Though driving today, I did see that they are putting a new building up on ZhongZheng Road next to the new Performance Art Center and across from the Spanish Restaurant. We have an apartment in that area too, but have been waiting for years to see anything happening there. They just built that big building complex across from the Fulon Hotel. I would like to see a movie theatre.
The area mentioned around ZhongZheng and Nanping is not bad in the sense that Taoyuan is a hole and that area is better than most areas. As also previously mentioned, the downtown area is a complete shambles. Taoyuan City is an abomination. One degree better than Zhong-li, but not by much. Get out of the shitty, the concrete jungle and live out on the periphery.
Places like Longtan, parts of Bade, the north section of Guei-Shan all have interesting more isolated locale. Sure it adds to the commute, but it pays off in peace of mind, less stress on the senses. That holds true unless you get caught up in the expat bar scene, which is pretty lame anywhere, but seems doubly so in Taoyuan due to it actually being the most exciting thing there. Much more fun than the Taiwanese night spots. However, decent spots can be found in the outlying areas, such as Yangmei or Longtan, if one is willing to drive 40 mins to work.
Taoyuan is really not my bag, as much because of many of the foreigners there there are some cool foreigners there, but it does seem to attract, or at least retain, a disproportionate number of the boring foreigners in Taiwan as the local Taiwanese.
What with the Hutt, Jawa, and Tusken Raider inhabitants, and the odd human settler thrown in for good measure. I think there might be some temporary position applications being filled in for jobs in Thailand until something suitable in Taipei County rears it headβ¦I hear somewhere over the rainbow at the end of the MTR is where its at ho hum. In some ways, it does make a foreign man wonder what this marriage thing is all about.
