Goldfish,
I think this needs to be put into context. Taichung is pretty boring in comparison to New York or London, but its pretty fabulous in comparision with Changua or Taoyuan (which I have stated previously is a dump).
I think Taichung has some good things going for it: Daken, the Art museum, the Londoner, Mitsukoshi, no rain, my friends…! 
As well as some poor things, acid crazed bus drivers, giant mosquitoes, lack of good quality education, dirty air. 
I love Taichung so I am biased.
Never bothered with this website before, and nice to see some rapid responses. So we have a Taoyuan v rest of Taiwan forum … OK, Taoyuan, and it depends on the individual, but some of the things I thought were good and stick in the memory…
The ability to see the ocean and the sunsets from my Nan Kan apartment window (normally just see smog from Taichung apartment), be able to get to the Ocean in 20 minutes in the car, and then see piles of local families out doing things like flying kites (culture), and being out instead of being jammed in the city malls. The Opposite direction from apartment in 30 mins I could be up the wild mountains, see the packed out old temples (culture), come across bands of locals playing weird and wonderful music (culture), come across plenty of local aboriginal mountain dwellers selling forest stuff eg: wood carvings, fresh foods (like they grew or got from forest)… OK so that was getting out of the city, but even on the Mountain bike from house, it took ten minutes to get into the farmlands, get lost amongst the padi fields, where invariably I’d have cups of tea with farming families in the middle of nowhere (15 mins from Nan Kan) whose kids had never met a foreigner and wanted to try the few words of English they new, and so on … I even had a full tour of a rice farmers ancient house, and little cultural things carefully explained to me like why they used a fish head to make the holes to plant stuff …
Meanwhile, downtown Taoyuan, so many old little restuarants, or restaurants with good local food, with friendly local staff amazed to see foreigners coming in for dinner, dirty old nightmarkets with the best steaks and seafood you could get, a real bustling nightmarket (selling a hell of a lot more than food). Pubs aplenty and down Minshi road, within a km you could go from busy live bands pubs (Itzu & Rodeo), to more locals pubs (eg: Courier station), where because foreigners were rarer than in Taipei or Taichung, you got treated to smiles, greetings and instant conversations. Biggest night club in Taiwan, (Lion King) just up the road, a Thai nightclub down the road, on Sundays an area of the city that exploded with Thai/Ind/Philippine factory workers out for their day off. Any day of the week a NT$50 bus ride from Nan Kan dropped you in central Taipei, for it’s many haunts.
I have also previously lived a few months in a few other cities of Taiwan, and Tainan, and yep I would even put Tainan up above Taichung for being a more interesting place, to live.
So Taichung … how does it compare, and umm … what is so good about the Londoner - except for Friday/Saturday I don’t think I have ever seen more than half a dozen people in there mid week ?
[quote=“Goldfish”]- The ability to see the ocean and the sunsets from my Nan Kan apartment window (normally just see smog from Taichung apartment), be able to get to the Ocean in 20 minutes in the car, and then see piles of local families out doing things like flying kites (culture), and being out instead of being jammed in the city malls. The Opposite direction from apartment in 30 mins I could be up the wild mountains, see the packed out old temples (culture), come across bands of locals playing weird and wonderful music (culture), come across plenty of local aboriginal mountain dwellers selling forest stuff eg: wood carvings, fresh foods (like they grew or got from forest)… OK so that was getting out of the city, but even on the Mountain bike from house, it took ten minutes to get into the farmlands, get lost amongst the padi fields, where invariably I’d have cups of tea with farming families in the middle of nowhere (15 mins from Nan Kan) whose kids had never met a foreigner and wanted to try the few words of English they new, and so on … I even had a full tour of a rice farmers ancient house, and little cultural things carefully explained to me like why they used a fish head to make the holes to plant stuff …
Have you been to the Taichung Seaport Arts Centre, to Stock 20, to the Fine Art Museum, to the dozens of decent foreign food restaurants, to the greater number of decent local food restaurants, to the coast at Da-an, to the earthquake museum and the Lin Family Gardens in Wufeng, to the hikes and hot springs in Dakeng, to the jazz festivals and to the Zhonghua and Fengjia nightmarkets for starters?
I’m sure Taoyuan’s fine, but Taichung’s not bad too.
