My boyfriend is looking for English teaching jobs right now from the states. We want to live in Taipei, but he’s applying to a job in Jung Li as a backup.
Now, the salary for the Jung li job is higher, and the rents (from what I can find online) seems to be a lot lower. And it’s only an hour away from Taipei, which I can deal with.
The question is…is it an OK place to live? I’ve read some old posts that describe Jung Li as everything between a bit of a hole to gangster capital of Taiwan. How serious were the posters being. Anybody actually want to stick up for Jung Li?
(Yes, I do feel silly asking a bunch of foreigners about a city in Taiwan when I’m Taiwanese. But I left when I was 9 years old, m’kay. I’d ask my mom, but I know sh’d be very biased against any other city in Taiwan. And the official website of the city was kind of unenlightening.)
[quote=“Battlepanda”]Now, the salary for the Jung li job is higher, and the rents (from what I can find online) seems to be a lot lower. And it’s only an hour away from Taipei, which I can deal with.
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I’m 15 minutes further away from Taipei than you’d be in Jung Li.
Also, it depends how close you are to the freeway entrance. You can spend 20 minutes just getting onto the freeway then scoot to Taipei pretty quickly at times.
We go to Taipei a couple of times a week and get it out of our system.
If the job is paying higher, then it is worth considering, but I’d make sure you spend a little more on your apartment and get close to the train station. That way, Taipei will be easy to get to and from when you need/want to go.
I’d like to live in Taipei but my job is out near Dayuan, so the daily commute would be a real hassle. Besides that, I reckon that you will tend to SPEND more cash in Taipei because there are so many cool places to eat and drink and shop. That means you will save a LOT more living in Jung li and heading into Taipei once or twice a week (than living in Taipei)
We try to have some monthly gatherings out this way, so keep an eye out and come along…
Jong Li is around half an hour by train from Taipei…a little longer via electric car…I have a good friend who lives in Jong Li and I have visited him a couple of times…there are a few seedy massage parlours around the train station area…in general, it looks okay…there is a wonderful night market, I believe there are two Sogos, and a lot of very hip clothing for teenage girls…cost of living is most likely much cheaper than in Taipei…I would consider it…
Interesting…half hour by train…that I can definitely deal with.
Scared of scooters…don’t even like driving regular cars. It’ll be the bus and train for me.
[quote]
Besides that, I reckon that you will tend to SPEND more cash in Taipei because there are so many cool places to eat and drink and shop. That means you will save a LOT more living in Jung li and heading into Taipei once or twice a week (than living in Taipei) [/quote]
A little artificial self-control always helps.
My vote goes for Jhongli. I lived and worked there for a year and it was just fine. Some of the apartments in the ‘down town’ area, close to the station tends to be older (and a bit grubby :s ) and also more expensive to rent.
If you rent a little bit further away in the Sogo area (the one opposite the cinemas), the buildings are newer and the rent a bit lower.
If neither you nor your boyfriend wish to own your own transport in the form of a car or motorcycle, Taipei with its much better public transportation system would be a better fit.
Actually, the majority of the stuff in Jongli is centered around the train station (as with most cities in Taiwan)…I think you can get by without a scooter if you live in that general area…also check where you are working and just plan where you live carefully…it should be okay…there are buses that run in Jongli too…but I have never tried them out though…I hope they are not as bad as the ones in Hsinchu…when I vist my friend in Jongli, we pretty much walk around everywhere and made use of free shuttle rides provided by Sogo…he did not have a scooter either…
Actually, the majority of the stuff in Jongli is centered around the train station (as with most cities in Taiwan)…I think you can get by without a scooter if you live in that general area…also check where you are working and just plan where you live carefully…it should be okay…there are buses that run in Jongli too…but I have never tried them out though…I hope they are not as bad as the ones in Hsinchu…when I vist my friend in Jongli, we pretty much walk around everywhere and made use of free shuttle rides provided by Sogo…he did not have a scooter either…
I’ve lived in Taoyuan county for quite a while now. When I first arrived, I thought I’d get by on foot or by bus. That idea lasted a matter of a few weeks… Trust me, life will be much harder for you if you do not have your own transport-- a scooter at very least. There’s no argument that Taipei’s public transport system is vastly superior and you’ll have a much better quality of life, as someone who does not want to own transport, in Taipei.
Chungli suffers from many of the problems of the rest of Taoyuan–really bad infrastructure, poor public services, no green space, and very little culture unless you count the Lion King or betel nut girls. I wouldn’t live there unless you paid me a lot of money.
I’m sure you would save more money there and it does have that real funky, gritty Taiwanese working class feel.
If you go by posters on this forum, every city is ‘gangster capital of Taiwan’. [/quote]
…and Taipei had a Gang shootout in a hotel lobby recently, so avoid that city .
Good point. Even if there are gangsters in Chungli, they will leave you alone unless you owe them money or mess with them directly.
Very often, the people described as ‘gangsters’ in these forums are just working class guys who are looking for a fight or whose parking space you messed with.
Gangsters should be among the least of your worries in Taiwan. In terms of crime, Taiwan is ridiculously safe.
[quote=“Feiren”]Chungli (Zhongli) suffers from many of the problems of the rest of Taoyuan–really bad infrastructure, poor public services, no green space, and very little culture unless you count the Lion King or betel nut girls. I wouldn’t live there unless you paid me a lot of money.
I’m sure you would save more money there and it does have that real funky, gritty Taiwanese working class feel.[/quote]
And the air, and I am not kidding, usually smells like glue.
I lived there for the first 6 months I was there and would never go back.
Also, consider that when people tell you it takes 30 minutes by train to Taipei they are not factoring in the commute to the station, the wait for the train, the ride, then the commute to wherever you want to go in Taipei.
Yeah, rent is cheaper but if you teach and make 80-90,000 a month are you really that concerned about that extra 5,000? You’ll blow more than that on comfort food/drink whatever to compensate for living in wasteland.
Taipei has everything, and is cheap and easy to get around. It also has a lot of green space (if that is important to you) around the outer neighborhoods: Mucha, Neihu, Xindian, even Bali.
