Visiting Taichung, need advice on planning?

No, I think you will have that problem no matter how many days you spend there. :laughing:

So anyone in Taipei, how’s the weather there? I was reading Wiki travel and honestly they make it seem like no matter what time of year you go there it’s either gonna be raining or it’s gonna be hot =p Plus the higher chance of typhoons in August and September. Seems like now is as good a time as any in that case, but spending everyday with an overcast or something would be pretty drab. Plus looking at a weather site it shows every single day with “a chance of precipitation.”

I had lived in Taipei for 10 years, SF Bay for 3 years, now settled in Taichung…I personally dislike Taipei for its dirty and old cityviews, its transportation is indeed better than Taichung, but that’s it, most things are worse than Taichung…for your references for viewpoints in taichung and its vicinity

  1. Taichung Feng-Chia nightmarket is bigger than Shi-lin nightmarket in Taipei

  2. Taichung Metro Park is the biggest and greatest city park in Taiwan as far as I know, its specialty is the location on a hill, that makes you feel really laid-back…more like the SF Balboa Park 200M higher than the city in elevation. it is very neat and pleasant.

  3. international restaurant avenue - where you find many different style restaurants and their unique architect designs will definitely take your breaths. Art museum is right next to it.

  4. Luxury mansion area - Taichung has the biggest luxury mansion crowd, you will feel it like at the top in Manhattan, NY

  5. Most architects of restaurants and buildings are very nicely designed, the music hall to be completed in 2013 is awarded No.1 architect design in USA prestigious mag, and to be believed to be the 9th landmark in the globe.

  6. Vicinity- (a)Sun-moon lake (b) Chin-Jing Farm © Xi-tou. (4) 3400M Ho-huan Mt. According to Taiwan tour mag, aforementioned 4 spots gain top 6 greatest votes from tourists, the other two famous points are Kenting in Southern area, and Taroko in Hualien, sorry, none in Taipei vicinity ranked within top 10.

  7. Oh Yeah, trust me you don’t want to miss the most luxurious love motel in world ! just spend US$20-30 for 3 hours rest, and you will see the 6-star quality interior. Take a shot, I assure you that would be one of the scene you would keep in memory for life and show off back home.

Hope this helps

Yeah Taichung is okay to live in, but to visit…BORING.

I am kind of outdoor person, and had lived in Taipei for 10 years. I could raise many interesting points in Taichung city as above post, but not Taipei city, maybe you can raise some for us to laugh, how about the “most respectable” Dun-Hua bike lane, Nei-Hu line of MRT, or MaoKun cable car constructions :laughing:

Give you more tips as below:

1)Taichung is awarded the World Cultural City By British Leadership Forum last year.
2)Taichung is rated by Taiwanese the top 3 best city for living in Taiwan, while Taipei is at the bottom second.

So, I have to say… SHAME on you Taipei as a capital and BORING is your name. :no-no:

[quote=“kenlu88”]I had lived in Taipei for 10 years, SF Bay for 3 years, now settled in Taichung…I personally dislike Taipei for its dirty and old cityviews, its transportation is indeed better than Taichung, but that’s it, most things are worse than Taichung…for your references for viewpoints in Taichung and its vicinity

  1. Taichung Feng-Chia nightmarket is bigger than Shilin nightmarket in Taipei

Yes it’s good fun, but every city in Taiwan has nightmarkets

  1. Taichung Metro Park is the biggest and greatest city park in Taiwan as far as I know, its specialty is the location on a hill, that makes you feel really laid-back…more like the SF Balboa Park 200M higher than the city in elevation. it is very neat and pleasant.

I live beside there, you have to drive up a big hill to get to it, very inconvenient location for most city dwellers. Also not really that big…

  1. international restaurant avenue - where you find many different style restaurants and their unique architect designs will definitely take your breaths. Art museum is right next to it.

Never seen it, will look for it. It won’t take my breath away because I am from a foreign country already with real foreign restaurants.

