[quote=“kenlu88”]Maybe soon you will call me something but Taiwanese, I will not be surprised… :loco:
[/quote]
Whereas you Sir have implied that we are all communists.
MOD note: cool it or I bin your stuff. 
[quote=“Mucha Man”]Ken it’s nice of you to post links and express what you think are the great sights of central Taiwan but your attitude is exactly what is wrong with all promotions of Taiwan to westerners by Taiwanese: you just don’t listen.
Most of the places you listed are of little interest to westerners but are the kind of places the tourism board likes to promote.
The OP is a westerner coming to Taiwan. We other westerners who have lived here for decades are in a lot better position in most cases to advise him on what to see.
Taichung has very little to offer to western travellers however much it may or may not be an okay place to live.
(a) Metro Park: taichungmp.cpami.gov.tw/taichung_mp_english/
(b) 6-star love motel: swmall.com.tw/web/mulan1/
© Feng-Chia Night market:
(d) Taichung Green avenue:
travel.tccg.gov.tw/scenic/index- … pe=16&id=4
wretch.cc/blog/yoke0918/9059117
(e) International Restruant avenue: yuminghui.pixnet.net/blog/post/24290588
(f) Secience/art museum: youtube.com/watch?v=T6EG1y1s … re=related
In the Science museum, you can also see detailed info of findings of 3000 yrs ago culture/civilizations found inside Taichung city…
(g) Taichung Park: travel.tccg.gov.tw/scenic/index- … e=16&id=24
Basically all of those are what travel writers mention somehwat dismissively as “if you are in the area go see” sights.
Not a single one is a strong enough lure someone to go to Taichung.[/quote]
Totally agreed, truthfully I personally also don’t think aforementioned city views are so particular enough for travelers’ interests, they are just “Appetizer”… But the weird part here is that why other interesting points I listed earlier (such as lugang, cingjing farm, sun-moon lake, xi-tou, gu-guan hot spring) are not mentioned above in your post? You know, to reach those interesting points, Taichung city serves a very important role as transportation hub. Without coming into Taichung city, it is extremely hard to reach those points directly for first-time tourists, don’t you think so? That is the one of the main values of Taichung…And while you treat Taichung city as your hub, you can spend some time on something interesting inside the city. Even in the science museum, they have fossils and antiques dating back 3000 years introducing the ancient culture of Taiwan, isn’t that fun for some culture-oriented visitors? Simply talking Taichung city out due to “transportation issues” with bare knowledge of the city is very weird and ego-like, don’t you think so?
Frankly, to me, the only interesting points of “Taipei city” for foreigners were 101 and palace museum. And now probably only palace museum after 101 gets surpassed…I would prefer to bring my foreign friends/biz partners to Dansui, NorthernEast Coast, and Hualien, of course they are not falling into the territory of “Taipei city”…So acuurately I think almost nothing to see inside Taipei city, but if enlarging into its vicinity, then a lot to see! likewise, I hope you guys not focus on Taichung City to attack, think broad in the view of entire vicinity, then you see the value of it !
No. First off, Chingjing is not of much interested to westerners either. Guguan is a horrible overcrowded hot spring resort. Xitou is only decent on a rainy midweek when no one else goes and in any case is too far to take public transport so it doesn’t matter where you start. Besides which, first time travelers do not go to any of those places. They go to more accessible and less overdeveloped hot springs, scenic areas, and small towns.
Changhua is the base for Lugang. Sun Moon Lake is reachable by direct bus from Taipei in about 3 hours and acts as its own transport hub now.
Taichung needs to stand on its own as a place to visit.
Actually one thing you didn’t mention that westerners usually like is the giant Milefo Buddha. And the folk park. And the tea streets.
No. First off, Chingjing is not of much interested to westerners either. Guguan is a horrible overcrowded hot spring resort. Xitou is only decent on a rainy midweek when no one else goes and in any case is too far to take public transport so it doesn’t matter where you start. Besides which, first time travelers do not go to any of those places. They go to more accessible and less overdeveloped hot springs, scenic areas, and small towns.