Taichung is great! It has “the best weather and water quality of all major cities in Taiwan” (all 3 of them). That’s the reply I usually get when I criticise Taichung. So be grateful. You could be living in a place with [url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/taiwan-worse-than-a-3d-world-country/16208/1 weather and no water[/url]! 
Some other things you have in Taichung:
and of course
the nearby wonderful Da Ken Scenic Area:
(1) The toilets in Chung Yo were mentioned in Time Magazine.
That hiking trail up in Da Keng used to be all jungle before the 921 earthquake. Maowang and I were some of the first ones up there about a week afterward and it was just a bunch of big mounds of dirt with some lucky little Formosan macaques skittering about around on the rocks. The trees and wooden walkway had sloughed off to the side…damn!
That’s also the place where an orangutan bit a hiker’s crotch during an epic 2 hour battle with the ape about 3 years ago.
So that’s another thing the 'Chung has going for it: Damned dirty apes.
Same here, I was a student in that city as well, but once you start making money and want to do things, there is not much to do.
But it does have a slower pace than Taipei, so it depends on the person and what kind of lifestyle they enjoy.
[quote]the nearby wonderful Da Ken Scenic Area:
(and wonderful picture of scenery)
[/quote]
I didn’t know the Great Wall of China went through Taizhong! 
For bustling immigrant workers getaway, try first square, down by the railway station. Or Taizhong Park on a Sunday.
Nearby mountain hikes and hotsprings.
Taichung Harbour Fish Market.
Western Restaurants abound behind Sogo.
Want to talk to locals, why don’t you head off into the surrounding hills and mountains and get yourself lost here too.
Taizhong Metropolitan park has the the family kite flying thing going on.
There’s an aboriginal restaurant on International Street (still haven’t worked out why they call it that)
Art Street has… well… restaurants.
There a plenty of little restaurants (if you would like to extend them the graciousness of calling them that) who are stunned when a foreigner eats there.
Great little icecream shop across from the Science Museum.
Hang around the universities for some busltiing, cheap shopping action stuff.
Face it. Taiwan is not as buslting as Taipei, neither is it as back water as Taoyuan.
Personally I prefer the weather (but someone left the door to the fridge open this winter.)
I have to say I agree with original poster. After 6 months in Taoyuan, I moved here to study chinese last Sepember, being also slightly swayed with reports of Taichung being the ideal place for foreigners to live in Taiwan. Well, besides the weather being significantly better and a better choice of foreign restaurants, I think Taichung is pretty lame even compared to a shithole like Taoyuan and Jhongli.
A previous poster got it right when he said the foreigner community bonds together better in Jhongli/Taoyuan. I certainly found it much easier meeting people up north and foreigners there definitely seem to look out for each other more. Taichung just seems like it has far too many cliques.
Having said that, I’d love to meet up with some other Taichung Forumosans willing to change my outlook on the place. 
[quote=“GongChangZhang”]
Art Street has… well… restaurants.[/quote]
And the best little porcellain shop/cafe in the whole world in Yishu North Street, ha.
I woke up one Sunday to have one of those Macaques starring at me through my bedroom window. My dog went nuts.
Taichung is the best and worst place to live in Taiwan. If you can get a house in the mountains much of the crime and pollution goes away.
For me Taichung is like a little Tijuana and a little Las Vegas all mixed into one.
Once upon a time, there was a tight-knit community of foreigners operating in Taichung.
Over time, with the loss of some and the influx of a few hundred, if not a few thousand, snotty bachelor kiddies who immediately depressed the market value of English teachers, the vibe changed.
Now, there are so many foreigners running around, it’s just not possible to have that “community feel” one poster suggests is lacking.
It’s like when you live in a small town where everyone knows everyone - the stranger is the one you don’t know, so you make a point to say hi and ask where they’re from.
In a city, everyone is a stranger, so people walk around all day ignoring one another and never saying hello. It just takes too much time and effort to introduce yourself to everyone you pass on the street.
The foreigner population of Taichung has achieved that critical mass where people must ignore each other.
People who want to socialize will find places and opporunities to do so.
If your complaint is that there is NO foreigner community waiting to welcome you with open arms, that’s not quite true…but things, as i said, are different these days.
