It was a mixture of shit and piss. You know when you flush a toilet the water goes somewhere, right? It’s supposed to go into a holding tank or septic system and then later should be pumped into a proper sewer line and off to a water treatment plant. This would be a civilized country which has laws and regulations which are followed. Taiwan ain’t that kind of place.
So, in my building, every night about midnight, some pump would pump out the holding/septic tanks into the gutter or rain water runoff and into the Tanshui River. The stink of shit and piss would make me gag and it was especially bad during the summer months. Think, cooked piss and shit!
I’m looking at apartments and houses as options to move to all around north Taiwan. Yilan has by far the best options for housing in North Taiwan. Houses can be found in Taoyuan and zhongli and Longtan and LInkou but more expensive. Longtan has some very nice housing communities, a bit pricey though and they wouldn’t match up to Malcolm’s standards.
My in laws live in a house in the countryside I go there sometimes to decompress .
Houses in Taiwan are usually townhouses of course and not independent one off housing , which is almost impossible to afford in the cities. Apartments come with some advantage, namely security, trash, convenience , sometimes shared facilities gyms and pools if lucky. Some apartment layouts are better than houses, it depends.
Right here. You can’t see the outflow pipe because it’s on the inside of the community, but it flowed directly into the drain/storm water gutter right here.
The dumb assed name of this Housing Project is 山海大地.
Mountains? Where? Not!
Ocean? Nope!
Big land? Tiny assed garden area with an outdoor swimming pool that was only open 2.5 months out of the year. Oh yeah, stupid assed swim caps required, even if you are bald!
Monthly condo fee for a tiny assed 50 ping place was $3,000 NTD per month. For what? Security guards who sleep at their posts and a pool that’s only available for 2.5 months per year? Parking was $2,500 per month.
Of course I reported it. Nobody gave a shit. Pun intended.
They might not do it any longer as this was 20 years ago and now a new condo has been built nearby and I believe they put in proper sewage systems on TanJing Road.
But, who knows and who cares anyway?
Go up into classy Tienmu on a super hot, humid night and walk the streets and tell me what you smell? Sewage.
Man, what a nightmare!
I’ve lived somewhere similar in Zhonghe, except the KTV was from the temple nearby. Not only KTV, but also chants and “music”.
Then I moved to Sanxia and found a much better place. Still a condo, but none of the previous problems.
Some people here don’t give a shit about being noisy. Kids being noisy is normal.
But for example a neighbor with a makeshift temple in their home installed a large bell with an automatic timer to ring it every Sunday at 5:30 am! WTF!
For the last couple of months I’ve been smelling sewage when I pass through my apartment building’s lobby, but only at night. It’s an older building, probably at least 20 years old. So…your comment seems to explain it. It’s a minor inconvenience because I quickly get into the elevator and go to my floor, where I don’t smell it. Still, it’s a few seconds of nastiness that I’d rather avoid. I don’t see how the 105-year-old building “guard” stands it, must just be used to it.
I pass by Shanhai Dadi all the time. It was built in 1996. Newer developments don’t have these problems. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but I don’t think it’s a prerequisite to high rise living, but problems at that particular community and attitudes by Taiwanese in general.
But I maintain that single family houses should be at most, rare in terms of the Public Good.
Taiwan’s high density living also provides easier social mobility and was likely a major contributing factor in its rapid development. If you’re poor in Canada or the US, you often stay poor. You’re often paying the poor tax, especially on a car that is on its last legs. Car maintenance and rent, since the supply of housing is vastly outstripped by demand often consumes a large portion of expenses, leaving little savings and little ability to use resources to increase financial success. High density living and the ability to use your feet to go where you need, be it walking or public transport can lift communities further out of poverty. Transportation is the single-biggest contributing factor to individual wealth.
They can’t step on my lawn! I put a 3 meter tall wall around my property. But, unlike Taiwanese, I didn’t put it on the property line. I built the wall 6 meters inside, so I have a 6 meter buffer from my wall to the property line. I can walk the perimeter, cut brush and jungle vines that grow up and also plant sharp pointy plants to discourage people from getting too close to my wall. I once caught a neighbor farmer trying to use my wall to set up a lean-to type corrugated tin shack to store his farming shit. He seemed to be angry that I didn’t build my wall on the property line, so he could use my wall as his storage area. “Get off my wall and stop trying to build onto it!”
I refused to participate in all community activities. Condo living is crazy. Why would I want to dress up as Santa Claus to entertain you bunch of idiots? I don’t even celebrate Christmas myself! Why would I want to take a bus tour on the weekend with people that I live with? Why would I want to take part in a Moon Festival BBQ party in the garden area with a bunch of strangers? Why would I want to organize or participate in a “mother’s and grandma’s tea time” to give them the opportunity to practice English? Why does anyone think it’s ok to approach me to check their child’s English homework? Why are Taiwanese so desperate to see the inside of my house? What do they think is in there? Weird foreigner sex torture devices? Gee whiz…I’ve only got fireworks, gasoline, marijuana and machetes!
Anyone else received the weird request, “Can I see inside your house?”
Ayo, they want to give you loads of face la! Checking out other peoples homes and telling them how awesome it is is very important here. You just don’t understand Taiwanese culture…
Hope nobody steps on your lawn
