Taichung 台中 (sometimes spelled as Taizhong, but should be Taichong) is Taiwan's third biggest city (After Taipei and Kaohsiung and if we don't consider New Taipei as a city) with around 1 million inhabitants and it's located in middle Taiwan (as the character 中 Chinese for middle indicates). It takes about 2h with the regular train from Banqiao, a city in near Taipei, to Taichung. There's also a much faster high-speed railway connection, but it's more expensive. The normal train is good to arrive at the old railway station from the Japanese times and experience the real Taichung from the start.
I was visiting my Taiwanese friend Cherry, who is born there. She drove me around the whole city with her car, which was great, because I saw much more parts of Taichung in a short time. The city impressed me, because it's so different from Taipei. It seems huge, because the avenues are really long. But apart from few high-rise buildings, that really stand out, the rest is not too high and it's fairly modern. My initial thought was: "I'd love to live here!" The climate is warmer, the roads are wider and because there is no subway system like in Taipei (although they're building one currently), most people drive cars and motorbikes. And there's a lot of parks in Taichung. It's really a very pleasant and clean place, unlike some industrial cities around Taipei. Of course I haven't seen every part of Taichung to pass a comprehensive judgement, but the first impression was really great. Maybe that's because I've been to other not so clean and neat places, I don't know. But Taichung is a mix of traditional and modern, some parts look like a Western city, some look totally "Taiwanese". And it seems they're building a lot these days, something I haven't seen in Taipei. New condominiums and skyscrapers in construction are currently a common sight in Taiwan's third biggest city. I also heard that the biggest night market of whole Taiwan is in Taichung, hope I can go there next time and try the delicious food. These are just my impressions of one afternoon. I went there, because I wanted to meet my lovely friend Cherry and spend time with her, but I still got a lot of good impressions of Taichung. I will definitely return, not only because it's a great place, but because a great friend is from there.
Do you want to see my photos of Taichung? Do you want to read about my friend Cherry and I, about our friendship and that wonderful afternoon we spent together? If so, then go to my photo blog and...
See my photos of Taichung and read about Cherry here>>
[My TAICHUNG page][My TAIWAN page][All photos by MKL, 2010]
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