Ok, so I’ve lived in Taichung for some time and seen/done/heard about the following activities/sights/things-to-do (in the city or accessible within a two hour drive):
Hash Harriers every Saturday,
Da-keng hiking trails (and the creepy abandoned amusement park),
Science Museum,
Art museum,
Football and rugby games on Sundays at Morrison Academy,
Sun Moon Lake (1-2 hour drive through the mountains),
Wufong 921 Museum,
Giant Bhudda in nearby Chunghwa,
Mala Bay Water Park in Fengyuan,
Art Street and Metropolitan Park,
Jurie (one of the better paragliders in Taiwan, knows all the jump spots, always willing to take you on a tandem flight for a reasonable price),
Guguan hot springs…
What have I missed? I’m only here till the end of the year, and want to maximize my free time whilst here.
On another note, I’m planning to do a 7-day East Coast mission. Head up to Taipei, on to Keelung, then head down the coastline, passing through Hualien (a day or two to explore Taroko Gorge), Taitung (maybe a day on Green Island), and down to Kenting, stopping where I feel fit. Then heading back up to Taichung from Kenting.
Your suggestions for this trip please? Must-do’s? Must-see’s? Is there a post on this I missed?
Cheers ya’ll!
I didn’t see anybody mentioning the botanic garden thingy which locates just behind the Science Museum.
It only costs 20 bucks to go in and you see lots of beautiful tropical plants with some water feature. There are also quite a few huge fish from the Amozon. If I remember correctly, the feeding time is 3:00pm. If you can understand Chinese, listen to the broadcast of registering to go up in the lift to view the whole thing from top of the architecture. You can also observe the colorful rainforest frogs in the tank in the basement. Last time when I went there, they also had a Machaw (colorful bird - not sure how to spell).
What I really have to mention is one set of steps that leads to the top of the waterfall. I happened to design this set of steps when I came back for my summer vacation from NZ. I worked in the firm that was doing this project and got involved in designing the steps. So if you happen to fall from the steps, you know who to blame.
There are lots happening in Taichung my friend. You just have to open your mind a bit.
HouLi
I was lucky to have lived in Taichung back when the “buzz” was fresh and bubbling. There were pockets offoreigners who’d bond, but for the most part there’s not much going on there outside of shopping. It was an okay place, but not my cup of tea.
So, for shopping - there’s a plus.
The pubs were okay but the crowds fluctuated and one cool place would become a gangster haven (Liion King) and then you’d move on. It’s a bit like musical chairs.
What sucks most about Taichung is that the weather has no diversity - its muggy no matter what. The air is filthy. Nothing will change that.
As for food -you can find what you need, though Taichung is not particularly innovative. I remember when western fast food went from MCD’s to BK to KFC to Subway to Church’s Chicken to simply McDonalds and KFC EVERYWHERE. When you’re single and runnin’ around and need a taste of slop from the west - diversity’s important. 
Despite Compass, Taichung was not too happening for a single person. It was easy to meet lovely lasses through Compass, but in terms of being out and about - it was boring except for shopping.
What sucks most about Taichung is the traffic. It is congested and the driving is sub-animalistic. When I lived there I must have seen a hundred accidents. I stopped counting when I saw 60 by my third month there. I personally saw six people die in accidents my year and a half there. 5 of them happened on Wenshin road, and one happened near the train station. Every trip on the scooter was like playing Russian roulette.
So, if you’re married and like psycho driving (pretty much most of Taiwan, but in Taichung it’s amped up) and shopping - then Taichung’s for you.
I went back there for Lunar New Year and was saddened by how gentrified Fong Jia became. The night market situation there is NOTHING like it used to be (all of Taichung’s night markets seem to be smaller than before, sadly), and a lot of the cool, hip shops near the universities all seem to have shuttered, or moved, or basically become mirrors of other, pre-established shops.
Conformity is big in Taichung business.
The observations about Hsinchu are pretty dead on. Food, drink and housing are as expensive (if not MORE expensive) than parts of Taipei, and the lcolas simply accept “well it’s the science park” as the reason, despite most locals barely being able to affording living there if they don’t work in the science park. The night life there has declined substantially over the years, and like Taichung - it is basically a place for shopping. The long term expat community there is f’d up, too. Basically high school all over again. I now bypass Hsinchu and head to Taipei when I want a weekend of entertainment and enjoyment. Case example:
Some blonde-haired, corn-rowed, fat expat cow laughed at me as I was accompanying a freind to Subway for lunch. She and two of her expat friends were soaking up java at the nearby coffee shop, but I was 100% she was looking at me since I stared back at her after I heard her murmering.