  1. Luxury mansion area - Taichung has the biggest luxury mansion crowd, you will feel it like at the top in Manhattan, NY

Wow, I can look at rich people in their nice houses (which are mostly empty), I’m so happy about that. That area is very boring aswell, nothing but expensive houses, nobody walks on the pavements or sits in the park.

  1. Most architects of restaurants and buildings are very nicely designed, the music hall to be completed in 2013 is awarded No.1 architect design in USA prestigious mag, and to be believed to be the 9th landmark in the globe.

That will be nice, looking forward to seeing that.
6) Vicinity- (a)Sun-moon lake (b) Chin-Jing Farm © Xi-tou. (4) 3400M Ho-huan Mt. According to Taiwan tour mag, aforementioned 4 spots gain top 6 greatest votes from tourists, the other two famous points are Kending in Southern area, and Taroko in Hualien, sorry, none in Taipei vicinity ranked within top 10.

True, the area around Taichung is nice. But the coast is completely destroyed and Taichung County and Changhua is almost completely industrial. They are also building more industrial parks.

  1. Oh Yeah, trust me you don’t want to miss the most luxurious love motel in world ! just spend US$20-30 for 3 hours rest, and you will see the 6-star quality interior. Take a shot, I assure you that would be one of the scene you would keep in memory for life and show off back home.

The motels are fun, worth a visit alright

Hope this helps[/quote]

Just looking at your post, it still proves that Taichung is a rather boring place to visit. There’s no cultural or social scene here. The best places are out of the city…sun moon lake, lugang, nantou etc.
I have lived in Taipei aswell for almost 10 years, I’ve now lived in Taichung for a year. Taichung is better to live in some ways due to being cheaper, fresher air and wider newer streets, the weather is better, but Taipei definitely has more stuff for tourists to do. National museum, yangminshan, 101, hot springs, tamshui, cks memorial park, loads of great shops and restaurants and bars. Plus it has the MRT. Taichung is hard to get around as a tourist…need to take a taxi and I doubt the taxi drivers have any English. Not building a proper public transportation system but promoting expensive apartments for outside investors was a big mistake by the mayor!

What is the ‘British leadership forum’? Nobody has ever heard of Taichung in Asia let alone in UK! Taichung has nothing special at all compared to 100s of cities worldwide.

I miss the river bike lanes in Taipei, they are really fun, Taichung has some bike lanes outside the city but no river park lanes, the river has no park beside it, just more construction for offices/buildings as usual.

[quote=“headhonchoII”]

Just looking at your post, it still proves that Taichung is a rather boring place to visit. There’s no cultural or social scene here. The best places are out of the city…sun moon lake, lugang, nantou etc.
I have lived in Taipei aswell for almost 10 years, I’ve now lived in Taichung for a year. Taichung is better to live in some ways due to being cheaper, fresher air and wider newer streets, the weather is better, but Taipei definitely has more stuff for tourists to do. National museum, yangminshan, 101, hot springs, tamshui, cks memorial park, loads of great shops and restaurants and bars. Plus it has the MRT. Taichung is hard to get around as a tourist…need to take a taxi and I doubt the taxi drivers have any English. Not building a proper public transportation system but promoting expensive apartments for outside investors was a big mistake by the mayor!

What is the ‘British leadership forum’? Nobody has ever heard of Taichung in Asia let alone in UK! Taichung has nothing special at all compared to 100s of cities worldwide.

I miss the river bike lanes in Taipei, they are really fun, Taichung has some bike lanes outside the city but no river park lanes, the river has no park beside it, just more construction for offices/buildings as usual.[/quote]
I’ve lived in Taichung for 20 years and agree with you completely on these points. Taichung is attractive in that it is cheaper to live here than Taipei and close to some very pretty places in the mountains. Taichung is useful as a base to reach those places, but not very interesting or attractive in and of itself. Taipei absolutely kicks Taichung’s ass on matters like public transport, ease of walking around, professionalism in service, quality / choice of goods, convenience and public order.

British leadership forum? That sounds like something the mayor pulled out of his ass, or paid advertising.

