Coming to a new country it’s not nice to insult where millions of people live by calling it a dump (at least until after you lived there!), when it provides jobs for a lot of people who can’t jobs in their home country. Taoyuan has lots of working families, people can be more genuine than stuck-up Taipei folks.
It may not be the best place in the world but it’s certainly better than lots of other places in your home country I’m sure. As other posters pointed out Taoyuan can be a heap of fun…too much fun for some folks if you know what I mean.
Taoyuan is a big area incorporating Taoyuan city, other cities and Taoyuan county, parts of which are really nice. Taoyuan’s weather is much better than Taipei’s in general, more wind, fresher air. No public transport and rougher in general than Taipei. Beside Taoyuan there is a city callen NanKan, many foreign English teachers live there, it is a newer area, nicer apts, huge modern mall (Tai Mall) lots of schools (fastest growing kid pop’n in Taiwan seemingly) easy to go in and out on the bus (less than 1 hour to Taipei).
I think the best bet for you is Taipei County, look for a job at the end of the MRT lines or just beyond the end…XinDian, Shenkeng, PanChiao, Tamshui, ShiZr, parts of NeiHu. The other way which may work for you is just calling into places and get lucky, stuff always comes up…