Was there a “foreigner” focused living or hanging out area? I heard north of Taipei main train station was a main area for foreigners to live.
I thought that was Tienmu.
Wasn’t Tienmu more for families and business types? What about single people, people that want to live inside Taipei, etc.
It was always pretty spread out. Maybe there was more of a concentration in the Shi Da area. There were a few hostels north of Taipei Station
Wow…I totally missed that. Are you talking about the area which is now the Tian Mu Yundong park and the Tian Mu baseball stadium?
Ah “the old days”. Cheers guys for sharing your memories. The first pub I went to was 45s… it is still standing. The stairs were dodgy. I seen many a person take a dive down them stairs, with bruises for the next day or two.
There was some big hostel/dormitories/whatever place in the 80s on the north (Hsinyi) end of where Da’an Forest Park is now (right? unsure when I start to think about it now)…and it was a broken down looking place by the time I ever saw it. That whole block used to be seriously terrible looking.
The railway used to be above ground, too, so that you’d have to stop if a train were coming in, heading north on Dunhua.
I remember going for a job interview on Guanghua Rd. and thinking “Man, this is too far out to make sense as a work location”. There were still rice paddies where 101 is now.
And taking the cross-island highway from Taichung up to Lishan and then over to Hualien. Where there was a miraculous TV system that had Japanese porn videos with the cartoon private parts blurred out. (Not sure that has changed.) But in the days of 30 minutes of English programming per day, mostly serialized classic plays…
anyone remember Indian 印地安 (or something like that) pub on Ba De Road between Chien Kuo and Fuhsing N. Road?
They had mini-kegs brought to your table of Taiwan Beer. Pissing stalls were like totem poles.
First time I ever chewed betel nuts was there in early 90s
Sure, the dinosaur building.
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The Japanese porn was part of the basic TV service in Tainan when I arrived there, late 90s. I remember it led to some confusion for my roommate and I, because we were trying to get the cheapest level of cable, and we thought we must have accidentally subscribed to a different package. As it were.
Guangfu South Road, I presume?
Don’t mix and match your KMT-era propaganda street names! : D
Guy
There was a weird decoder device that you could stick in the back of the TV and it would unscramble the signal of those scrambled channels . 
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That’s the place.
Yeah I used to walk past it on Fuxing all the time. There was a tunnel under the tracks and two side roads. Where Breeze center is was a big old soda factory
Some train tracks are still visible next to Huashan. The psy-trance crowd was using them for some kick-ass hoe-downs recently.
Anyone been out to the old railway workshops in Songshan? looks like they have some kind of museum set up there
You mean the ones next to the ex-tobacco factory?
Looks well worth a visit but it’s being renovated so you need to book online to get in.
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went a few years ago with kids.
definitely worth a visit when not crowded (like country holiday)
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I have been lurking here for maybe ten years. Time to come in out of the cold, lol.
Hi guys…
Ah, the good old days.
Did somebody say Linsen Bei Lu? Ah, the legendary Battle Zone.
Before I moved to Taiwan, I worked here a lot in the 90s. Used to stay at the InterContinental. Typically, you would step out the hotel side door after work for a beer and dinner at the Malibu. After a decent meal and flirting with the waitresses you’d then head up the alley into the land of cuddly little bar girls at K9, Montana, etc. If I was lucky, I made it to Hollywood Baby and ended up drinking shots of tequila and Taiwan Beer and playing Jenga and BiJi and listening to S Club 7 Never Had A Dream Come True and Laid Back White Horse, etc… and hopefully getting back to the hotel by 4am to sleep a few hours before I had to go to work. I really miss you Baby, and JoJo, and Yen and…. 
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The old days in Taichung in the late 90s were great fun. Some of the best times in my 18 year stint in Taiwan. Friendy, wild and a crazy amount of interesting foreigners.