Well, the real killer is the lack of appropriate work. In Hualien I’d be back to teaching conversation classes, or something like that. Nothing wrong with that kind of work, but I’d prefer to be with a large international law firm or technology company and it’s my understanding that there’s nothing like that there.
But the wife’s happiness matters too. Even if I didn’t care if she were happy, at least I couldn’t bear to hear the nagging and complaining if she weren’t. :aiyo:
According to the China Times, the best place in Taiwan to live in is…
Penghu County
That’s followed up by Taibei City, Hualian County, Yilan County (represent!), and Taoyuan County. Rounding out the bottom were Nantou County (ouch! a bit of surprise, you’d think Zhanghua or Yunlin Counties would have gotten the nod there,) followed by Miaoli County and Gaoxiong City. Another interesting thing to note is that while Taibei City got #2, Taibei County came in #20.
I propose that anyone living in Taibei city who whines about life there (“Wah! People park there scooters on the sidewalk! Wah! I can’t find an authentic Greek salad!”) should be heckled with “Then move to Penghu!”
You can check out their site for the complete list and criteria (in Chinese) here: forums.chinatimes.com/report/200 … /index.htm
The list is nothing like the order I’d put things in. In particular, Kaohsiong at 21 and Tainan City at 19? Admittedly, I don’t really know either of them that well, but I’d have put them both near the top of my list. What’s wrong with them? Any residents of either like to comment?
And Taoyuan No.5? 
I need that one explained to me too …
Do I detect a smidgeon of big-city-envy there? 
Did Chiayi even make it on the list?
Does it also say on what they base this ranking? I mean what things they put into their consideration? Maybe that would make the list a bit clearer because to me the ranking seems a bit strange (at least not that way how I would have put it) but maybe I just don’t Chinese/Taiwanese culture. 
I wonder if they got websites on how to send scooters to hell…
Isn’t Taoyuan just one big chemical dump?
I’m sure someone could, but it might involve baseball bats and crowbars…
Best to just not ask.
I have written about the shonky state of Taoyuan before. Linkou and Gueishan are particularly nasty, dirty holes. I lived there for 6 months, and had respiratory problems, and dry skin the whole time I was there. The water is regularly filthy, and poorly managed too. Since moving from Gueishan my health has improved significantly. MrsHill still works there and suffers from migraines, and also respiratory problems. AAAGH.
There is no such toen as Tainan.
It doesn’t exist.
Its a myth.
You are getting sleepy…sleepy…
Incredible! Number 18! I’ve only been there a few times but every time I go it just seems a nice place. Some fairly wide streets and some nice buildings to look at. Friendly people, and there are even a couple of examples of that most sensible thing, the roundabout (traffic circle).
Lists were made to be refuted. What sort of economic opportunity could possibly exist in Peng Hu?
Good old Taibei county for me.
Boohoo. I remember seeing a post by modlang not too long ago that listed all the different bars Tainan has. Oh, the things I would do to live in a city with even a fraction of that amount of nightlife.
I’ve only visited once, but Tainan seemed to be a great city with a near perfect combination of just enough city things to do at night, nature things to do right outside the city, all with a very reasonable cost of living. If anything, you should be rubbing other people’s noses in it about how much better it is than that city to the north.
You took TC’s post the wrong way. He agrees that Tainan is a great city! He is indeed a rubber of northern noses from time to time.
If we move my wife’s godddamned mama including her goddamned sofa and the whole rest of the family bunch with us, my wife may agree to move out of Taipei.
Sigh.
Hello All,
I’m hoping you can help me out. I have do give a presentation to a local (Taiwan) HR next week on pros/cons, etc. of expatriates living in Tainan, Kaoshiung vs. Taipei. I need to let them know (or things they don’t see) which are special to that area of Taiwan. So far I have thought of a couple very obvious things that foreigners would see which is – many different pinyin systems in the south (Taipei mostly uses Hanyu system), majority of the people speak Taiwanese whereas most people in Taipei will speak Mandarin, and lack of good public transport.
I’m hoping people that live in Tainan or Kaohsiung could help clue me in on living there which may be good to bring up. Also, are there any foreign organizations/groups down there that you would recommend to newly arrived expats and their families? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Following my previous topic ( or possibly rant), I’d like to know your views on best places to live.
City or country. North, west, east or south. Where’s hot, where’s not. Where’s improving and what’s going to the dogs.
I don’t think it matters much as long as you find a decent house. I bought a nice house in a really arsebackwards part of Taichung county and it’s done us grand.
Taipei has the best infrastructure but the roadworks, traffic, pollution and awful weather make life miserable. Taichung has the nicest public areas, parks, museums etc. but it’s not actually that much cheaper than Taipei any more. Tainan has nice weather, boats, bikers and a laid back lifestyle - take that as paradise or hell according to your personal temperament. Kaohsiung is… somewhere I am still trying to find something nice about. Pingdong is a lot of fun in a backward kind of way and full of cute aboriginal girls, plus it’s not far from Kending but it’s miles away from anywhere. Don’t bother with anything East of the mountain range unless you enjoy driving 6 hours to get anywhere.
Taichung rental prices are not even in the same league as Taipei. I pay 10 000NT for a 35 Ping apartment, it would be more than double that in TP. Many of my friends have 2 and 3 bedroom apartments for under 10 000Nt. In addition to the other things listed, Taichung also has excellent restaurants and entertainment options, great weather and is centrally located. Taichung has a bright future indeed.