My preferred chain style gym is Fitness Factory. There are good cycle paths alongside the river. If you want a bit of culture you can cycle all the way to Nankan.
Search for taoyuan groups in Facebook.
There’s SEAMI group that meets south of the train station every Friday. Will help you get into the local scene.
There’s Taoyuan Sports and Pub Quiz group.
There’s Taoyuan parents group in LINE.
Plenty of AYCE in Tonlin and ATT plaza north of the train station.
Apps: Shoppee, Youbike 1.0, GoShare, Google Translate, Google Maps, (optional: Circle.Life)
Get Circle.life no contract sim card with my referral code L975JEU7. TIA!
Good Thai food in Thai town near the train station. No particular recommendations, just look around and see what you like.
Apps:
Google Chrome
Gmail
Line
BusTracker Taiwan
App from whatever bank you choose/are forced to bank with. Your goal is to avoid visiting banks in person at all cost, so make sure you register all accounts you might ever transfer to both in Taiwan and abroad on the day you open your account.
If you capitalize apps, you are already 90% adjusted to local customs, so you will do perfectly fine.
OP, I live not far from the train station. I don’t belong to a gym but I’ll try to think of suggestions for the other stuff. Feel free to PM me if you want.
YouBike 1.0, not sure if you need an ARC (Alien Resident Certificate) to register, but you can use a credit card until you get your ARC. Only system 1.0 bikes are in Taoyuan; 2.0 is in other areas and probably in Taoyuan later.
Google Translate using the camera feature (or other apps) is a godsend until your Chinese gets better.
National Immigration Agency (NIA) is located in the “government circle”, you’ll need to go here for your ARC.
On that note, here is a list of hospitals where you can get your required health check.
Taoyuan Senior High is next to Hutoushan (Tiger Head Mountain) where there are some nice hiking and bike riding roads.
As others have mentioned, the Nankan River Bike Trail (南崁溪自行車道) is pretty good. It’s indicated on Google Maps by a green dashed line. As far as I know, the path currently runs from Zhongzheng Park in Guishan (Google Maps) almost to the coast (Google Maps).
As for eating, I think it’s best just to explore and see what you find. If you’re in the mood for western food, Panther is one place that I like.
When I worked in gov in Taiwan decades, I taught journalism three times a month at a uni in the evening.
Not really my cup of tea but respect it if it is certified (whether through a MOE certificate or a BA in education, the former of which I had even for journo classes).
