Going to Taepei, any advice?

[wonderboy416]

I'm off to Taepei for the holidays, it was a pretty random and last minute decision. I grabbed a return plane ticket for $350 US and found a hostel downtown for $12/night (single room, going for 4 nights). I've been searching online but have found mostly touristy stuff to see and do.

Has anyone been there? Have any advice as to where I should go explore?
I am going to visit Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo later this year (Tokyo at the end of Jan I hope) in addition to the country side in Korea, Busan and the DMZ zone (North Korea) but thought I'd hit Taepei first since it was a few hundred dollars cheaper than the others and still has plenty to offer.

Thanks and happy holidays, hope it doesn't snow too much in Toronto

 

[Hipster Duck]

Taipei is a great city - one of the most underrated in the world. It's so compact that you can walk from one end to the other in about 5 hours, which is something I'd recommend. Also, the area around National Taiwan University (NTU) was pretty hopping. The National Palace Museum is the premier museum of Chinese antiquities in the world. If that's your thing, I would definitely go. Ximen Ding (or Hsimen Ting, because Taiwanese alphabet spellings are inconsistent) is the Shibuya of Taipei. The northern leg of Jongshan Rd. (north of Ren Ai Lu) is almost Parisian. Can't really explain it.

 

[wyliepoon]

I've never been to Taipei, but it's definitely one of the places I'd like to see on my next trip to Asia.

You can try out some transportation systems while in Taipei...

Taipei Metro Muzha Line

Maokong Gondola (for great views of Taipei) (EDIT: It is temporarily closed for repairs)

Taiwan HSR

 

[voxpopulicosmicum]

Night markets - shilin is great (Shilin MRT station), also decent markets near NTU main gate (Kungkuan MRT) and NTNU (Kuting MRT).

Ximending - Japanese-style youth hangout with chain stores

Tea house on top of Yangmingshan - great views, interesting food

2-28 Peace Park - may have been renamed; its name is the subject of a back-and-forth political battle

CKS Memorial Hall - See this testament to "the first leader to recognize the dangers of world communism" (his solution: fascism)

Computer mall by the main train station

Buddhist & Daoist temples are interesting

But, if you've only got 4 days, walk the streets aimlessly and be entertained and well-fed

 

[voxpopulicosmicum]

Also - experience their subway system - it puts ours to shame and didn't even exist 10 years ago (only a slight exaggeration)

 

[wonderboy416]

Thanks for your input guys! I'm really getting excited to go and have already researched some of your suggestions and have some printouts to stick into my backpack.

I'm really excited to go as it's my first Asian city outside of Seoul (and my fourth country... ever). I love Seoul but it's going to be really great to experience something else as I'm starting to take Seoul for granted with its endless markets and impossibly good night life in almost every corner of the city...

I'm also excited to check out the transit system. The subway system here impresses me to no end, it does seem odd that it proclaims itself to be the best subway system in the world though (I certainly wouldn't doubt that) but I don't have much to compare it to other than North American cities.

Thanks again and happy holidays!

 

[wonderboy416]

So far Taipei has been interesting...

Getting off the airplane was a fun experience, as we entered the international arrivals section we were mobbed by hundreds of frantic, screaming girls... Directly in front of us was an asian boy band who's name I don't know but seem awfully popular, it was a neat/bizzare experience to say the least.

After taking a pre 1970's bus that was miraculously somehow still running we arrived in Taipei. The first thing that hit me when I stepped off the bus was the air quality. It is bad, really, really extremely awful bad. If you've ever been inside an indoor go-cart track that uses gasoline powered carts you know exactly how Taipei smells everywhere, all the time. I have since learned that it's one of the densist cities in the world and everyone and their uncle has a moped, and they all seem to be on the street at once. It's a sight to behold seeing packs of 30-40 mopeds pull up to a stop light at a time... when I was eating a steak dinner (160 NAT, including dessert and unlimited soda - yes food is cheap, that's about $2.50 in a nice sit-down restaraunt) I saw a mother pull up to a stoplight on her moped, her infant child strapped to her chest... I have officially seen it all lol.

My hostel is very near CKS Memorial so we checked that out, several temples, Taipei 101 and some markets. The nightlife here is rather dissapointing, bars and clubs are few and far between, bars that actually have patrons are even fewer. It's the opposite of Seoul which has dozens of bars every few blocks most of which are buzzing with activity. We managed to find a good one last night but it wasn't easy.

I am looking forward to going out to some night markets tonight and leaving the city and going into the mountains tomorrow, as well as dining at the modern toilet.

This experience is really making me appreciate how modern and clean both Toronto and Seoul are. Many of the buildings resemble crumbling communist blocks and the infastructure is sorely outdated, it's something that really has to be experienced.

Ok that's enough blabbing, now it's off to the night markets.

 

[wonderboy416]

Final comments and pictures here:

http://www.urbantoronto.ca/showthread.php?t=8132