[quote=“headhonchoII”][quote=“kenlu88”]I had lived in Taipei for 10 years, SF Bay for 3 years, now settled in Taichung…I personally dislike Taipei for its dirty and old cityviews, its transportation is indeed better than Taichung, but that’s it, most things are worse than Taichung…for your references for viewpoints in Taichung and its vicinity

  1. Taichung Feng-Chia nightmarket is bigger than Shilin nightmarket in Taipei

Yes it’s good fun, but every city in Taiwan has nightmarkets
[color=#BF0000]You like comparison, so the point is not nightmarkets everywhere in Taiwan, it is the matter of size, quality and fun…[/color]

  1. Taichung Metro Park is the biggest and greatest city park in Taiwan as far as I know, its specialty is the location on a hill, that makes you feel really laid-back…more like the SF Balboa Park 200M higher than the city in elevation. it is very neat and pleasant.

I live beside there, you have to drive up a big hill to get to it, very inconvenient location for most city dwellers. Also not really that big…
[color=#BF0000]That is the uniqueness of the park. Parks built right beside the bustling steets and roads are boring and not fun at all, unless it is extremely big like central park of NYC that does create quiet/laid-back corners for the civilians. Yeah, maybe it is not as big as central park of NYC, but pretty sure 5 times bigger than the biggest one in Taipei…I really can’t appreciate your “creative” opinions that talk “real creativity” out …sorry [/color]

  1. international restaurant avenue - where you find many different style restaurants and their unique architect designs will definitely take your breaths. Art museum is right next to it.

Never seen it, will look for it. It won’t take my breath away because I am from a foreign country already with real foreign restaurants.
[color=#BF0000] You should look into the area, and it helps you find the sense of quality and cultural things…imagine what the open-air restaurants look like with street music performers play saxophone or like around you after spending hours at Art Museum next to it… stop priding in indoor restaurants and karaoke activities that are so due to frequent rains in Taipei. [/color]

  1. Luxury mansion area - Taichung has the biggest luxury mansion crowd, you will feel it like at the top in Manhattan, NY

Wow, I can look at rich people in their nice houses (which are mostly empty), I’m so happy about that. That area is very boring aswell, nothing but expensive houses, nobody walks on the pavements or sits in the park.

[color=#BF0000]I doubt you ever been to “luxurious area” even in your own country or western world…Nice areas are usually very quiet and cares for privacy. There are fewer people there, not “no people” on the street there…Again, your “creative thinking” is really :loco: [/color]

  1. Most architects of restaurants and buildings are very nicely designed, the music hall to be completed in 2013 is awarded No.1 architect design in USA prestigious mag, and to be believed to be the 9th landmark in the globe.

That will be nice, looking forward to seeing that.
[color=#BF0000] looking forward to seeing that?? You told us as below you are living in Taichung now, so is it also a lie?[/color]

  1. Vicinity- (a)Sun-moon lake (b) Chin-Jing Farm © Xi-tou. (4) 3400M Ho-huan Mt. According to Taiwan tour mag, aforementioned 4 spots gain top 6 greatest votes from tourists, the other two famous points are Kending in Southern area, and Taroko in Hualien, sorry, none in Taipei vicinity ranked within top 10.

True, the area around Taichung is nice. But the coast is completely destroyed and Taichung County and Changhua is almost completely industrial. They are also building more industrial parks.

[color=#BF0000] A nice sand beach called Ton-Xiao is just 50 KM away from Taichung, that is even closer than the distance between the nice one and taipei city, what are you talking about??? Beside, why does he need to come all the way from SF to see beaches or coastal lines, given the nicer beaches in SF, like Baker Becah, Ocean Beach or Marina Area in SF city…you need to think and do your homework more, dude ![/color]

  1. Oh Yeah, trust me you don’t want to miss the most luxurious love motel in world ! just spend US$20-30 for 3 hours rest, and you will see the 6-star quality interior. Take a shot, I assure you that would be one of the scene you would keep in memory for life and show off back home.

