Tiger Roaring Central Village

That is the literal translation of the name of the new community that we have joined. We moved house this week and have rented a rather nice apartment, although in a slightly dodgy area ("dodgy" in Taiwan means that it is a fairly run of the mill area, but a bit quiet and without streets lined with bars and restaurants).

Tiger Roaring Central Village is a fine example of Taiwan's "affordable housing", which means that the local government has built a few big blocks or small housing estates across the city, that are made available cheaply by means of a lottery or application. Actually, they are nothing like the so called affordable housing that we have in the UK, where you can buy a percentage of a "rabbit hutch" and end up paying your mini-mortgage, rent and service charges together (which are not really affordable at all and works out just as expensive as buying your own place if only you could raise the mortgage). The affordable housing apartments that I have seen here are "BIG", big rooms, big balconies, big buildings and big gardens, and cheap to buy or rent!

But, big also means cold, and Taiwan's winters are cold, much colder than I imagined! The cold air must be blown down from the mountains or something, because the air is damp and gets right into your bones. Apartments do not have central heating either, which is a bit of a bind. So we have two choices I suppose, buy a heater or keep moving around to keep warm.

At least with this place we have all the furniture and household stuff included in the rental cost, which is a big help.

We are looking forward to warmer days, hope they come soon!

Photos coming soon, once we get our new PC.