[quote=“MONSTER”]Taffy:
It all depends on if you’re lookin but I agree it is pretty umm…dirty but hardly a difference from alot of Taipei City with the exception of Neihu / Dazhi and Tianmu.[/quote]
Very true, there are many crappy places in Taipei too. I suppose the best thing for the OP to do is to stay in hostels for a couple of weeks and work out where she likes best. I have friends in Tainan who would never choose to live in Taipei, although I like it here. Horses for courses, I guess.
I lived in Sanchong for two years and I liked it. But it really depends on where in Sanchong you choose to live. Just over the Zhongxiao bridge from Taipei Station is a good area. Somewhere along Zhong Zheng S. Rd. could be good. Not too busy (not busier than the city), convenient for shopping (everything is in one area), and convenient enough for transport (one bus stop from Taipei Main).
I also found the people in Sanchong miles friendlier than the people in Taipei City. If I had a job there, I would live there again.
The river park is very nice and close, too.
All in all, you can do much worse than Sanchong. Check it out for yourself.
[quote=“geotpe”]
All in all, you can do much worse than Sanchong. Check it out for yourself.[/quote]
Yes, Banchiao is close by. 
[quote=“Elegua”]
Not quite. There is one, or maybe two places worse:
Luzhou - where I lived a lengthy time with my in-laws. Think illegal factories, effluent on the streets, neighbors that beat their wives all night…lower class gangsters and whorehouses than in Sanchong. I had a neighbor that was arrested and later executed.
Xinzhuang - a lawless place fallen between two administrative districts.[/quote]
No argument here, but seeing as both of those border on Sanchong, I’d venture to say that they’re all on the list. I saw three men carrying pistols run from a car into an apartment building on Chang’an Rd in Luzhou about 7 years back. Didn’t stick around to see what they were up to, but it looked like they were gangsters out to settle a score. 
Ive been living in san chung for the past year. air and traffic noise is still bad, especially if you are near traffic lights on a busy road, also there are lots of temples here burning fake money adding to the mix. rent is waay cheaper, and food is cheaper too. I havent had any trouble or seen anything dangerous in my year here. some people are friendlier than in taipei. For me its a much better option than living in a box in taipei proper. But id consider moving to some where else on the edge of the city, with similar rents, just to get better air
With the new MRT line opening at the end of the year, lots of new apartment buildings and a nice riverside path, Sanchong and Luzhou are definitely looking up … and they’ve got character! 
Sanchong really has come a long long way…the riverbank part is gorgeous, and the new buildings are as fancy as the ones in Xinyi District. Sure, parts of it is pure crap (unless you enjoy getting lost in a hot mess of dirty alleys), but I agree with the guy above. It’s not such a bad place anymore!
And jimipresley lives there and Okami used to live there, which adds another 10-20 points to its rating automatically.
I mean that sincerely.
I was walking around Sanchong yesterday and I saw a little Vietnamese restaurant called, My Dung.
Replying from the future, in the year 2018. The MRT now services Sanchong and the place is slowly becoming gentrified. Pleasant cafes are popping up and even fantastic sushi can be had a great prices. Streets are safe, and no signs of any gangsters. Perhaps the former gangsters of decades past are now the decrepit elderly people that trudge the sidewalks here and there, who couldn’t harm a fly. The times, they have a-changed.
nothing like having neighbors who were arrested and later executed to define a neighborhood…
had a stroll through sanchong today for more or less the first time ever. i can’t say i was impressed but i might move there so it has time to grow on me. i’ve been to the river parks there a couple of times though and they are spectacular.
Lived there 20 years ago, when I first arrived in Taiwan. Had a great time. Not sure what it’s like these days. Maybe still has a dodgy reputation.
Left the island in 99
It would be awesome to visit San Chong again to see all the changes
Lived in SanChong in a tiny studio apartment for a year after arriving in 2016 with my then-girlfriend-now-wife. It still had quite a reputation – everyone would ask “why” when telling them that you’re in SanChong.
Maybe my Chinese was just too shit at the time, but I thought it was fine (less of a skeezy feeling than I got walking around parts of Minneapolis at night). Certainly not “nice” (and I much prefer where I’m staying in Kaohsiung now), but it had it’s own sort of “now this is Asia and not the Midwest” charm to it.
If I ever go back, I still have dreams of eating this guy’s sandwiches again https://goo.gl/maps/vvo4CKS4Rdj9DGCu6 or this MianGeDa (dry) https://goo.gl/maps/AkCfNRmTLYP1Lw7p8 – I ate those several times a week and haven’t quite been able to find anything like it anywhere else in Taiwan.
Sammiches look great
Sanchong is an interesting place! I agree. Its photogenic, lots of parks, old ballfields. Kind of chaotic. Good place to take photos.
Been living in sanchong for around 2 weeks now and i gotta say its rough reputation is a bit exaggerated.
So far i’m really liking the place. The area i live in is pretty chill, nearby to that big er chong park. there’s also a couple of city parks nearby. Its super convenient too. probably due to being incredibly dense and populated, more or less everything is within a 5 minute radius.
I haven’t noticed any gangsters but i have noticed a lot of young kids acting like punks. Riding scooters without helmets, riding through red lights ect. I rarely saw it before but now its a daily thing. I’m seeing a lot of police cars too.
But even with those things i would still say there are plenty of worse neighborhoods in taipei. Zhonghe, Xinzhuang, Wanhua, She zi… all of them are strictly worse than sanchong!
My wife’s aunt lives there. There is absolutely nothing interesting in Sanchong, but at least it’s across the river from Taipei City.
The Sanchong of 2020 is not the Sanchong of yore.