9 Aug, 2009 in
Tainan . Tags:
case study; living guide; tainan city; Taiwan; taiwanese city; things to do;
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Living in a Taiwanese town and wondering what’s to do? Let me help you out a bit.
It sounds like a somewhat naive question, but I get that alot, even in relatively bustling lively Taiwanese towns. I got that in Tainan atleast a dozen times this past year, mostly from students. As I know a thing or two about Tainan City, I’ll take that as a case study. Suppose you’re an expat in Tainan City, teaching English in Yong Kang, or perhaps studying in NCKU and you feel like there’s nothing for you to do in Tainan. Following are some suggested activities for you to think about.
Living as a foreigner in a Taiwanese City (Tainan City)
- Every Taiwanese town has thousands of places to sit down to eat or drink (for Tainan City – look up i-Tainan).
- There are some joints with live music with local bands (Tainan City – Bioplicity runs Jazz , Pioneer runs cover songs, Room 335 does Rock and Hip-Hop).
(video showing live music at Pioneer)
- Check out the local clubs (Tainan City – La Sight, The Orient etc.)
- There are usually lots of movie theaters around (Tainan City – 8-9 movies theaters and about 3-4 second-run movie theaters with 90NT$ for 2 movies).
- There should be some culture center with events (Tainan City – The culture center has evening music and visiting cultural events).
- There’s usually a bowling center (Tainan City – atleast one in Zhong-hua east Tainan).
- Taiwanese love KTVs. You’ll find them all over the place.
- In Taiwan, most chances are you’re not too far away from a beach (Tainan City has two beaches – An Ping, Golden)
- Most Taiwanese towns have night markets (Tainan City – the night markets travel all around the city and are usually packed with loclas).
- Taiwanese enjoy baseball so there’s usually a local stadium (Tainan City has the Lions).
- Find out where the locals hang out (Tainan City – evenings are usually An Ping harbor with kites flying around Matsu goddess).
- The bigger towns would probably have some sort of Chinese language and culture center for foreigners (Tainan City – NCKU has Chinese Language Center offering language and culture classes).
- There’s atleast one world-class shopping mall (Mitzukoshi), if you’re into (relatively expensive in Taiwan prices) shopping.
- Some of my friends used to like going to those video-games places (Tom’s World) or network computer gaming centers mostly open 24h.
Remember, Taiwan is really small, so wherever you are, you’re probably half an hour or so from another terrific town/city (Tainan City – Kaohsiung is ~40 minutes away, I’d include that in the what-can-I-do-if-I-live-in-Tainan list)
Enjoy your time in Taiwan and Tainan City.
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Nitzan | August 9th, 2009 at 6:12 pm #
Hi Fili, thanks for your discriptive Tainan city guide.
some comments.
Tainan night markets there is one in Linsen road and a big one in Hai-An road. its name is Hua Yuan Ye Shi, worth to go there.
You can even go to R-T mart or Carrefour you will spend some hours there looking what to buy.
Fili | August 10th, 2009 at 1:21 pm #
Nitzan – the whole list of Tainan night markets is on iTainan with timing and lcoation on a Tainan Google Map.
I can’t imagine going to Carrefour and RT-Mart just to hang out, but the Mitsukushis – with their movie theaters, humongous food courts, sales freebies and the occasional in-mall entertainment could kill a few hours, especially for the ladies.
Fili | August 10th, 2009 at 1:44 pm #
Hmm… come to think of it, forgot to mention Love Hotels for couples. That’s definitely an attraction.
PS | August 10th, 2009 at 3:31 pm #
Lots of good lanes and alleys to explore, especially in the older parts of town. Get on a bicycle and take a camera.
Tainan also has a lot of good food. If you ask a Taiwanese person what’s good or where they go to eat (blank) then the chances are you’ll find some interesting places.
Which leads to another thing to do in Tainan – make friends with Taiwanese people and hang out with them. They know plenty about living here.
Fili | August 22nd, 2009 at 4:40 pm #
PS – good point. The local Taiwanese usually know best about the local hotspots and event, and can recommend the best restaurants to eat at :)
Kai | September 3rd, 2009 at 12:53 pm #
Hi Fili,
thanks for all these informations.
recenty, my friend who comes from Germany will come and visit Taipei.
He’ll stay for two months,
I wondering if I could find a place that he can go and could meet other friends who come from Germany.
Because I have to work all day, I want to let him gets some friends in Taiwan then I could take him out after office hours.
Thank you again for helping me.
Fili | September 5th, 2009 at 5:12 pm #
Kai – I suggest you post a question about that in Forumosa. I wouldn’t know much about that.
zygor guides | June 19th, 2010 at 8:11 am #
it is good site and good information!