Taichung - What Can I Expect?

I appreciate everyone’s viewpoint!

Btw I don’t have a “choice.” Taichung is where the house is! LOL We would at least be living there at first. We will still keep our home here in the States too since we will be traveling back and forth. So I get the best of both worlds. :discodance:

PS I can’t wait to try those late night food markets!!

I’ll have to side with Llary. I’ve lived here for years - love the weather, have no problem with pollution, find it very safe to drive at night (more so than areas of westerns cities I’ve lived in) and enjoy the variety of parks, activities and scenic areas in the vicinity. I know a lot of westerners with kids who have made Taichung their home and seem quite happy here. I doubt the OP is looking to visit bars or scope out the nightlife so what problems there are or aren’t there shouldn’t be of an issue to her.

[quote=“llary”]If I listened to the majority of people on this forum I would never have given Taichung a chance… I came here with some trepidation and eventually realized that most of the warnings and complaints were overblown rants. In fact if I listened to the majority of people on this forum I would have written the whole island off as a giant toxic waste dump full of hicks and gangsters.
[/quote]

:bravo:
Takes a few years to realize, but eventually you cannot avoid the truth!.
Most of my wife’s friends have left and don’t plan on returning, they must be the stupid ones right :roflmao:

A shoutout for the Chung. Spent a year there in 86. It was fantabulous. Great vibe to the town, lots of places to go to hang out at nite. The town had a very nice , exciting “feel” to it. For me it was just awesome.

Things may have changed granted. Aint nuthin the same always.

Shoulda bought that apt i was renting. Can you say Cheap? And awesome too.

Yeah it was a bit far to get away , an hours drive to Kukuan hot springs. 2 hours or so to SM Lake. I often drove home to the Bigpei on days off and all that. But the Chungle was purrty cool. Had me fav pub down there, fav hang out cafes. Lots of sweet girls to flirt with. hehe (only mistake was to marry one of em , but thats another story).

Funny thing about Taichung is that there’s not many folks who’re ambivalent about the place. Foreigners who stay there long-term either hate the place and leave, or love it and defend it to the death. I know people in both categories.

Think same can be said about anywhere.

I lived in Jhongli for about 3 years commuting to taipei, longtan, taoyuan, dayuan,etc pretty mcu everywhere in the north. While i was there i loved it, now that im out, i would never move back, mainly due to the weather in the north being upmost crap.

Im in Shalu now. Been all over taichung city and its not bad. Each area has its charm. Pollution SOME days is bad, but in general its not so bad. Before i get hopped on about this, i dont smoke and everytime i have come to Taiwan (i return home a few times a year) i have been caughing up these mucus crap and about 2weeks or so after coming back, everytime like clockwork, i get have to call into work because the coughing mucus turns to mucus and blood due to the pollution everytime except when i moved out here to Shalu. I havent had this problem since then…granted Shalu is outside the big city, but im in the big city daily. Previously i had investd in air fliters and such when i was in the north with no luck, but now that im in the south i have no need for them.

People, foreigners and taiwanese are vy different in taichung than else where. Ive come to enjoy them much more. The north seems to be very click operated, especially with foreigners who tend to be white blind (act like they dont see other foreigners on the street and maytime goto great lengths to ignore them on purse) unless you are a part of their “crew”. The taiwanese people are very friendly with less of a “what do you want from me” guard or “what can i get from you approach”. Also taiwanese people down this way dont have their head up their ass that Taipei = Taiwan, and oddly enough the people here in Taichung seem to know Taiwan better than anyone ive met in the northern parts. Something i appriciate when i ask about places or tell them where i have lived in taiwan before. Also something noticable, when there is a car accident ive noticed people tend to stop and help, or stop and offer to make phonecalls, a phenomena i have yet to witness anywhere outside of here. Also a side note…while Taipei and other cities might have more foreignersz, i have found Taichung seems to have more than just teachers and students, who may or may not be around a month later, but this also gives access to a different group of people capable of more than drinking. Many of the guys here do triathalons, marathons, cycle around taiwan, own businesses, work in the business world, etc.

Food is readily available in diversity at any hour day or night, especially if you like local food.

Tons or parks and market areas as mentioned before, but whats not mentioned is, unlike some other places the night markets in taichung actually seem to diversify their goods, this is good if you want a selection, bad if you want to bargain.

There are alot of Sex KTV amd such places for the less than savory needs of people, one is even owned by a foreigner, who is also an english teacher. But unless you go looking for that fun, its not something that comes looking for you, especially if you are a foreigner.

Taiwan essentially is a gangster country, where everyone knows someone or has family who is a gangster or if the first two are ot the case, which is super rare, they pay gangster taxes. Its just how things are done here. But not all gangster business is bad business, afterall temples gotta be built right? With that being said, gangsters are not a problem in Taichung, or most of taiwan for that matter, unless you make yourself a problem. Most foreigner sob stories leave out what they did, or they paint a skewed picture of what really happened, rather this was done on purpose or due to the alcohol effect, one will never know. Unlike the gangsters in the usa, taiwan gangsters are more keep to themselves.

Police…oh taiwan and your police department. While ive enjoyed getting away with tickets and being less than legal on a few occasions, the police are something you cant really count on in this country, but ive also found when im not in trouble prone places, i dont really need them. Just think of the police here as on a perminent donut break.and yes taiwan’s gem taipei has the same problem, its all about who you know, when you dont know the people in power it seems more policed than it is. Taipei police speak english usually which sucks for those driving without a license or breaking traffic laws, but is an asset when accidents happen or help is needed. Taichung police quite often speak some level. Of english, but if you want out of a ticket, be polite in english or chinese and it goes along way here.

Rent, far cheaper than other places and the cost of living in general is cheaper, allowing for higher standard of living or travel.

