r/taiwan • u/czapcze • 2d ago

Image Two sides of Taiwan

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For the love of Matsu I cannot decide which one I like more and where to "settle".

City life is so convenient and there's always something to do, but seeing the mountains and ocean every day also has its charm.

But at least Taiwan has it all...
(except skiing!)

864 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

23

u/AdmiralStuff 2d ago

I’m probably biased since I’ve lived all my life in a city, but I find rural areas to be a bit boring since apart from views and stuff, there isn’t a whole lot to do (there is hiking, but who says you can’t hike just outside a city?)

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u/czapcze 2d ago

That's my current thought process as well, that I would love the quiet and fresh air for some period of time, but eventually get annoyed by not being able to go like... to a cinema, or see art whenever I want.

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u/komnenos 台中 - Taichung 2d ago

Eh, Curious where you hike but I've personally found the more "wild" spots to be further from the city center. i.e. When I lived in Taichung I had to drive out to the Seven Hero Peaks a good hour outside of the city, or in Hsinchu sometimes two full hours out into the mountains. Heck, when I want to do one of the 100 peaks I often have to go five plus hours deep into the mountains. It's not for everyone but I love it for the most part.

Would love some hidden gems though if you know any harder, less traveled hikes closer to the cities! Makes it easier to go for a good dinner afterwards. :)

I also like to explore the Indigenous culture that's often up in the mountains. I remember once going deep into the mountains of Hsinchu county and found a village where the kids were actively speaking Atayal to each other! Haven't seen something like that before or since.

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u/8ngryW0lf999 2d ago

As a spiritual person I find the energy in some rural places quite strong and uplifting whereas in urban areas it's often chaotic and jarring.

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u/amorphouscloud 2d ago

Plus, either city or mountains are a day trip from either location, so I choose everyday convenience and live in Taipei.

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u/Alone-Duty7777 1d ago

Basically every rural place ever. And that's the whole point isn't it? To get a break from the concrete jungle and the accompanying noise. I'm a city dweller too but I've come to appreciate Taiwan a lot. An hour's ride to a beach/lake/mountain, with practically a convenience store at every corner, what's there not to like? It's good to touch some grass once in a while.

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u/AdmiralStuff 1d ago

I mean if you reduce the amount of cars, things would be far quieter. Investments into active and public transport would almost eliminate noise because there’s a wall separating you from the much quieter noise.

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u/Alone-Duty7777 1d ago

Well, I've stayed in Singapore for an extended period of time before, and I was yearning for the countryside within half a year. World-class public transport and low-ish car ownership, but lemme tell ya, it's the density that kills a city. Everywhere is so freaking crowded with no easy escape hatch except to fly out. I'm not saying Taiwan isn't crowded, but a break from urban life is literally less than an hour away.

And by noise i don't only mean cars, you get noise from crowds, metro, ads, construction, etc. Unless you only stay in your room, then living in a city or countryside doesn't really matter.

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u/patricktu1258 高雄 - Kaohsiung 1d ago edited 1d ago

I’ve spent my whole life in city too. Funnily enough to me the most interesting part of living in a city is trying to escape from the city. I find city life boring and draining, thus the escape is a bliss. It’s better than just living in a rural area and getting bored of it.

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u/MOTOLLK12 2d ago

Yep city boy here… hate rural areas… love just walking 1-block to get my cafe/pastries

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u/Parking-Ad4263 2d ago

There is a third side, but you kinda gotta know where to go.
If you can get out into the deep mountains, it's a whole other world.
The thing is, there are lots of little roads that aren't actually roads out there, and if you don't know which ones to take, you'll get lost and/or stuck super easily. And the only way you know which roads to take is because someone who already knows which roads to take has shown you.
But it's worth it if you ever get the chance. It's amazing. Reminds me of the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand.

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u/komnenos 台中 - Taichung 2d ago

As someone who has scootered out in the boonies the roads can get dangerous too. The only time I've ever fallen off my scooter was up some wet road, cracked into a thousand pieces that had layers upon layers of moss and mud.

I still love mountain climbing and until I get a car I'll have to use my scooter but after that incident it's made me more hesitant to drive out there.

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u/Parking-Ad4263 2d ago

I'm out in the mountains every Sunday (give or take), and I wouldn't want to ride on some of those "roads". Honestly, even a normal car won't get you up them some of the time. It's quite funny, because the one that I use all the time has so much moss and lichen on it. When it rains during the week, it stays wet, so it can be dry for a couple of days, but it'll still be slippery. When it actually rains, the bottom road tends to flood out, and even the road up turns into a little river. In those conditions, if you don't have at least AWD (and ideally 4WD), you're not getting through.

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u/rndmeyes 2d ago

outskirts of Taipei are attractive for that reason IMO

I see mountains and even the ocean (well, if I go on my default hike), but still well connected to the city

ultimately, everywhere is a compromise of some sort, of course

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u/czapcze 2d ago

I feel like outskirts of Taipei is where I am gonna end up... like the final metro station area or something, so that I can get anywhere without the need to drive, but also not be stuck in traffic when leaving Taipei.

Can't have it all, that's right!

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u/amorphouscloud 2d ago

Xindian is a good spot. If I didn't already have a place in Taipei proper that's where I'd want to live.

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u/AlternativeHat8964 2d ago

Some might say there are even more than two..

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u/komnenos 台中 - Taichung 2d ago

Curious how many you would put.

For me I'd say there is generally 1. Taipei and the immediate area around it 2. the other big cities of Taichung and Kaohsiung, 3. The smaller cities (i.e. Chiayi, Tainan, Hsinchu, etc.), 4. towns and countryside (i.e. Ershui), 5. woods and forests, 6. High mountains.

Even then I could see breaking those down even further, i.e. some of the high mountains like Yushan are very well laid out, touristy and full of people while others are even more remote and harder to get to.

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u/AlternativeHat8964 2d ago

Exactly, you can divide stuff infinitely at some point. For example, I don't know if it's useful to clump all the outer islands as one thing since they're quite different from one another. The Formosan villages have a few different flavors as well, as do smaller Taiwanese towns. The geography simply resists categories.

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u/No_Guitar7903 2d ago

Isn't that the same everywhere? You either live in bumfuck nowhere or you live in a big city.

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u/okonomeowki 2d ago

Por que no los dos?