Just arrived in Taipei and I could swear that paper could do a better job at sound insulation at the place I am temporarily staying at. I can clearly hear the people talking out on the street despite being on the 4th floor. Is this the norm for most cheaper places in Taipei?
I’m going to go looking for an apartment near Shi-Da soon around the 10000-15000 range, but maybe I need to look further out? Any tips for finding somewhere with good sound proofing? Don’t want to disturb nor hear neighbors.
Perhaps there are more Taiwanese speakers in the cheaper neighborhoods.
I’ve noticed that, for some reason, speaking Taiwanese has the strange effect on some of my neighbors of causing them to yell at each other while carrying on what should be a normal conversation with someone a few feet away.
Those who use Mandarin don’t seem to have this problem.
Any neighborhood will always seem more noisy in winter. In the warmer weather, a “good” loud fan will drown out a lot of the background city noise, and you’ll sleep much better.
[quote=“Goo”]Just arrived in Taipei and I could swear that paper could do a better job at sound insulation at the place I am temporarily staying at. I can clearly hear the people talking out on the street despite being on the 4th floor. Is this the norm for most cheaper places in Taipei?
I’m going to go looking for an apartment near Shi-Da soon around the 10000-15000 range, but maybe I need to look further out? Any tips for finding somewhere with good sound proofing? Don’t want to disturb nor hear neighbors.[/quote]
Yes, but also for upscale, unless the windows are seaaled, and then even so, it depends on location. Moreover, any time of the year, there is always somebody somewhere doing house repairs, i.e. power drill symphony all day long. You can hear scooter noise up to a 20th floor, I think.
Solution: white noise machine or fan, as previously said. Or sheer luck. My cleaning lady is always gushing on how quiet my alley is, and I live on top of a traditional market. But come noon, you’d think you were in the middle of the forest, so quiet, only birdies can be heard.
Shida area should be OKish, not too noisy… as long as there are no constructions/remodeling going on nearby.
As to people noise… learn this phrase: meipanfa. I have a neighbor that scolds her kid every night from like 7 to 10pm at top volume… every … single… night. It just come swith the territory.
I once had to share an office with 5 OL’s. They yelled at each other constantly; it felt like they would come to blows at any moment. I later found out that’s just how they talk. They were not speaking Dai gee. They were speaking the Chinese common language.
They only use cheap windows in Taiwan, now recently some companies popped up selling German made sound proof and air tight windows, but they are expensive.