The motels are fun, worth a visit alright

[color=#BF0000] Maybe the transportation is the weakness of Taichung city, but you can spend just US$20-30 to travel around the views in Taichung city, and aforementioned attractions in its vicinity are all reachable by public buses…Bear it in mind "Nice things/points take patience to get, and they worth "[/color]

Hope this helps[/quote]

Just looking at your post, it still proves that Taichung is a rather boring place to visit. There’s no cultural or social scene here. The best places are out of the city…sun moon lake, lugang, nantou etc.
I have lived in Taipei aswell for almost 10 years, I’ve now lived in Taichung for a year. Taichung is better to live in some ways due to being cheaper, fresher air and wider newer streets, the weather is better, but Taipei definitely has more stuff for tourists to do. National museum, yangminshan, 101, hot springs, tamshui, cks memorial park, loads of great shops and restaurants and bars. Plus it has the MRT. Taichung is hard to get around as a tourist…need to take a taxi and I doubt the taxi drivers have any English. Not building a proper public transportation system but promoting expensive apartments for outside investors was a big mistake by the mayor!

What is the ‘British leadership forum’? Nobody has ever heard of Taichung in Asia let alone in UK! Taichung has nothing special at all compared to 100s of cities worldwide.

I miss the river bike lanes in Taipei, they are really fun, Taichung has some bike lanes outside the city but no river park lanes, the river has no park beside it, just more construction for offices/buildings as usual.[/quote]

[color=#BF0000][b] Give you some more links for comparisons:

  1. Best Bike lane in Taichung: retrue.net/?p=1064
  2. Report about the Leadership Forums: taiwanfun.com/central/taichu … TCTM02.htm

AT last, please stop priding in something that are shame, that is gross and disgusting !! Do your homework better, kid ! [/b][/color]

[quote=“kenlu88”][quote=“headhonchoII”]
5) Most architects of restaurants and buildings are very nicely designed, the music hall to be completed in 2013 is awarded No.1 architect design in USA prestigious mag, and to be believed to be the 9th landmark in the globe.

That will be nice, looking forward to seeing that.[/quote]

looking forward to seeing that?? You told us as below you are living in Taichung now, so is it also a lie?
[/quote]
He’s talking about the music hall, which isn’t scheduled for completion until 2013. How could he possibly have seen it? Read more carefully before you start calling people liars.
And what does Taichung need a music hall for? We already have a nice concert hall at the art museum thanks very much. I do hope people come from far and wide to spend money there in order to earn back the tax money it cost. :unamused:
Thank god the Guggenheim turned Taichung down, or the city would be bankrupt!

With Taichung’s almost non-existent public transport, getting to any of these places would take the patience of a saint and IMO consume more of a traveler’s time budget than they are worth. Taxi or rental car would make more sense, and avoiding Taichung city itself would be the most sense of all. A traveler would save a lot of time by not coming in or out of the city, wasting hours ‘enjoying’ the insane traffic and views of run-down streets and factories. It’s much smarter to stay out there in the countryside.

[quote=“kenlu88”]
Hope this helps[/quote]
It doesn’t, but thanks anyway.

This is a nice (though far from world-class) bike path, but again it is far from Taichung, over an hour by (infrequent) bus.

Taiwan Fun is a magazine that’s based in Taichung, gets it’s income from advertisers invested in the tourism/expat market and is notorious for kissing the mayor’s ass. Surprise surprise a pat piece shows up there. Hardly what anyone would call a creditable source.

[quote=“kenlu88”]
AT last, please stop priding in something that are shame, that is gross and disgusting !! Do your homework better, kid ![/quote]
Try being a little less condescending while going about your job and it might go a little better for you. Taichung needs to work on the following things if it wants to attract more tourists from developed countries:

Public transport
Improved access for pedestrians, meaning cleaning up the existing sidewalks and building more
Law and order, meaning clamping down on gang activity, rampant illegal parking and anarchic traffic conditions
Maintaining those pretty parks and bridges after they are built, as most public works projects more than a year old seem to be derelict

I’ve lived in Taichung City for 10 years. And anyone who firmly believes that Taichung City has more to offer than Taipei in terms of city management, tourism, public transport, public order and interest is clearly:

A- never been to Taipei
B- blind
C- confused
D- an employee of the Taichung city govt
E- all of the above

While Taichung City does have a few positives, which are ; cheaper cost of living, central Taiwan location allows for ease of travel to north or south and lawlessness (a positive to some, and a negative to most). These surely don’t outweigh the negatives and shortcomings of this city.