Changhua is the base for Lugang. Sun Moon Lake is reachable by direct bus from Taipei in about 3 hours and acts as its own transport hub now.
Taichung needs to stand on its own as a place to visit.
Actually one thing you didn’t mention that westerners usually like is the giant Milefo Buddha. And the folk park. And the tea streets.[/quote]
Mucha Man,
Frankly, you know you are now standing on behave of “all Westerners”, that might be a debatable matter.
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I have a friend coming from Florida where barely find mountains, now he settled in Taichung too. I have to tell you he loves those mountains so much, CingJing Farm and Ho-Huan Mt are definitely ones of his favorites…Nowadays he travels around those mountain areas on weekends roughly once every month by car with his family. Likewise, I would not emphasize mountains views of Taiwan to my Austrian friend, I would bring him to Kenting instead or some culture-related tour. See?, foreigners from different areas might have different demands on sightseeing…So shall we not debate over this?
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you think Gu-Guan is horrably crowded, don’t you think that is the general situ across the island for hot spots? My ideas: I usually go to the upscaled one like this one blog.xuite.net/stuart_lin/nbxtour/32206103 Somehow less people there. And alternatively, you can go there on weekdays to avoid crowds…My foreign biz partner felt it like Hawaii, he told me very pleasant and relaxed, he wished to stay over night there but we didn’t have time.
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I know Lugang is in Changhua, but Changhua is a small city where much less people than Taichung speak English…And it is even harder for foreigners to find buses in Changhua to Lugang, right? so personally i think taichung still is a better choice of transporatation hub for it, you can find all kinds of bus lines in Taichung train station area to all famous spots in central tw.
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good to mention the big milefo budda, hope you also know another very famous one inside Chnaghua city.
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Taipei does have bus going to sun-moon lake directly, but I would not call it a convenient/comfortable hub due to the long distance, unless you wanna stay over night in sun-moon lake. For a foreign traveller like OP, it would probably waste too much time on the transportation unless sun-moon lake is the only thing he wanna see in central tw.
I am talking about the concert hall inside 台中市文化局.
You stated yourself several pages ago that you’d only lived here a few years but perhaps I misunderstood you. If I got the wrong impression than please state for the record how long you have lived in this city. I don’t doubt you are Taiwanese, your mistakes in English make that quite obvious and your attitude makes you come across as a younger person.
Sorry, but I have no absolutely interest in discussing with you what I do for either business nor pleasure, considering your generally rude manner.
[quote=“kenlu88”]
2) Please, I will be waiting for your location info about the concert hall you mentioned (I now probably can guess which one you are mentioning, but I would let you such “a local” to tell me, thanks in advance.)…But I have to tell you another thing: I am very very sure even there is, very few of my neighborhood know its existence let alone Taichung civilians, that is why I think comparing the concert hall in your mind with the New Musical Hall (to be built) is like comparing Titanic with Yacht…Can you get the picture and difference? I appreciate that.[/quote]
The fact that you’ve never heard of the concert facility that already exists tells me exactly how much demand there is for a new music hall in this city. It’s my opinion that our opera-loving mayor is building this simply for his own aggrandizement and to put cash into the pockets of his supporters. It is an expensive white elephant the city neither needs nor can afford. I can only hope our excuse for a mayor fails in his election bid and the decision to build this monstrosity can be reversed before any more money is wasted on it’s construction, much as the bid to build the Guggenheim here was (thankfully) quashed.
BTW, the comparison with the Titanic will hopefully turn out to be quite apt… it will take the captain down with it.
Ask him what he does for a living. Go on, I dare you.
Does this have to be an all or nothing proposition? Taichung has some cool stuff, and has some drawbacks. It isn’t a ‘must see’ by any means, but I wouldn’t warn people away from visiting if they were going to be in Taiwan already.
And don’t forget- Asia’s strongest chess player lives in Taichung. For the time being, anyway.
Sorry, no, I do not have “bare knowledge” of Taichung. I have lived here longer than any single place in my life. I have a house and family here. I work here. I have half a lifetime of memories here. Please don’t assume you know more about my life than I do.
