What is/was your favorite place to live (in/on Taiwan)?
I (and I assume others) would be interested in hearing about the places you think are best to live and why. I haven’t been here a year, but I feel like there must be some really cool places to live around the island.
Some possible thoughts when choosing your favorite place.
Convenience
View
Distance to: mountains, beaches, pubs, hot-springs, betel nut, etc.
Price
Air freshness
Facilites in your building
and whatever else you can think of.
This is in response to some of the other threads I was browsing through about those gated communities and that one about cheap spots near the beach.
So far I’ve only lived in 2 areas of the city/island. Nangang and Guandu. Even though guandu is a long MRT’s ride away from “everything” this has been my favorite place to stay. Rent is resonable (I think), nice view, mountains close by, danshuai close by (event though I never go), air seems clearner, feels cooler then the city and I like the building I’m in.
There’s my pick, what’s yours? I’m hoping to here from people that live outside of Taipei as well.
Near Taipei, I enjoyed living in New Garden City, on the road that goes out to Wulai. It was relateively inexpensive (back in 1991!) and had some nice views, depending on the place. It was also a nice motorcycle ride to and from work every day, except of course on those rare occasions when it rained. Tsaotuen (Nantou County) was okay for a while, and the people were very nice, but I wouldn’t do it again. Gets a bit boring after a while. About the only entertainment was a pool hall and riding motorcycles on those narrow paths through rice paddies at ridiculous speeds in the dark. Glad I survived that. You needed good brakes to stop in the town, let alone on a wet dirt path.
I liked living in Bitan…it was cleaner, cooler, and cheaper than living in Taipei, with the MRT right there to jump on. The only thing was that it was a 45-50 minute commute to my job. My current place in Zhongshan is not as clean, but there are lots of parks around and it’s surprisingly quiet while still being close to everything.
Keelung. I like the harbor, the port, the ships docked at night, kind of like Shanghai or San Francisco Bay. There’s a neat Starbux right on the harbor waterfront, perfect setting to view the cruise ships leaving for overseas at night. Kinda makes me wish I was on one!
Hsinchu Science Park. Trees, lovely trees, lake, driving range, swimming pool, direct hot button to cops/fire department/ambulence, free American school, tennis courts, dead quiet at night, and sidewalks without scooters; miles and miles of sidewalks. Fifteen years in Taiwan and I’ve found heaven.
The place i live: sunny hill in Yangmei. Clean air as it’s on the top of a mountain, some facilities (like swimming pools, tennis courts etc), clean, a garden, cheap, and the area looks well-maintained, not many people etc. The area is varied with a wide array of houses, and well-kept, but all different, gardens.
I can be in Taipei in 45 minutes, out at the sea in 25, in the bigger mountains in less than half an hour.
[quote=“Mr He”]The place I live: sunny hill in Yangmei. Clean air as it’s on the top of a mountain, some facilities (like swimming pools, tennis courts etc), clean, a garden, cheap, and the area looks well-maintained, not many people etc. The area is varied with a wide array of houses, and well-kept, but all different, gardens.
I can be in Taipei in 45 minutes, out at the sea in 25, in the bigger mountains in less than half an hour.[/quote]
About how much do the detached houses cost there, Mr. He? What sort of size are they?
An 80 ping house wih a big (western sized) garden will probably set you back NT$40k.
My townhouse is much cheaper - I pay NT$15k including management fees, but then I only have a measly 50 pings, and the garden is 15 pings, but that’s enough for me.
The Ta-An Forest Park neighborhood is not bad!! I’ve lived in this neighborhood for almost two years. For me, Shida, Taida, Da-An MRT Station and Xinsheng MRT Station are all in my walking distance. (I’m a good walker!!) Places like Warner Brothers Cinema and Taipei Train Station are easy to get to from here. In general, traffic is very convenient from here to almost everywhere in Taipei (including transfer). Easy to grab food too (YungKang, Shida or even Taida) if I don’t want to cook.
I lived near WonFang Community for a year. In the beginning I liked its quietness, remoteness, proximity to mountains, etc. After a while when I became tired of having to commute by bus or taxi to do grocery shopping, to drool on food or cakes or snacks at nights when I ran out of inventory and there’s not much sold on the main street 20 minutes away unless I take MRT to downtown, and tired of only being able to take a walk within a limited distance (especially when it’s dark) in that ghost-like community which is located beside mountains, ahhhh!!! I ran the hell out of there before I almost turned into a psycho xiajei!!
I guess conditions like convenience in traffic, access to food and entertainment/activities are more important for a single person who lives alone than for couples.