If I was flying nearly halfway around the world to go to Taiwan it wouldn’t be to visit the cities. But instead to go to the best parts of Taiwan like Taroko gorge and up into the mountains (and mountain towns). The cities are nice in Taiwan and that’s part of what makes Taiwan a nice place to live. But I’ve seen very little in Kaohsiung or Taipei that says I would like to vacation in either city (or recommend to others). I haven’t been to Taichung so I can’t comment on it specifically. But I would only use cities like Taichung, Taipei, Kaohsiung, etc as connecting points while traveling somewhere else. And maybe plan a day in a place like Taichung seeing the sites.

Yes indeed, we have lots of awesome building sites lately, and as the (hah hah) MRT construction picks up, it can only get better!

[quote=“redwagon”]And what does Taichung need a music hall for? We already have a nice concert hall at the art museum thanks very much. I do hope people come from far and wide to spend money there in order to earn back the tax money it cost. :unamused:
Thank god the Guggenheim turned Taichung down, or the city would be bankrupt!
[/quote]
[color=#BF0000]A nice concert hall at art museum already? I live by art museum, have been there dozens times, and am not aware of your so-called “concert hall” inside the art museum. That makes me doubt you live in Taichung… Or you just a Taipeinese pretends and condescends others based on your imaginations?

Constructing this world-class Musical Hall is far cheaper than the problematic Taipei Neihu MRT, and Maokong cable car. It gives Taichung better visibility worldwide, and expects to bring more economical benefits than it actually costs. I will appreciate if you can have a broaden view…[/color]

[color=#BF0000]When it comes to the traffic jam, Taipei is far worse than Taichung, don’t tell me you can go to National Palace Museum by MRT…take rush hours aside, it is estimated just to take an hour totally by taxi on the traffic to finish seeing those views inside Taichung city, so what would be the problem of it? For its vicinity, it certainly takes more time to reach, however that is the situ everywhere world, don’t tell me you can take MRT fastly to reach Northern East coastlines or Jiufen in Taipei…[/color]

[color=#BF0000]Wow, I am flattered, you are now comparing Taichung bike path with the entire world, not Taipei…Then how about Taipei bike lanes? give us some ideas please… :roflmao: Well, my friend from SF ever told me the leisure bike path in taichung is the best as far as he knows, even better than the one in SF city, and I think so too !! no comment on others in other cities…[/color]

[color=#BF0000]Wow, so are you hinting I am in a wrong site now that built by Taipeinese? Your wordings are totally biased and insane!! Everyone in Taiwan knows the biggest market is Northern area of Taiwan, I don’t think it would just kiss Taichung’s ass, but not Taipei’s…[/color]

[quote=“redwagon”]Try being a little less condescending while going about your job and it might go a little better for you. Taichung needs to work on the following things if it wants to attract more tourists from developed countries:

Public transport
Improved access for pedestrians, meaning cleaning up the existing sidewalks and building more
Law and order, meaning clamping down on gang activity, rampant illegal parking and anarchic traffic conditions
Maintaining those pretty parks and bridges after they are built, as most public works projects more than a year old seem to be derelict[/quote]
[color=#BF0000]I agree with you that Taichung needs to improve more, well Taipei too…Nevertheless, given the facts I have to say Taichung is a city more worth for visiting than Taipei now, that is the point here now![/color]

Tongxiao beach is in Miaoli, 50kms from Taichung! I have also lived in Miaoli and it is a beautiful county, which is why half of Taichung residents seem to go there every weekend! There is almost nothing in Taichung county, severely damaged by industrial development. There is a great bike path in Fengyuan/Houli but again that is not in Taichung city.
Having a park on the top of a hill outside the city means it won’t be utilised by most of the city’s residents…why is there is no big park in Taichung City…politicians are too greedy, can make more money from selling it for development.

