Taichung
There are times when Taichung reminds me of Baltimore, mostly when I'm riding down the street.
While in DC, we took a few trips to Charm City, and were shocked. How such a large city could have parts of it mostly abandoned, and only a few miles away have such crazy growth and development.
A writer has once referred to Taiwan as an "advanced third-world country", I can believe it. In Taichung, the sewers, while mostly underground, are nonetheless open. For many many years (based on people who have lived here for a long time), the Taiwanese mob ran the city, and most of the cops are on the take. There are empty storefronts all over, but there is new construction still going on, of high-rise and luxury apartments. Our own complex seems to be half full, based on observations at night and day. The median income is about 40k NT a month (from the little bit I've looked at). I think the reason why food is so inexpensive (for us) is that most people don't make as much as we do, I've seen people hauling around junk on bikes.
It's very jarring to have such a wide disparity here, like there is almost no middle class, like in DC and Baltimore.
While in DC, we took a few trips to Charm City, and were shocked. How such a large city could have parts of it mostly abandoned, and only a few miles away have such crazy growth and development.
A writer has once referred to Taiwan as an "advanced third-world country", I can believe it. In Taichung, the sewers, while mostly underground, are nonetheless open. For many many years (based on people who have lived here for a long time), the Taiwanese mob ran the city, and most of the cops are on the take. There are empty storefronts all over, but there is new construction still going on, of high-rise and luxury apartments. Our own complex seems to be half full, based on observations at night and day. The median income is about 40k NT a month (from the little bit I've looked at). I think the reason why food is so inexpensive (for us) is that most people don't make as much as we do, I've seen people hauling around junk on bikes.
It's very jarring to have such a wide disparity here, like there is almost no middle class, like in DC and Baltimore.