Job Discussion Forums

[drewteacher]

In Thailand, they LOVE volume. In stores, restaurants, even on the street, music, (or people talking on microphones), is always at ear bleeding volumes. And it's everywhere. I've heard it's the same in mainland China. What about Taiwan? Thanks.

[trukesehammer]

Does this answer your question?

My old buddy, Surrelia, whom I haven't seen in ages, could testify to all the wonderful noises here, poor guy. He had really sensitive ears and it's possible that all the noise finally drove him away.

Walk by the stores, particularly Watson's, and you're sure to see some hand-held loudspeaker that some clod left at the doorway set on REPEAT ANNOYINGLY.

Then there's the thing about the muzak, which appears in various places where you'd rather it wouldn't, like coffee shops, net cafes, and even FORESTS.

And do NOT, whatever any of your local friends recommend, EVER take a Taiwanese tourist trip. This entails getting up before the crack of dawn, hauling your sleep-deprived carcass aboard a giant, refrigerated bus cold enough for meat-hauling, and then rather than let you catch up on your sleep, some nut breaks out a microphone for a little karaoke.

[kuberkat]

Wooohooo, Drew, I used to go to Thailand for peace and quiet. You're in for a treat, mate!

And to add to Trukesehammer's experience, there's nothing quite like falling asleep looking at Taiwan's "only" stars above Alishan, and then wake to the four am roundup to go watch the sunset. The latter involves a twenty-minute train ride, a half hour of frenzied local tourists fumbling in the dark, an orgy of photography as the sun appears and a rushed departure ten mintues later. Never mind the scenery, filks: we've got our pictures. (Leaving then, or after a hike, is not a bad idea, since the most tempting cuisine in Taiwan's favourite beauty spot is instant noodles.)

[Dr. Deepak]

Noise in Taiwan? Unbelievable. Loudspeakers everywhere. In grocery stores, inside all the stores-sometimes two or three going on at the same time, on the so-called 'sidewalks' outside the stores loud enough to be heard over the traffic across the street, guys standing on the corners screaming into hand-held megaphones, loudspeakers on trucks-scooters- bicycles all times of day and late at night going up and down narrow streets-concrete jungle-echo chambers selling stinky tofu and miscellaneous, loudspeakers on telephone poles blasting out 'dont park your car' messages and 'get a new ID' and community 'news'. Loud tv loudspeakers waiting for the metro and, now, sometimes also inside the metro. Also in hospital waiting rooms and doctor's reception rooms.

Trukesehammer's experience with tour buses is correct. Also in trains. Taxis normally have the radio playing. Festivals and tourist spots? My gods. Kuberkat is talking about the 'Sea of Clouds' high up on Mount Alishan. One of the few beautiful places in nature in Taiwan. We get there in the dark to watch the sun rise and two tour guides are screaming as loud as they can over hand-held megaphones trying to be heard over each other. Appreciation of nature? What nature? They cut down every living thing colored green in Taipei, covered it with concrete claustrophobic inducing high rise buildings, and then they call it a 'civilization'? They are terrified of nature. My Taiwanese wife tells me no one wants to live in a house out in the country with a grass yard because 'it is not safe'.

Festivals? Hold onto your ears. We went to the Latern Festival in Tainan. Beautiful laterns. Also loudspeakers as big as a three-story building. Even Woodstock didn't have them that big. The ground was shaking.

The worst thing for the ears in Taiwan, for me, are the GARBAGE TRUCKS. I have lived in 12 countries for 3 months or more in the last 15 years and I have never seen (heard) anything like it. We were gone to India for six months and I didn't want to come back because of the GARBAGE TRUCKS. They don't have garbage bins on the streets here where you can dispose your stuff at your convenience on your way to work. No, what happens is that the GARBAGE TRUCK comes by at a regular time everyday with four loudspeakers blaring at 105.5 decibles (I bought an audiometer and measured it) in a high pitched frequency that goes through concrete walls and glass windows to let you know it is there. Then everybody runs down three flights of stairs (or two or six), some of them limping or on crutches, with little plastic bags of garbage in their hands and run down the street chasing the GARBAGE TRUCK. In Taipei City, they turn the 105.5 decibles off while they stop. In Taipei County, it goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Because I live on the 11th floor, I hear all 105.5 decibles as it goes around and around the neighborhood from 5.30pm until 8pm. Every night.

Maybe the GARBAGE TRUCK is a gold mine and natural resource for Taiwan. They could patent that frequency and sell it to the Americans for psychological torture at Guatanamo and Abu Gharib. They could at lease save themselves $25 BILLION USD in buying weapons from the Americans. They don't need all those guns and rockets. Just use the GARBAGE TRUCKS and no one would dare invade. Who could stand the noise?

[/b]

[Forumosa Maoman]

Noise is almost everywhere in Taiwan, and silence, or at least quietness, is rare. I moved out to a gated community in the suburbs of Xizhi, about 25 minutes by scooter to Taipei, and I love the lack of noise. The roads in our complex are all underground, so no traffic at all, and no garbage trucks. Whenever the temperature is under 25 degrees, we have the window open, and the only noise is the crickets and frogs from the lake next to our building. That kind of noise I can put up with.

[flapjack]

I live and work just outside the city limits and there is plenty of peace and quiet, less pollution and a bit cooler on average. But I agree with the other posters about the noise in Taipei, that coupled with the heat in summer will suck the life right out of a person, if you teach and live downtown you can plan on aging 3 years to 1.

[Jared]

I always figured that they loved Thais. I mean, are they trying to take over Taiwan? No. Are the mainland Chinese trying to take over their country? Yes. So that should answer your question. They like Thai's, but not mainland Chinese.