Yes there is indeed a concert hall attached to the art museum, on Yingtsai Rd. I just don’t remember what it’s called. What is a Taipeinese? Is that English?

Are you suggesting either of those projects was good use of taxpayer’s money? If so, it is you who needs his head examined, friend.

[quote=“kenlu88”]It gives Taichung better visibility worldwide, and expects to bring more economical benefits than it actually costs. I will appreciate if you can have a broaden view…
[/quote]
My view is broad enough to see that what Taichung needs is sound management and enforcement of existing building codes and other laws, not more white elephants. Are you perhaps in a position to take advantage of pork-barrel projects? It would certainly explain your point of view. :laughing:

[quote=“kenlu88”]When it comes to the traffic jam, Taipei is far worse than Taichung, don’t tell me you can go to National Palace Museum by MRT…take rush hours aside, it is estimated just to take an hour totally by taxi on the traffic to finish seeing those views inside Taichung city, so what would be the problem of it? For its vicinity, it certainly takes more time to reach, however that is the situation everywhere world, don’t tell me you can take MRT fastly to reach Northern East coastlines or Jiufen in Taipei…
[/quote]
Taichung traffic is not heavy, it is chaotic. There is no police enforcement of traffic rules here except by camera (even that is infrequent) and drivers are aggressive and undisciplined. Taipei traffic is heavy, but far more orderly. We were discussing Taichung’s problems, not how it stacks up to Taipei.

[quote=“kenlu88”]Wow, I am flattered, you are now comparing Taichung bike path with the entire world, not Taipei…Then how about Taipei bike lanes? give us some ideas please… :roflmao: Well, my friend from SF ever told me the leisure bike path in Taichung is the best as far as he knows, even better than the one in SF city, and I think so too !! no comment on others in other cities…
[/quote]
You are the one who claims a music hall will make Taichung internationally visible and mention the opinions of international bodies (that noone has ever heard of) to silence criticism of the city. Why should Taichung’s other amenities not therefore be judged in an international context now that you’ve opened the door?

Taipei has better bike paths actually inside the city than Taichung, amongst other obvious benefits. I appreciate that you are proud of your city but feel you’ve lost your sense of reason in that passion. Take a deep breath. Calm down. Try and refrain from making wild statements online that you would not make in person.

That is your opinion. I disagree with you and so it seems do the majority of respondents in this thread. I feel Taichung has a long way to catch up with both Taipei and Kaohsiung in quality of life for it’s residents and attractiveness to visitors. There’s no need to take it personally or make personal attacks on other posters with differing opinions.

The funny thing is that 10 or 20 years ago I used to feel that Taichung was more warm and caring than the bigger cities, that the residents were friendlier, and that quality of life here was better, the city less hectic and that the average education level was higher. Now, I see that Taipei and Kaohsiung have moved forward under better administrations, more money invested into public works and there seems to be more pride taken in the neighborhoods by the residents themselves to make both far better to live in than before.
Sadly, Taichung has not only failed to keep up with the other cities in any of these regards but actually gone backwards in every respect, and pointless pork-barrel projects do not fool the residents into believing otherwise. Well, except for you of course. :laughing:

So, do you work for the city? If you do I have a message for you to pass onto your boss. :slight_smile:

This is becoming a very weird thread. A guy’s been a member for five years, and out of six posts total, four seem to be here.

Went to Taichung + Chunghua for a three-day weekend years back - and came back early. Nothing particularly wrong with the place, there just didn’t seem much to do. That small lane of international restaurants - which may or may not be what kenlu88 is talking about - is nice. It’ll keep you busy for, oh, dinner. Or lunch. Or maybe both if you’re feeling lazy. The night market was… a night market. They’re all much of a muchness. If you’re a tourist in Taiwan, definitely go to a couple, but I’ve never seen much of a reason to say that Keelung/ Shilin/ Shida/ Tainan/ Taichung has the greatest night market in the country.

