Hey everyone,
I’m thinking of taking a job in Keelung. I was just wondering if anybody could tell me a bit about the city, or maybe point me to some good information about it.
Thanks,
James
Do a search and you should be able to find a few things. MY take? I used to pass by keelung on my way to my apt at the beach in wanli when i took a bus. It has a certain charm. But Keelung is best visited but not lived in. Its super cramped. IT tends to rain 24/7 all winter long. It rains something like 230 days a year !!! Its generally dirty and the buildings are quite old. Its cold in winter , with the cold wind coming from the harbor. In short its a miserable place !! Its tolerable in summer (maybe). Good news is that a bus leaves for Taipei every few minutes !!
The nite market at the temple near the harbor is very famous and has some nice eats.
Edit: Its like that comment that that unspeakable forumosan likes to say. “its not hell but you can see it from here” 
It’s in close competition with Chungli as Taiwan’s worst dump. Keelung may have a slight edge because the weather is so awful. It rains something like 250 days a year.
I was gonna say 270 days a year but thought maybe 230 was enough of a shock , then you go and say 250 ! Basically you can more easily count the number of days of zero rain. Because in summer there are often afternoon thunderstorms as well and also Typhoons.
but no no chungli isnt even close nor is keelung as taiwans worst dump. Shalu and other towns like it are far far far worse.
[quote=“tommy525”]Do a search and you should be able to find a few things. MY take? I used to pass by keelung on my way to my apt at the beach in wanli when i took a bus. It has a certain charm. But Keelung is best visited but not lived in. Its super cramped. IT tends to rain 24/7 all winter long. It rains something like 230 days a year !!! Its generally dirty and the buildings are quite old. Its cold in winter , with the cold wind coming from the harbor. In short its a miserable place !! Its tolerable in summer (maybe). Good news is that a bus leaves for Taipei every few minutes !!
The nite market at the temple near the harbor is very famous and has some nice eats.
Edit: Its like that comment that that unspeakable forumosan likes to say. “its not hell but you can see it from here” [/quote]
Most of what your said also applies to 2/3 of the island though.
The fried crabs at the night markets are heavenly, and cheap too. They serve it to you in brown paper bags and you can have it with salt and pepper or red chili. Yummy!
I work in Jilong one day per week. Depressing, frankly, except for my cheerful students.
The buildings are covered in black mold from the humidity. It always rains. The harbor is full of rubbish. There is a hardcore group of fishermen who pull milkfish out of the harbor to eat, despite the heavy metal pollution and occasional police intervention to stop them.
Outside the city there are far cleaner environs. You might be able to make it work for you. Just abandon your aesthetic sensibilities, day to day, in order to maintain your sanity.
On a beautiful day
Waiting for the policeman to leave
Yeah. I’d appreciate if people could try to describe the place with all things considered. “Dump” not only applies to 2/3 of the island, but to 2/3 of all of Asia (or a higher fraction)–that is if we are using places in the west as our standard of aesthetic comparison. I’m not moving to Keelung expecting it to be Banff or Bar Harbour or Barcelona.
Thanks for everyone’s perspective, though. Nice pictures…
If not for the fact that Keelung rains 24/7 nine-tenths of the year, its got a certain charm . I Liked visiting (in summer) because its cool to see the big ships from the park there. The temple night market has some very good eats. Its on the way to some realy cool places on PingHai road (towards fulung and points south). So its not all bad by any means. Just that its cramped. Buildings are old and jammed togther. (they do have some nice cafes here and there tho). Its got a life of its own and Keelungers like their little town.
I dont mind visiting or passing thru the place. But I wouldnt be keen to actualy live there (unless i got a great apt close to the ocean and a ways away from downtown).
For example, given a choice of Kaohsiung or Keelung, pick Kaohsiung.
Ah, but there’s some wonderful history there.
Yeah. I’d appreciate if people could try to describe the place with all things considered. “Dump” not only applies to 2/3 of the island, but to 2/3 of all of Asia (or a higher fraction)–that is if we are using places in the west as our standard of aesthetic comparison. I’m not moving to Keelung (Jilong) expecting it to be Banff or Bar Harbour or Barcelona.
Thanks for everyone’s perspective, though. Nice pictures…[/quote]
No, by Taiwan standards, its a dump. The distinguishing factor is the truly bad weather and also that because it developed so quickly and so early, there is no room left for green space and new public buildings like those seen in Taipei City and Taipei County. As anywhere in Taiwan, you can find some charm if you hard enough–as Tommy is doing.
It does have some really interesting history, some great food, and a proud working class culture. There are some interesting aboriginal, um, settlements.
All to be enjoyed in perpetual gloom with sound of gently falling rain over a crumbling post-industrial landscape.
Shalu has been unfairly maligned. It’s way nice than Keelung. The weather alone makes it better.
I actually meant Mailiao the site of one of Formosa Plastic Crackers.
OK, yes, Mailiao is definitely in the big leagues for really crappy places to live in Taiwan. The kids in the elementary schools have to wear protective masks on bad smog days because of emissions from the giant naptha crackers nearby. And these are the industries Ma Ying-jeou is trying to protect by having Taiwan sign the ECFA so that the petrochemical industry’s exports to China can stay competitive. End of political diatribe.
I hear Daliao in Kaohsiung is similar. Fengshan City (near Kaohsiung) and Yongkang City next to Tainan also seemed pretty unpleasant to me. Nantou City is unpleasantly rundown.