I have been in Taipei teaching before. This time I wouldn’t mind Taoyuan or Hsinchu, are there as many jobs there?
Don’t know about jobs, but I personally wouldn’t recommend living in Taoyuan. Zhongli is the only really livable place I’ve been in the county.
Are you kidding? Zhongli is awful. Air smells like glue. Actually out by Tigerhead Mountain in Taoyuan is decent. And if you talk about the whole county, come on, the mountainous areas are gorgeous. There’s also nice housing communities in Yangmei, the Acer community near Daxi, excellent modern neighborhoods in Sanxia, and so on.
As far as I know, yes, lots of work out there as it is one of those places that families move to as they can’t afford living in Taipei.
I agree with Mucha Man. Up near the mountains is great. There are also places like Fuxing, and Guanxi (Just inside Hsinsu) which are also not too bad for living, although Fuxing is a bit out of the way.
Hm it depends on what you’re looking for I guess.
I’ve been spoiled by the convenience of Taipei life. In Taoyuan, you can have mountains but no movie theaters; you can have residential areas but not many eating options; or you can have city life but crappy buildings. It would be fine if you could get between these places easily, but the transportation infrastructure there is truly substandard. It’s easier to get from almost any pont in Taoyuan to Taipei than it is to get between two points in Taoyuan.
Yes, stay out of the cities. The mountain towns are great, if you don’t mind the isolation. Really pure, simple and beautiful. More healthy food too.
Taoyuan people are a little tougher, more grounded and conservative then Taipei people.
Can well do without 7-11s and movie theatres and restaurants (though I am partial to the blue supermarkets) thanks for the info.
711s are everywhere. Plenty of good restaurants there. Better than Taipei, where everything’s slathered in oil and muck. Very few laowai, but if you speak Chinese that won’t be a problem. If you check out Daxi, go on the weekend. Weekdays its quiet. Fuxing is more isolated still.
sounds good to me.
Problem is I am not in Taiwan yet so cannot see these places. Know anywhere in Taoyuan will to do a 1 month rental (5-7000)?
Definitely check them out before signing up for a year. You’ll need to make your own fun at night. The winter in Daxi is cold, boring and damp, like everywhere. It’s hard to get one month lets, sorry I can’t help more.
And in the daytime. 
Haha, in fact amusing myself is easy.
Hey thanks a lot, Will check them out but Daxi and Fuxing maybe a little impractical. Guishan any good, Luzhou?
And in the daytime. [/quote]
Haha.
Guitar, exercise, teaching kids who’re grateful you’re there, eating, studying Chinese, scooter in the mountains, friends and gf are plenty fun for me. Parts of Taoyuan are China postcard country.
Here’s a modern convenience I like: Oxygen.
Banciao might be the coolest place on the planet, but there’s no air. :aiyo:
Never been to either of those places SFox.
Banqiao and Taipei- no heart!
Heh, to each his own. I see more pollution than clean nature in Taoyuan, unless you go all the way south into Daxi and Fuxing. I also found it difficult to make friends there because everyone I met was either much older than me or sort of liumang-like… The scooter gangs that roam through Taoyuan City and go KTVing in the middle of the night.