There’s that pretty campus, but no prettier than the pretty campus in Kaohsiung or the pretty ones in Taipei. I don’t get the “famous in Taiwan” church.

The science musem looked alright in a science museum way, but at the time there was no English signage whatsoever.

Lugang’s nice.

I have to ask: what’s the bike ride like out to the leisure bike path? And how long is the leisure bike path? Is this one of those rides you can spend two suicidal highway cycling hours getting to, and then finish in ten minutes?

[quote=“headhonchoII”]Tongxiao beach is in Miaoli, 50kms from Taichung! I have also lived in Miaoli and it is a beautiful county, which is why half of Taichung residents seem to go there every weekend! There is almost nothing in Taichung county, severely damaged by industrial development. There is a great bike path in Fengyuan/Houli but again that is not in Taichung city.
Having a park on the top of a hill outside the city means it won’t be utilised by most of the city’s residents…why is there is no big park in Taichung City…politicians are too greedy, can make more money from selling it for development.[/quote]

[color=#BF0000]Yes, the beach is not inside Taichung City, but so what? We are talking about vicinity of a city, what’s wrong with that? Besides, is the best Northern beach: Fu-Long inside Taipei, or in Keelung? and it is probably 70KM away from Taipei city… So please look at your own shoe first, when you criticize others’, which would make your statements more creditable…

Further, back to the situation of the thread poster who lives in SF, what’s the point to visit beach in Taiwan.(have you been to San Francisco??)…You completely miss the point here, and even compare Taipei with Taichung in an unreasonable/funny way…[/color]

[color=#BF0000]So interesting, I live at the corner of Yingtsai Rd and XiangSheng N. Rd (just 300M away from the art museum), and I am not aware of any concert hall there…Well, I am not telling that you lied, but very sure it is not noticeable at all to most people if it does exsist, so definitely can’t compare with the new Musical Hall under construction …[/color]

[color=#BF0000]are you not feeling that I implied the Nei-Hu MRT and MaoKong cable car in Taipei are jokes? On the other hand, I do think the Musical Hall in Taichung will be of good use of taxpayer’s money! My head is very good, thanks for your concern… :discodance: [/color]

[color=#BF0000]I am telling you just my point of view. Now you are attacking it personally without raising up specific reasons…You could have raised some concrete reasons to show the Musical Hall is not worth the investment…Pity, how civilized you are !..Now your wording would just show that you lack of not just a broaden view but also a broaden mind… [/color]

[color=#BF0000] Sorry, we are talking about which city is more worth paying visits for the thread poster, and you mentioned the difficulties of time budgeting about Taichung’s traffic, and I was just saying Taipei’s isn’t any better when it comes to some attractions such like Palace Museum and JiuFeng…Please don’t complicate it by “analyzing the reasons” of traffic jam, that is misleading ! thanks…For many interesting points, taking buses or taxi are necessary, Taipei is not any better than Taichung, that is my point…[/color]

[color=#BF0000] I mentioned the international visibility of the Musical Hall so as to show its quality as opposed to Taipei’s poor-quality construction, the whole point is comparing between Taipei and Taichung…Do you get it? Now please focus, please tell us what so attractive of the Taipei leisure bike lane? while I have raised the example/photos in Taichung: check retrue.net/?p=1064 you can see two pretty/classic suspension bridges, an old-time tunnel, along with great mountain/river views with 15 KM in length…
[/color]

color=#BF0000 are you saying the Taipei city bike lanes that are planned to be tore off now?? That is really a BIG shame and joke, they were built with poor plans and management, and now to be tore off with less than a year in life. If you had not mentioned it, I would have had almost forgotten this construction of another famous joke/failure in Taipei… :sunglasses: Taichung does needs improvement, but in what position are you thinking Taipei’s planning/management quality is over Taichung now?? That is Pathetic. (2) Back to the original question of this thread, I hope you are not guiding this thread poster to ride bicycle inside Taipei or Taichung City either…that is what I said, you always miss the points of this thread !
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[quote=“redwagon”]That is your opinion. I disagree with you and so it seems do the majority of respondents in this thread. I feel Taichung has a long way to catch up with both Taipei and Kaohsiung in quality of life for it’s residents and attractiveness to visitors. There’s no need to take it personally or make personal attacks on other posters with differing opinions.

The funny thing is that 10 or 20 years ago I used to feel that Taichung was more warm and caring than the bigger cities, that the residents were friendlier, and that quality of life here was better, the city less hectic and that the average education level was higher. Now, I see that Taipei and Kaohsiung have moved forward under better administrations, more money invested into public works and there seems to be more pride taken in the neighborhoods by the residents themselves to make both far better to live in than before.
Sadly, Taichung has not only failed to keep up with the other cities in any of these regards but actually gone backwards in every respect, and pointless pork-barrel projects do not fool the residents into believing otherwise. Well, except for you of course. :laughing:

So, do you work for the city? If you do I have a message for you to pass onto your boss[/quote]

[color=#BF0000] Again another assaults with no grounds or specific reasons/examples?? which eye of you see the “Taipei has moved forward under better administrations”?? Didn’t you see the failures of Nei-Hu MRT, MaoKong Cable Car, city bike lanes, Gen-Sheng Circle, and etc?? Can you name some that really make Taipei people proud now? Don’t you know now most Taipei people are so unsatisfied with the city facts? (that is why Taipei is ranked at bottom 2nd in Taiwan for living quality…) And definitely shameful to the nationwide Taiwanese: spend a lot of money of nationwide taxpayers but simply get failures, is that your so-called better adminstration? wake up, dude…stop priding in something which you should have felt sorry for !

In Taichung, we gather international bands to hold Jazz Festival annually, and countless culture-related activities, so besides of outstanding architect designs in hardware, Taichung people also pretty much enjoy the tempo of software advancements, I hope that you can calm down and really think what you are embracing now in Taipei…PS: I don’t work for TC gov, rather I am working for the thread poster now to give him fair guides, wishing him enjoy his trip in Taiwan…

AT LAST, PLEASE STOP REVISING THE CONTENT OF MY POST !!! I BELIEVE YOU ARE NOT AN COMMUNIST IN TAIWAN WHO TRY TO CONTROL THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH HERE !!

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Taichung is great if you live there and know your way around and have a car.

As a first time visitor to Taiwan, its not the ideal place when theres lot more to do / see in Taipei and Kaohsiung areas.

kenlu88,

I won’t quote your messages since your text has been posted and embedded several times, but I cannot believe anyone would praise this city to high heavens. Taichung has improved a great deal in the past 20 years, but it is still a disappointing failure as an urban area. The biggest boost in the past 3 years has been the opening of the Wurih/Taichung HSR station, which allows for first-rate transport to other places in Taiwan, which means, to me at least, that Taichung is now quite live-able, although a car or a high taxi budget is a must. But it also means I like being able to get OUT of the city to have fun. Not good.

Taichung has a population of over 1 million people and no effective public transportation system. It is possible to move east and west along Taichung Harbor Road, the main drag running through the center of the city, and from point to point along other lines but transfers are just about impossible – certainly the “system” makes no provision for them. It’s nice that we have an art museum, for example, but unless I want to drive my car there and fuss with the impossible parking, I never feel like going. Until Taichung has a proper, integrated public transportation system in place, it will be little more than a crowd & concrete, not developed urban landscape.

Taichung Metropolitan Park was built upon a landfill garbage site in the 1990s. It was a big improvement over the rancid dump site but it is on the Taichung County boundary, far from major residential areas, and again YOU NEED A CAR to get to a “city” park. It is emblematic of the poor planning that has crippled this city for decades & decades.

Taichung needs to clean up the gangster/police/political corruption or it is never going to get anywhere. Simply saying Taichung has its problems “but so does Taipei” doesn’t cut it.

Cheers,
Tazzie

Taichung Transport