get the tea mountain w/out the long commute. A major university is next door so you can find most services locally, plus they open up some of the capmus facilities to the locos.
You can also find houses with garden for cheap - I love having my hammock outside next to my BBQ and show all the neighbours what a fat slob I am.
How much is cheap for where you live?
I’m in the Mucha area. Five minutes’ walk from MRT. NT$16,000/mo get me a two-bedroom newly refurbished apartment in an older building.
Sandman, I know you’re a great advocate of moving down to Bitan, and if it wouldn’t’ve meant a longer commute with two changes on the MRT I might well have been chewing poppadams with you, washed down with some of your beer.
I’ve never been cool.
Cheaper for me would be under 13000NT ideally.
Is that possible?
[quote=“Hwozdecki”]Cheaper for me would be under 13000NT ideally.
Is that possible?[/quote]
In a shared apartment, no problem.
On your own, more difficult. It depends how well you deal with damp and cockroaches. I was in a place for NT$7,000 until recently.
What can I get living on my own for 12000NT?
Thanks,
Jeff
We should keep in mind that there are many different places in Muzha…the borders of which are not the easiest to define. Hsing Lung Rd. Sec. 3 is considered both Muzha and Jingmei. What would Hsin_Hai Rd. Sec. 5 be considered? Both, perhaps.
Muzha Borough–Mu Zha Li–is a small neighborhood, but the greater Muzha area (to coin a term) is quite large: NCCU and the crazy community development going on behind it, the area between NCCU and the Zoo, the farms up in Maokong, Muzha and Muxin Roads, Hsing Lung (XingLong) and Hsin_Hai (XinHai) Roads, Wanfang Community (mentioned above), etc. etc. etc.
(BTW I can understand the pin-yin corrector wanting to change Mu_Cha to Mu_Zha in a post–this still drives me nuts–but changing someone’s username, a la Muzha Man, is just not on IMO.)