Overall ive enjoyed Taichung in the time ive been here, im not defending it or in a fight to the death to make it seem so awesome, because i could live in many places in taiwan without a problem. Also i know everyone has their own perspectives, points of view, experiences, etc. Im just adding mine and trying to be a little more balanced.

As far as learning Chinese goes I think Rosetta Stone is OK (though a bit pricey) but in the end whatI think will really matter is the degree to which you expose yourself to Chinese and/or Taiwanese on a regular basis. I still live in the U.S. and have had difficulty picking up anything more than rudimentary Chinese from listening to my wife speak with/to our children. However, when we visit my wife’s family in Taiwan I try to avoid listening to English TV programs and internet (my wife’s family speak English when needed but generally speak Chinese to me) - that is when/where I have noticed the biggest gains in my language understanding. Avoid English when possible, listen and repeat what you hear - even if you don’t understand everything - you will eventually. And ask lots of questions - what is this, what is that - just like your children did or do.

I know several people who have lived in Taiwan for 3-6 years and they purposely put themselves into situations where very little English was spoken. They also enrolled in formal classes at the University and were diligent about their studies. They were all fundamentally fluent (speaking, not necessaily writing) in about 1 year.

Good luck!

People still actually PAY for software?

If you paid a cent for Rosetta Stone in ANY language (unless you did so out of some moral issue…) I got some Ocean front property in Arizona you might be interested in…

You are probably not going to learn good Chinese without learning some reading and writing, it helps in getting the pronunciation right and improving vocabulary and grammar.

Nice review of Taichung above. I find it a very easy place to live, great for driving around, plenty of space and lots of cheap but good apartments. Weather is great although it is probably too hot for too long through the hear

On the other side it suffers air pollution, differently than Taipei which is very musty and damp, Taichung suffers from industrial air pollution especially in Winter and also because it rarely rains the pollution builds up over time. That’s worrying due to long term exposure. To be fair most of the West Coast has serious air pollution at times.

It’s also a bit small and regional and almost no cultural events or events of any kinds take place. In short it becomes boring after a few years if you have ever lived in somewhere that is more on the map. Guess the same can be said about a lot of Taiwan.

The city is poorly policed and managed although safe overall. Double and illegal parking is rife even in the central city areas. Shop keepers occupy the pavements in many places. It needs more pavements too to catch up with Taipei and lacks public transport options.

There are few foreigners just like most of Taiwan, foreigners that are here are more diverse and integrated I would say into Taiwan.

Taichung also suffers from lack of decent beaches or coastline or nearby towns or cities to visit. I happen to think Shalu is a horrible town but I have relatives in Miaoli which is only 40mins away and very nice and rural, we also have nantou and chiayi which are not far away and they have great mountain top b and bs to get away on weekends.

The high speed rail is great for getting around the country quickly.

[quote=“tommy525”]A shoutout for the Chung. Spent a year there in 86. It was fantabulous. Great vibe to the town, lots of places to go to hang out at night. The town had a very nice , exciting “feel” to it. For me it was just awesome.

Things may have changed granted. Aint nuthin the same always.

Shoulda bought that apt I was renting. Can you say Cheap? And awesome too.

Yeah it was a bit far to get away , an hours drive to Kukuan hot springs. 2 hours or so to SM Lake. I often drove home to the Bigpei on days off and all that. But the Chungle was purrty cool. Had me fav pub down there, fav hang out cafes. Lots of sweet girls to flirt with. hehe (only mistake was to marry one of em , but thats another story).[/quote]

It’s completely changed , it doesn’t have that type of energy anymore. All the bars have been shut and most of the hippies are gone. It’s been ‘richified’ in parts with Chinese property boom but also hollowed out due to many businesses moving to China. It needs some
service industry or new reason for being. See what happens next!

[quote=“headhonchoII”][quote=“tommy525”]A shoutout for the Chung. Spent a year there in 86. It was fantabulous. Great vibe to the town, lots of places to go to hang out at night. The town had a very nice , exciting “feel” to it. For me it was just awesome.

Things may have changed granted. Aint nuthin the same always.

Shoulda bought that apt I was renting. Can you say Cheap? And awesome too.

Yeah it was a bit far to get away , an hours drive to Kukuan hot springs. 2 hours or so to SM Lake. I often drove home to the Bigpei on days off and all that. But the Chungle was purrty cool. Had me fav pub down there, fav hang out cafes. Lots of sweet girls to flirt with. hehe (only mistake was to marry one of em , but thats another story).[/quote]

It’s completely changed , it doesn’t have that type of energy anymore. All the bars have been shut and most of the hippies are gone. It’s been ‘richified’ in parts with Chinese property boom but also hollowed out due to many businesses moving to China. It needs some
service industry or new reason for being. See what happens next![/quote]

If you are looking for a party town Taichung is not the place (why everyone always gripes about the bars being closed) but if you’re a bit older, (25+) aren’t into the bar scene, thenTaichung is a great place. heck, if they closed down twice as many bars I wouldn’t even notice (as I do not go to bars). If you are looking for a city with tons to do (besides drinking) which yet at the same time has sorta a small town feel to it, is cheap, safe (except the roads of course…) good weather (for TW), good location as either north or south are easily accessible, then this is the place.

what is there to do in Taichung?

breathe deep the air coming from the second largest coal-fired power station in the world and also the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide with approximately 40 million tons annually.
:smoking:

I can’t decide on TPE and Taichung… am just not into the nightlife of Taipei as I once was.

w644

w644%20(1)

:point_up_2:

You could’ve expected this at X-Cube nightclub in Taichung, but it is temporarily closing.

Maybe @shiadoa can provide a more thorough review :wink: