I did a spell in Kaohsiung and then again in Keelung, so I have experienced a bit of both north and south Taiwan. Questions:
Food, customs, celebrations, holidays, traffic, pollution, vegetables, fruit, flowers, hiking trails, ocean beaches, hotels, work office space, living accomodations, living conditons?
Around Hsinchu? Taichung? Changhwa?
It smells down south.
The Taipei-Xindian bridge.
Brian
I guess Sir Donald finds the South a bit underneath him. Not to worry there’s a cricket pitch somewhere down, here. Me thinks Pingtung.
Lots more Taiwanese spoken down here. Laws are mostly ignored down here, although I’m sure the same can be said of up north but not to the same degree as here. Also using the right pinyin never became an issue here. They don’t seem to pay us big noses much attention.
Alright, who turned the auto-pinyin on I spelled it P I N G T U N G, the way it appears in every map I’ve ever read. Although phonetically more accurate I would appreicate having my words appear as I write them, even if only to prove my own idiocy.
Visited Taipei months back for the first time in 9 years!
Differences I noticed (amongst others):
People wore shoes and socks.
Less white vests.
People walking and doing things with a purpose.
Less people per scooter, but more helmets per head.
Less betel nut beauties, more clothes.
Harder to park a car, bus lanes.
Taller buildings with tenants. In Taichung we have lovely half completed skyscrapers just lying around.
Prettier girls, handsome dudes.
Less white vests? What does that mean, Crisp?
it’s amazing to think the you lived in Taichung and didn’t go up to Taipie for 9 years. WOW!
[quote]Less white vests? What does that mean, Crisp?
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Vests in UK, undershirt(?!) in USA. Country folk in Chang Hua seem to deem a white undershirt suitable wear for daily life. Just looks like guys who forgot to put on shirts in the morning!
As to Taipei I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend strange to travel around on the MRT I used to live in Taipei and Chung Hsiao seemed to have this huge hole down the middle for years and years…city mouse for a day enjoyed the visit but was happy to return to the slower pace of central Taiwan…
LOL. I’ve lived in Tai/chung (currently), Kao/hsiung and Tai/pei. The South and the North are completely different…I’d put the boundary just south of Hsin/chu, at the 100KM mark on the Highway. My Taiwanese wife puts the difference quite succintly – referring to Kao/hsiung, she sneered: “It’s like the Mainland down here.”
I’m with crisp on just about everything.
Vorkosigan
Are the girls really prettier down south or just in Taizhong? Where have you seen the prettiest girls? Why are the Bettle nut girls better down south also?
People down south are more friendly and relaxing. Food down south is better, much better and cheaper with larger amount. People down south don’t dislike others that easily as people from north. Less competition of everything down south and life seems easier. More taiwanese than mandarin.
The air’s less visible up north…Taipei has an idea of what a sidewalk is…kinda…the people are used to seeing foreigners so you don’t have every other person saying hello to you because it’s the only English they know (I think I want to take up who ever’s idea of saying ni hao to every Chinese person I see in the West as payback)…the buildings are better planned in Kaohsiung and the roads better laid out, but damn the night markets suck down there…The south has the advantage of not getting cold and windy like the north and it’s a good escape from Taipei in the winter (I mean in Pingtung County, not bloody Kaohsiung).
Whenever I’ve been to Taipei I’ve noticed an abundance of beautiful women, more so than anywhere in the South. I don’t think it’s because any place in Taiwan has a greater percentage of attractive people, but that because a city such as Taipei is so much more crowded and has so many more women, period. Do the math: walking down the street in Tainan, you see a 100 women, a dozen of which are beautiful; walking down the street in Taipei, you see 200 women, two dozen of which are beautiful. So while it may seem at first glance that all Taiwanese women are so beautiful in comparison to women back home, that’s only because you were paying attention to the stunners and not so much attention to the plain jane or unnattractive women which make up the majority.
The most beautiful girls in Taiwan are in Feng Shan city, Kaohsiung county.
I have no idea why but there is so much eye candy there. :shock:
You can’t say that Taipei girls are inherently prettier because most Taipei residents weren’t born there. However, Taipei girls seem to have more pressure to dress and make-up. More competition for everything.
You’ll notice the political landscape is quite different down here. Start with your wisecracks about A-Bian on the street and a visit to a casualty ward is likely. The usual wiseguys were making a tv show on a Kao/hsiung street and one made a ‘joke’ about “A-bian-laden” and promptly got stomped by the audience :lol
I find the Chung/li and Tao/yuan area the most reminiscent of China’s run-down industrial urban grittiness, congestion, pollution and general eyesore. By comparison Kao/hsiung is a shining example of urban planning and management.[/u]
Personally, I think Taipei girls are cute! Just go to Ximending or Sogo!
Hey, head for Sanduo Lu in KHH and you’ll see plenty of hot babes at the dept. stores. BTW, funny about saying its more like the Mainland down here, there are more Mainlanders up there.
[quote]The usual wiseguys were making a tv show on a Kao/hsiung street and one made a ‘joke’ about “A-bian-laden” and promptly got stomped by the audience :lol
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I would’ve stomped him to for such a lame attempt at a joke.
Brian
The pace of life in the South is somewhat slower. It feels like slacker’s paradise down here and you WILL turn into a slacker if you don’t watch out.
Seen this too many times, especially students who come here with lots of drive “to get something done” and after a couple of months you meet them on the street and it’s like “Yeah, I don’t go to classes that often any longer, but hey…I work for ten hours a week in a kindy and still get by.”
I live in the north but get down south for work reasons about once a month. With the exception of Chiayi (boring expanse of hot concrete) the south is more fun than the north. Better weather (that’s important for an Aussie like me), friendlier people, more space.
Kaohsiung has its grimy industrial side, but for me, the most depressing parts of Taiwan are the cities around Taipei, Yungho, Chungho, Panchiao etc.