Was it my ECW t-shirt? I don’t think so.
Was it my orange, spiked hair?
Had to be, unless she was a racist pig and laughing at my friend who was from Bangeladesh.
So, having been out of highschool for 16 years - and tired of cyber geeks and gold digging locals who want engineers - I’d say give Hsnichu a pass too.
I just got from my first trip to Taizhong. I think it’s a really nice place, after my threes days of checking it out.
-The city seems well planned. Roads and highways actually make it look like a proper city.
-Trees and grass everywhere.
-Donghai uni was pretty nice. Trees. Grass. Not many stray dogs.
-Sidewalks are huge. Taizhong actually has SIDEWALKS!!!
-Taizhong park is nice. Trees, grass, water, turtles, fish etc.
-Buses are new and in good condition. Convenient enough.
-Food is nice. Stinky tofu is spicier in taizhong. spicy = better
-Zhongyou department store is good as far as department stores go.
-Cool bustling areas/ night markets near Zhongyou and a university (forgot name).
-Taizhong has streets just for cafes and shops, where no cars or scooters can go.
-Starbucks staff who don’t insist on speaking English because you’re a foreigner, and foreigners can’t speak Chinese.
I didn’t go to see any aboriginal art, laughing buddha or old temples. All of that shit is boring, and it’s not stuff that you’re going to experience everyday living in the city. And Taiwan is small, so if you want to go and take photos of any of that crap you can get there from anyway in the country in little time and at little expense.
I don’t know about that whole hanging out with foreigners thing. It kind of defeats the purpose of living overseas for me. Fair enough if you have “foreign friends”, but I don’t think it makes a fun experience banding together and making a community. It’s way too easy to miss out on the great times that Taiwan has to offer that way.
I had two choices before I came to Taiwan. Go to a uni in Gaoxiong or Taizhong. I picked Gaoxiong, but kind of regretted my decision when I arrived in Taizhong. Especially when I found out I could’ve been doing 20 hours of class a week, compared to my 6 hours (!!!) in Gaoxiong.
Taizhong seems like a bigger city than Gaoxiong to me. KHH has more people, but Taizhong definately has more of the elements that make a city a city. Parks, proper roads, proper buses, less rednecks.
Anyway going to Taizhong made me see the good points of Taizhong, Gaoxiong and Taipei, and I decided they’re all good in their own way. Taiwan is awesome.
[quote=“tetsuo500”]Taizhong definately has more of the elements that make a city a city. Parks, proper roads, proper buses, less rednecks.[/quote]Well, I’ve lived in Taichung for 17 years, and travel quite frequently to Kaohsiung. My observation is exactly the opposite of yours, except perhaps the part about rednecks. Pretty much a draw there.
Sidewalks? Yeah, around the Chunggang Rd. / Science Museum area, but everywhere else it’s walk in the gutter with the scooters like every other one-horse buttfuck town in Taiwan. If it wasn’t so goddam hot down there, we’d move to Kaohsiung in a heartbeat.
I have lived in Taichung for 76 years, and I am Hsiadogah’s great-grandfather. Taichung is the best city in Taiwan in which to live. Except for the traffic thing, which has been deteriorating ever since the Japanese left. And the chessplayers in Taichung are so damn good, they accidentally vaporize novice players just by looking at them. So that can be a hassle if you don’t play chess well. Also keep in mind that the best expat poker players in Taiwan are all found in Taichung. And don’t get me started on the great local bands we have here.
So, come to Taichung. Sure, you might occasionally step in dogshit, but it’s pretty much nirvana otherwise.
Yo, Gramps. 'Sup?
[quote=“Dirt Merchant”]
On another note, I’m planning to do a 7-day East Coast mission. Head up to Taipei, on to Keelung (Jilong), then head down the coastline, passing through Hualian (a day or two to explore Taroko Gorge), Taidong (maybe a day on Green Island), and down to Kending, stopping where I feel fit. Then heading back up to Taichung from Kending.
Your suggestions for this trip please? Must-do’s? Must-see’s? Is there a post on this I missed?[/quote]
Try to find Water-Running-Up (shui shang liu). It is just amazing, water that flows uphill, really!