hi, this site is a very good resource for the newly arrived. thanks and keep up the good work.
anyway, i’ve been looking for a place to live in taipei. there seem to be a lot of expensive hovels downtown and what gets me most is not that they’re expensive (I’ve budgeted quite a bit for rent) but that they’ve all been virtually unlivable! call me a “soft” westerner, but I want a nice crib dammit!! :fume: then it occurred to me that there must be some of those cheesy “condo-compound” style places 20-30 minutes out of town. I’m willing to commute. so, my question(s) for all you ultra-knowledgable vets out there are,
does anybody know if they exist around taipei? If so where?
anybody live in one? if so, how is it?
do you advise going with a rental agent, or can a guy with minimal chinese go it alone?
Not sure exactly what you mean, but i have a feeling the short answer to your question is no. taiwan is a land of concrete apartments for the most part.
Could you be more specific what you’re looking for?
Uhh, ok well i’m picturing your typical suburban compound, most likely fenced, guarded, and overpriced…maybe with little pathways running from building to building which are all stacked on top of each other or, alternatively, side by side in nauseatingly straight rows. There’s little flower beds with almost live plants and weeds along the pathways, the “upkeep” of which you’d have to pay for, and there’s chunks of metal strewn about here and there on the grass in and around the buildings. After a month or two of living there, you realize that someone who swindled the compound office by passing himself off as a sculptor put them there. Your “unit” is nice enough, probably too expensive for the size, but at least you can sleep well at night knowing that nobody in your compound of “units” has a nicer place than you. Or a better built-in fridge, stove, washer, dishwasher, automatic bagel slicer…etc. Oh, and there’s usually a “complacent homogeneity” fee for this as well.
These compounds usually have names that sound like Jane Austen novels. You know “rolling meadows”, “mountain view estates”, “withering fauna (for which you must pay)”, “grazing fields of the mighty Siberian Yak”.
I succumbed. I’ve tried ignoring that thread for so long, on the grounds that you should be content with the life you have chosen, but my place is up for renewal and I just had to look.
After being here a while quality of life is becoming more and more important to me. I neeeed fresh air and open space or I’m going to go crazy. When can I come for a tour?
Have lived here two years and never came across any cobras myself. Of course they may have trouble slithering up to the 23rd floor.
Strag, my place will be available first of June. Dunno how long you can lease it though as they want to sell it. It’s absolutely gorgeous up here today. Best place I ever lived in Taipei. You get used to the distance. But it’s only NT 250 for a cab back late night so not much further out (if at all) than Xindian.
The shuttle bus is my method of transport to and from office. It’s a good option if you work a 9 to 5 type job.
hey maoman, thanks for the link and the wealth of info. this is EXACTLY what i was picturing. wor yow.
going to head up there and have a look. did i hear something about a grand tour? so we can travel the grazing grounds on yakback together and survey the tranquility??
You can try my mountain too. My house has western applicances, big oven (who has an oven? Bet MaoMan doesn’t) I also have one of those big double door refrigerators, heated floors and CENTRAL AIR! I also have a view of Taipei from Linkou all the way over to Keelung! Top that view! Our commu8nity has a kickin pool with a view of Taipei and a little cave to swim into etc. Also we have tennis courts and basketball court, squash court and so on. Everybody has at least one parking space but there is free parking all over the community. The buildings are all types. We have mostly real houses but I live in a town house with roof deck there are also tall buildings but not too many.
My neighbors pay NT$45,000 for three bedrooms and totally EXPAT furnished. Very very swank. I bought mine, but I have seen some of these town houses rent for around NT$30,000, so you can find it. The town houses are about 65 pings. The houses which I use to rent are about 100 pings. Paid NT$35,000 for the house rental, but that was a new one no one ever lived in and I had to do a little interior decorating.
Anyway, check out the place. Fuji Shan Zhuang which is nearby HsinTaiWu rd. but up the mountain. Maybe you have seen the colorful townhouses yellow, pink and green up on the mountain before in the distance up behind the ACER HQ building.
Good luck, by the way, if you budget doesn’t stetch that far, Lotus Hill is very nice. I recently found out from Maoman that they are quite affordable and I think cheaper than this area.
I’ll take that bet. I have a full-sized western oven, big enough for baking cakes and pies, or roasting a Thanksgiving turkey, with four burners on the stove top.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I should mention that I bought it just over a month ago.
Justin, in my experience it’s best to find a job first. If you’ve got that and it’s not too far I’d recomend HsinTien (XinDian) or TanShui (DanShui). I live in a nice sized house in XinDian and this was a lucky find (thanks again, Sandman) but there are many good places around here. It’s clean and dead quiet (literally, I’m next to a graveyard) and lacks the hustle and bustle of The City. If you are working in the north of the city then DanShui would be a better choice, it’s not too different more hills and close to the ocean. It would help if you have a Chinese speaking friend to help. Good luck
Bit off topic, but thought that I would mention this. I am a snake catcher back home and would be happy to help anyone out who has a snake problem. I have done a couple of jobs on Yangming Mountain removing some nasties, and now that I have a vehicle I can travel a bit further afield.
Anyway, this is no doubt one of those useless tidbits of information that seems to build up on this board, but the word is out. If you find yourself in the situation that you need some assistance, at least you now know that help is at hand.
thanks for the info Hobart and GOPBill. Hobart, “your mountain” (i like that) sounds positively palatial. Heated floors? A communal cave? I’m in over my head here. I’ll get more info on Xindian and already have some viewings in Danshui, thanks again for the tip. Then on the weekend, it’s off to Lotus Hill…
you guys rock. thanks a million
“That is the saving grace of humor, if you fail no one is laughing at you.”
Hi Hobart, thanks for asking. Actually, I did make it over to both Fuji Shan Zhuang and Lotus Hill and took a look around. FSZ was exceptionally nice. A little too spacious (expensive ) for my gf and I however. Lotus Hill was absolutely great for community amenities, but we weren’t smitten at all with the apartment itself.
We ended up settling on what we thought was a really nice place in Danshui, about 50-60 ping, 3 bdr, large open kitchen, bar, hardwood floors, big alcove windows, inset halogen lighting, AC, ensuite bath, blah blah blah… for 15k. When we saw it, she went :lovestruck: and so it was basically settled. “We can put the sofa here, and the stereo there, and then we can buy x so as to decorate y, and …” she was all set. Even a total neanderthal like me manged to scrape together a mono-neural pronouncement like “oh cool, a bar!”
Justin, nice choice. Actually Damshui is much nicer than any part of Sijhih. I just like it here because I drive and it is quick ride downtown from here. If I stayed home a lot though, Damshui would be an excellent place as it is more of a self contained community that has just about everything you need. Congrats. Nice find at that price.
Oh jeez, that’s torn it!
I have a full-sized western oven, big enough for baking cakes and pies, or roasting a Thanksgiving turkey, with four burners on the stove top. 
) for my gf and I however. Lotus Hill was absolutely great for community amenities, but we weren’t smitten at all with the apartment itself.