What's Changhua like?

[quote=“Puppet”]

[quote]
The things that I need to find to make it as livable for me are decent restaurants,[/quote]

Since you’re moving here:

There’s a small restaurant on 135 San Min Rd. The train station is on San Min Rd, if that’s any reference. Just take a left out of the train station and go about 2 blocks. Before the light by the 7-11, there is a small restaurant next to the shoe store. It’s in a small house and they have a recently build screened in porch. The place is the most addictive place in Taiwan. They have sandwiches, pasta, fish and chips, fantastic salads, and a wide selection of Belgian Beers that he rotates on a regular basis to give a good variety. Derek, the owner, is one of the nicest guys around. He’s closed on Mondays and occasionally closes on other days when nobody is able to open, but that’s rare. His cakes are hit and miss…sometimes I love them, other times they just look like a cake I could get anywhere else. If you have something specific you want him to make, ask if he can make it sometime. You might see it on the shelf the next time you’re in.[/quote]

I didn’t know they had fish and chips. Are they proper fish and chips? I went there once a few months but didn’t think much of it - I think I had a sandwich of some sort. Very slow service even though I was the only person in there.

There’s one somewhere. If you haven’t found it, I’ll be glad to ask around to see where it is.[/quote]

There’s one near the golf course closest to the city. I assume there’s probably one near the other golf course which is a couple of km south. Look at Google maps and find road 137. The golf courses and driving ranges are there.

So how about the locations on some Thai and Filipino grocery stores for my curry, mountain dew, root beer, corned beef and other various necessities I need to survive a more intense Chinese eating experience?

I guess this means no Burmese restaurants with tea leaf salad? :frowning:

Thai and Filipino groceries exist but it’s kind of hard to describe the locations. The easiest Thai place is opposite the main arch gate to the big Buddha. Kind of small, and is mostly stocked with Thai rum, but they could probably give you directions to the other ones. I sort of know where they are as I pass them occasionally on bike rides, but I don’t know which ones are good. You can get basic curry pastes, coconut cream, dried galangal etc in the big Japanese supermarket - that’s where I buy them.

Filipino places - the easiest is opposite the church that’s near Holiday KTV. I think it’s Minsheng Rd.

First week in Changhua report:

Food: They don’t seem to worship cow, like the fat/tall people of my tribe. We do have fire and with cave art, I’ve tried to demonstrate to MIL to make fried oysters with cocktail sauce. Costco is many rivers away, no aluminum with bulgogi if you eat it there.

Traffic: Compared to Taipei, it seems empty and dare I say sane. I attribute this to the many old people who ride things that resemble scooters but smoke a lot more and have various pieces of duct tape and baling wire on them. I’ve had people willingly cede the right of way without the threat of deadly force.

Filipino store: Charges 50% more for mountain dew, but does manicure/pedicure for 100/150NT. No Corned beef! :fume: Will talk to the furriners to find an appropriate store.

Bicycling: It is a dream and I willl be getting the family bicycle fixed soon. I saw traditional houses that were actually maintained and in a out of the way police station I saw confiscated video gambling machines, probably waiting for their owner to reclaim them.

I’ll need to find someone to go biking with and a friday night driving range partner to drink with and talk bollocks, if only almas john was closer.

Hi guys,

I am currently searching for work around the main Taiwan cities and am considering two satellite towns / small cities of Chang Hwa (Chang Hua) and Fengshan. Any advice you can give would be welcome, especially from those who have lived there or are living there now. I’m looking for decent accommodation and ease of access to the cities of Taichung and Kaohsiung.

Thanks

Week 6 in Changhua report:

Food: Incapable of eating Chinese food at this time, cook for myself or just don’t eat. Thank God, avocados are in season or I would be starving now

Traffic: Amazingly slow and lacking the buses and diesel trucks that make Taipei such a hellhole to drive through.

Foreigners: Seen 2, need friends or at least people that I see occasionally to speak English, vent and laugh with. I’m at the point to bring my FIL to a driving range on Friday night, so I can have a few beers.

My House is still not finished and will need at least one more week unfortunately. I really need to be away from the In-laws house and in my own space.

Think Deliverance Taiwan style.

One of the bother-in-laws is from there…luckily i only have to see him and his demon spawn at CNY. (think the scene in Raising Arizona)

In Changhua everybody speaks Changhua.

This site might help a bit and has some photos. Beware though, it is quite official with a fair bit of useless information as well:

changhua.gov.tw/english/default.asp

For the love of God, where are the food stalls that are situated into a night market. This place is a desert of good places to eat.

Night market is out near Carrefour. Or there’s a smaller sort of market near the western end of Yongle St (the street with all the clothing stores) and along Zhonghua Rd.

There’s also some good places near Changhua Christian hospital but it’s all Chinese food.

Yes s*#$ hole. But all cities are in Taiwan. Depends what you want?

Any cross roads for the night market near Carrefour?

Now I’d say the nicest cleanest city in Taiwan that I’ve been to is Hualian. Beautiful place with sidewalks, yes, OMFG sidewalks.

[quote=“tommy525”]And you will wish you could ride that train everyday to Taipei or Kaohsiung too :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

I only ever went to Changhua to pick up my girlfriend and bring her back to Taichung. I think the town wakes up at bout 2pm and goes back to bed at 3pm. Not really but you get my drift?

Its really like Sanchong but in Central Taiwan close to Taichung , just like Sanchong is close to Taipei[/quote]
Hey! What’s wrong with Sanchong? At least I don’t have to see a McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks on every corner!

[quote=“Okami”]Any cross roads for the night market near Carrefour?

Now I’d say the nicest cleanest city in Taiwan that I’ve been to is Hualian. Beautiful place with sidewalks, yes, OMFG sidewalks.[/quote]

Don’t know the cross roads sorry.

Chang Hua’s quite dark.

Especially at night.

Changhua won’t exist until it has an HSR station.

ChangHua sucks.

I thought it had been scientifically proven that everywhere in Taiwan is a dunghole. However, humans were designed with the ability to revel in their own shit thus making each and every festering pile of manure defendable against others.

I was interested to read Okami’s transformation from blissfully unaware to over it already in a mere 6 weeks.

My transformation has a lot to do with MiL being a pain and my wife doing her Yuezi. My wonderful independent wife has become a bundle of nerves and intense self doubt due to MiL and a colicky baby. My FiL also decided that putting a kitchen into our house wasn’t important. As in a $60,000NT overpriced AC before winter was more important, than spending less than $30,000NT to outfit our kitchen. My MiL’s kitchen is a shithole. It’s nasty, smells bad, roach infested and ffs has a sink in the corner of the kitchen. The fridge is so packed with useless junk that you can put nothing into it. UPS wished it had people who could pack a truck as well as my MiL has packed her freezer. MiL loves to scream as her normal mode of talking.

Otherwise I’m coping well. :wink: