I gather things are pretty dead in Taichung City then since the forum here doesn’t get any regular comments.
Any recent news on good pubs in Taichung City?
Is there a live music scene in Taichung City - i.e., Live Houses or pubs with open mic nights?
What and where are the most modern and best movie theaters?
There are no IMAX theaters in Taichung, although you can watch 3D movies in most of the newer theaters. There is the Gold Class theater in Tiger City that lets you watch movies from a recliner while being served from a restaurant menu.
Sometimes dead is better.
Or undead, even.
What is the bar scene like now? Are the old standards still okay like the Londoner and Smooth?
what is that place down there where all the tarts go latenight for a bit of laowai action, the pork pie, or something like that?
Pig Pen - should still be open. And damn right you are - mos def plenty tarts at Ye Ole Piggy Pen.
I wonder where the gangster filth is going these days to schnaff their 1 metre lines of K…
There are two good venues for live, original music in Taichung.
Emerge Live House is up on the hill near Tunghai University.
Sound Live House is on the west side of Taichung in Henan Road.
Taichung is home to the overwhelming majority of high caliber foreign bands on the island and whilst live venues are limited, the talent pool in Taichung is arguably deeper than anywhere else. Your best bets for open mic is 89K every Thursday, sometimes Friday. Generally speaking the best places to watch live music these days is the somewhat long in the tooth 89K and the somewhat limited in capacity but fun Retro. In general though the city has been in steady decline for the last 10 years.
Thanks for the links to those 2 places you mentioned.
Taichung is on a decline? I was told that the city is becoming more modern and a new MRT is being built. This has not meant an increase in live music or open mic nights in pubs, bars and coffee ships in the city, then?
I was looking at Google Maps in Taichung and was wondering how recent the Google Street View photos are? For example, in Taipei I know that they are a couple of years old around the Taipei Station area because the Taipei Bus Station hadn’t been built yet. Some restaurants and businesses can’t be seen. Is Taichung’s Street View fairly new or also a little dated?
Depends what you are into. It doesn’t have the range of restaurants or nightlife as in Taipei. It does have some good restaurants here and there though and there is lots more space than Taipei and easy to drive around, sunny almost all the time. It also has quite a few teahouses and coffeeshops dotted about the centre. There is a two line MRT starting construction, won’t be ready for years yet. There has been a luxury house boom in the city hall area, it has gone more upmarket looking. Overall not bad but yes can be a bit dead. It used to be famous as the hippy hangout of Taiwan and while you can still some dotted here and there that era has mostly passed as has the giant seedy KTV and gangster era, contrary to what appears on the news here Taichung is safe and quiet in general.
There is a new City Hall opening soon, an opera house, conference centre, office park…big changes coming but it is going to be a few years in the making.
Sorry to bump here. I’m actually thinking of moving to Taichung. Is there any kind of dance club scene there?
If you’re looking for a fancy place, there is Xaga (owned by the Luxy folk I think) in Tiger City. Otherwise there are a few clubs located within a block of each other, near the Forest Amphitheater park - Pig Pen (used to be a mainly foreign crowd - now not so much - hip hop - bit older crowd), Lion King (hip hop, some Taiwanese bands), Lobby (hard core hip hop, younger crowd), 89K (mainly rock, lot of foreign bands) etc.
[quote=“wix”]There are two good venues for live, original music in Taichung.
Emerge Live House is up on the hill near Tunghai University.
Sound Live House is on the west side of Taichung in Henan Road.[/quote]
Neat, I didn’t know about either of those. Thanks wix.
Be aware that emerge live house opens and closes early (neighbours). Something like 7-9. If anyone is planning to go, let me know.
The Taichung Rock Festival is on the first weekend of September this year in the park at Wenxin.
Good point. Sound Live House also has a similar schedule with most shows starting around 7pm.
Another live house opened recently called IGOO (魚骨). It has a nice cafe/bar area downstairs and a small performance space upstairs. Performances are usually from 9-11pm. It’s located at No. 60 Yude Road, North District, Taichung City (台中市北區育德路60號). Check their blog for more details. wretch.cc/blog/igoo929
Wanted to bump this thread up again.
10 years ago I lived in Taichung and spent some time at Napoli, a bar/restaurant not far from Sogo, Fingas & Frog 1. Is there still a place like that alive in Taichung? ie a somewhat laid back expat bar where you can get a beer, look at some wanted ads tacked to a cork board within, mingle with some expats to sponge them for information about living in Taichung? Maybe even make a friend or two, who may have a husband & kids? I’m hoping for someplace not too noisy.
I’ve been here about 10 days now and am starting to feel just a pinch of longing for my family & friends back home.
Try Fubar (near Daye and Jingcheng Roads). There is a strip there with several foreign run restaurants including PJs, Salut etc.
Thanks! I’ll give it a try 