You keep accusing others of being egotistical while insisting you are stating the “obvious” and sticking to “the facts.” Why can’t you just agree to disagree? Your “facts” are opinions, and your arguments are not obvious to anyone else here. Sheesh.
You trivialize the transportation problem, but in my mind it is the single-biggest issue dragging Taichung down.
Here’s a question for you: If I want to go from the Art Museum to the Metropolitan Park, what city transport do you recommend other than a taxi or private vehicles? And how long would it take for such a trip?
If a visitor did take a taxi out to the Metropolitan Park, how would this person return downtown? Walk a couple of kilometers to Taichung Harbor Road (assuming you didn’t get lost in the unfamiliar tangle of streets) to catch another taxi or a bus?
Here are some facts 
for you : Taichung has a developed economy and a third-world transportation system. It is shameful.
You seem to assume all criticism aggression which needs to be countered. I don’t hate Taichung. I enjoy it for what it is, but it is not an accessible urban area.
[quote=“Chaon”]Does this have to be an all or nothing proposition? Taichung has some cool stuff, and has some drawbacks. It isn’t a ‘must see’ by any means, but I wouldn’t warn people away from visiting if they were going to be in Taiwan already.
And don’t forget- Asia’s strongest chess player lives in Taichung. For the time being, anyway.[/quote]
No, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. There is stuff to do around here, but you need a car. I like being near Nantou and the hills and mountains.
Considering we live within eyesight of salt water, I find it discouraging I have to travel for hours to enjoy it. The closest place to go for a walk by the Straits is Gao-mei Shi-di, but wherever there are any beachy areas – between the Dajia River and Gao-Mei, for example – they are strewn with all manner of garbage. When I look at the coast, I think “Wow, this could have been a tropical paradise near a great little regional city,” but it isn’t. The coast is an environmental disaster, and the city is a botch. I find it heartbreaking.
I didn’t know we had a chess champ in these parts. Cool.
That’s interesting. Who is it?
That’s interesting. Who is it?[/quote]
Me. Note that there are some skeptics and haters who claim I am “not a master”, and “full of crap”, and “a jackass”.
That’s not an opinion, redwagon. Its a simple FACT.
And yeah, too, Muzha Man is right in that its interesting to see from kennyboys ravings just exactly HOW FAR AWAY the Taiwanese tourism authorities are in terms of figuring out what westerners want to see. They just have not a fucking scooby at all! Pathetic, especially their outright refusal to listen or act on advice from people who KNOW what they’re talking about (unlike kennyboy).
Here’s a big clue for YOU, kennyboy. You made a big list of places that you consider important places to visit. However, you FAIL to mention WHEN we should visit. For example, when can we go to any of those places and NOT find them full to overflowing with busloads of tourists from China? Sun Moon Lake? Forget it! That place has been totally DESTROYED for westerners, along with most of the other places on your list, because of the Chinese tour groups.
THAT’S the reality. You simply have NO IDEA! 
[quote=“sandman”]For example, when can we go to any of those places and NOT find them full to overflowing with busloads of tourists from China? Sun Moon Lake? Forget it! That place has been totally DESTROYED for westerners, along with most of the other places on your list, because of the Chinese tour groups.
THAT’S the reality. You simply have NO IDEA! 
[/quote]
In defense of our neighbours across the strait, Sun Moon Lake was looking pretty well destroyed to me back in 2004, long before Chinese tour groups were maruading around the island.
But yes, it does sometimes seem as though the greatest enemies of Taiwan’s tourist potential are those who wish to promote and exploit it.
Sun Moon Lake. It would be a nice little park if it were a nature reserve.
I was there a few months ago…pretty shocked at the the development since last being there. Damn it looked worse than some places in China. A pity as the area and lake itself is quite pretty.
Then I went to Taroko, you literally could hardly drive in and out for the number of Chinese tour buses. Low end tourism, pack in 'em, pack 'em out. We went over Hehuanshan way first, at least that is not overrun, real nice spot.