Does anyone live in Sanchong?
I’m going to live there and I’ve searched and googled and although there is a lovely electric company/ battery factory (I forget) there, it otherwise doesn’t apparently exist. Fell into a void? School lying to me?? Help me out here guys…
Oh it exists alright. . . . and loads of people do live there, and yes, it has fallen into a black hole.
It’s in Taipei County, which is just across the bridge and several decades from Taipei City. A sleazy feel, loads of gritty barber shops (local brothels) and gangstery types. There’s a good pool there somewhere though. Lots of trucks, busy roads and murderous delivery vans scuttling between light industries and out to the airport.
I think it’s also where they execute prisoners. There is a good pool there somewhere though . . . oh, I already said that.
HG
It exists. I suggest that you begin searching for an apartment in Taipei as soon as you get here. You can easily commute to Sanchung, but it really is a complete shithole.
I go there at least once a month (in-laws live there), and I’m always happy to leave. It’s depressing.
Gets my vote for the arm pit, if not bung hole, of Taipei.
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Baaaaaaad place. Take the train from Taipei. 
they are SLOWLY making inraods into ‘beautifying’ the river path… its slow slow slow though.
agree with sandman - rent in taipei and commute to san chung .
i read somewhere, that behind soemwhere in bangledash, san chung is the most densely populated suburb in the world… and all the associated shit that goes with it.
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I lived there. Extremely cheap to rent especially for a newer place. Yes it’s dirty and busy but I enjoyed my neighbors because they took care of me. My neighbor downstairs used to make me fresh Jong Tzu (Zongzi) (rice triangles wrapped in a bamboo leaf) all the time. The good ole boys in the alley leading to my place would offer me beer and at times I would drink with them. The scooter repair shop would look at the scooter I was using, tighten brakes and refill fluids for nothing or next to nothing. The convience store ladies would make it a point to update themselves with my relationship, my drinking habits and my food intake but were also extremely helpful and friendly.
All in all not too bad. Kinda reminds me of my neighborhood back home. Alittle rough around the edges but if you live there you’ll feel like you’re part of something. If you don’t live there you might get that feeling that people are watching your every step and that’s because they are.
Sanchong = Da Hood.
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I lived there for close to a year and personally I think it’s the biggest shithole on God’s green earth… Also, I think that pool is in the next town over (Luzou), if we’re thinking of the same thing.
Lived there for a year and a half and finally moved back into what was literally a six foot by ten foot windowless room in a friend’s old 4th floor walkup Taipei apartment JUST to get out of Sanchong. If that gives you any idea.
The park along the river is OK and the land under the bridge is nice, but you can easily get there from Taipei to have fun on weekends if you want to. The only good thing I can say about my time in Sanchong was that I wasn’t actually living in Xinzhuang, which is where my school was at the time. THAT would have been even worse. 
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My wife and I have lived in San Chung for six years. We live right over the Chung Hsiao Bridge near the beautiful river Styx which separates us from the godless people of Sodom and Gomorrah (aka Taipei).
I would say the same thing about San Chung that Hinton Helper writing in 1855 said about California (quoted from Gold Dust and Gunsmoke, an excellent history of California written by a San Francisco attorney)
“I have seen purer liquors, better segars, finer tobacco, truer guns and pistols, larger dirks and bowie knives, and prettier courtesans here, than in any other place I have ever visited; and it is my unbiased opinion that California can and does furnish the best bad things that are obtainable in America.”
In a similar vein it is my unbiased opinion that San Chung can and does furnish the best bad things that are obtainable in Taiwan.
“Doc” Brian
Gunfighter, gold panner, Attorney at Law
President of the San Chung Legal Reform Association
p.s. I should not mislead people, Taipei is a lot better choice for living that San Chung.
It’s even more polluted and dirty than Taipei city, but it is close to it - just a quick bus ride over the river. It looks awful - one apartment I was interested in, as I walked up to the front door the first time I could not even believe I was actually considering living there - the walls of the buildings were black with pollution, the alley the building was in was like a dank hole. It stank, and everything looked like it was about to break or fall down. But, inside, the room was actually clean and nice, and the rents are way cheaper.
