I am curious, do any of you live in a place that is quiet, away from the city noise, and pollution. Somewhere to collect your thoughts and renew yourself. If you live closer how do you relax?
Yes, my study and my bedroom. I listen to music while in my study, and sleep with earplugs. I live off the mainroad, and overhead aircraft are infrequent. Of course, outside it’s another story - until I get to my quiet office at work.
When I lived in New Garden City (花園新城), I enjoyed wonderful quietness and fresh air, and the trees outside my window were usually full of gaily chirping birds. I lived on the top floor, so there was no noise from upstairs neighbours. Best of all, the windows on both sides looked out on tree-covered hills, with no other building in sight except a temple some distance away on the other side of a deep gully.
I absolutely loved that location. But the problem was, the building was very old and dilapidated. It had a couple of huge cracks from earthquakes, the roof was leaking, the walls of the kitchen were so damp that paint powdered almost as soon as applied, the pipes leaked, the wiring was an awful mess, and so on. I toyed with buying the place and having it done up, but in the end decided that the building didn’t have enough years left to make it worthwhile, so reluctantly bought a new place nearer to the city (still pretty quiet by Taiwanese standards, but nowhere near as idyllic as the old place).
I still miss New Garden City, and often revisit there to see if there’s any flat or house worth buying - but the best ones never go on the market. How I wish they’d demolish my old apartment building and build a new one in its place - I’d be first in the queue to buy one of its top-floor flats if they did.