I want to go on a little “fact”-finding mission in each of these three cities to observe very subjective measure of how much visible smog there is.
In Kaohsiung for example, there is the 85 sky tower where you can get a high enough view of the city to see the overlaying smog in the way that you just can’t get from street level.
I wonder if there are similar (but not necessarily that tall) buildings with some kind of good/majorly unobstructed view of each city that are publicly accessible, so I can get some kind of visual idea beyond the numbers.
Ambassador hotel in downtown Hsinchu is pretty tall. I don’t know if there is an accessible balcony for you to do your measurements though.
You can also hike to several platforms on the 十八尖山 trail. These vantage points don’t offer a wild view, but does allow you to see all the way to the coast on a clear day.
Another place would be this establishment on the 茄苳景觀大道
To see Taichung city yiu can go to the Taichung metropolitan park area and Dadushan 'night viewing area ’ overlooking the city.
‘Xinxingli, Dadushan, Wuri District, Taichung City’
From inside the city it’s often hard to see the layers of pollution…I often fly into Taipei Songshan and the layer becomes obvious from above and just as you enter it at center times of year.