Um…no, you’re not.
K then so the general consensus is that we would rather chew gum from the pavement than live in San Cheong but the rent is cheap- good good. Helpful. I’m the kinda girl though who likes a pretty “real” environment. I kinda like old and gritty and don’t mind stepping over unconcious transvestites in my doorway every morning. I don’t want to be across the road from a starbucks. I don’t like shiny new buildings and brothel free zones. Is San Cheong going to be OK for me then? Alternatively how far is the commuting from Taipei? Bus I presume not MRT? Whats the transport like between the two?
Thanks for the tips…
Go with the MRT! Buses in and around Taipei are alright, about not the smoothest ride. When there’s traffic, you’ll move at a decent pace if there’s a dedicated bus lane, but otherwise, forget it.
How about it, everyone–I could use some suggestions myself–where’s the best place to move, in or around Taipei, within striking distance of an MRT?
Sanchong (let’s get the spelling right people so she can look it up please) is right across the river from Ximending in Taipei City. With buses every few minutes to Ximending (where there’s an MRT station) and the main railway station, At least from some parts of Sanchong, might depend exactly in Sanchong you’ll be. You might even be able to just walk right across the bridge if you’re lucky.
They are extending the MRT through Sanchong, which will probably be finished in 2150.
Ah, an eminently sensible decision. Any special reason why you have to commute to Sanchong? Wouldn’t it be better simply to find a job in Taipei?
Sanchong is ‘real’ but not in an exciting, urban-decay-yet-vibrant kind of way, it’s just a dump. Much better to live in Muzha (in Taipei) - near the mountains, near the MRT but not (yet) gleaming and polished.
[EDIT] It seems like I’m singling out Sanchong here. Let me be clear that it is in good company - there are many, many places in Taiwan that I do not rate highly. I’d still rather live in Sanchong than Mailiao, Yunlin county. That’s truly the most god-forsaken place I’ve seen on this island.
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[quote=“Em-dogz”]K then so the general consensus is that we would rather chew gum from the pavement than live in San Cheong but the rent is cheap- good good. Helpful. I’m the kinda girl though who likes a pretty “real” environment. I kinda like old and gritty and don’t mind stepping over unconcious transvestites in my doorway every morning. I don’t want to be across the road from a starbucks. I don’t like shiny new buildings and brothel free zones. Is San Cheong going to be OK for me then? Alternatively how far is the commuting from Taipei? Bus I presume not MRT? Whats the transport like between the two?
Thanks for the tips…[/quote]
Scooters are cheap.
If you insist on taking the bus, there’s the #39 that will take you down into Sanchong from the Taipei Main Station. Step on the bus across the street from Califorinia gym, it’ll take you over the Chuingshiao bridge and into “Da Hood”. 15 - 20 mins depending on traffic and you’ll be in the center of Sanchong.
It’s really not that bad. I hardly see the differences that some of my fellow F.commers have mentioned. In fact, it’s alittle more ‘alive’ at night in some places. Minsen Dun Lu and Linsen Bai Lu (oldest district in Taipei) remind me of certain parts of Sanchong and I enjoy it.
The people are extremely nice but don’t take kindly to strangers. It’ll take time. Live there for awhile and see how close nit that community is.
Also, keep in mind whom you are speaking with on these boards. Alot of people out here don’t seem to have the stomach or the patience left in them. Could ya blame them given some of their backgrounds?
(No offence Compadres)
Taffy:
It all depends on if you’re lookin but I agree it is pretty umm…dirty but hardly a difference from alot of Taipei City with the exception of Neihu / Dazhi and Tianmu.
Not quite. There is one, or maybe two places worse:
Luzhou - where I lived a lengthy time with my in-laws. Think illegal factories, effluent on the streets, neighbors that beat their wives all night…lower class gangsters and whorehouses than in Sanchong. I had a neighbor that was arrested and later executed.
Xinzhuang - a lawless place fallen between two administrative districts.