About My City:

"Taipei is the capital of Taiwan also the most modern and largest city in Taiwan. I think it is the one of the most safety city in the world. I am proud of the perfect mixture of modern and traditional, east and west in Taipei. I can enjoy the modern things in Taipei. Meantime, I can visit a lot of historical sites and activities in my city.”

Impressions

Other People's Maps I Like for Taipei:

Old Taiwan

104 Places | open

by mort

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The gold mine area 九份 金瓜石

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Taipei

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Ocean

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Some Other Resources for Taipei:

http://english.taipei.gov.tw/doi/index.jsp?categid=2463
http://www.taiwan.net.tw/
http://www.chinapost.com.tw
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/
http://www.ymsnp.gov.tw/
http://www.trtc.com.tw/e/index.asp
http://wikitravel.org/en/Taipei

On The Ground With Philip Lee

Night Markets, Weird Buildings, Busy People

The night market are crowded with people during the weekend. Vendors shout to gain your attention. The smell of foods fill the air. Keep your curiosity and try some local foods like stinky tofu or fried chicken steak. By weird buildings, I mean the ugly buildings anywhere in Taipei. In old times, Government didn't set up any law or regulations for the public area. People added ugly plastic or metal roof on the roof of the building to expand their living space and add metal bars on the windows and doors to prevent from the thieves. You can see the ugly building roof anywhere when you look from mountain or airplane. People rush to work, dating even playing.


I believe that you will enjoy visiting these places because they will give you a deep impression and fall in love with them.

• Hiking in Yangming mountain and hot spring in daytime, then hang out in Shilin night market for traditional food.”


• You should see the sunset along the Tamshui river side when you visit Tamshui township in summertime. I bet it is the one of the most fabulous sunset(s) in the world.


• Taipei 101 is the tallest building in the world. It is located in Xin-Yi District ─ one of the most prosperous areas in Taipei─ and it is not only a business building but a shopping mall. However, I just do window shopping, because there are too expensive to afford. Taipei 101 is your best choice to see Taipei night scene. In 89F and 91F, you can see the whole Taipei place. It’s very beautiful and I think you will love it.


• The three major night markets, Gongguan Night Market, Raohe Street night market, Shilin night market. There are varieties of foods in each night market, with pricing of the food sold there lower than those in the store. Nevertheless, there are pickpocket(s) in the crowded so you have to keep eye on your pocket or purse.


• Maokong area(for cable car and tea). Maokong area is a famous place where people can visit tea plant, tea factory and drink tea. If you want to go there, you have two ways of transportation to choose from. One is by bus after you go there by MRT; another method is riding Maokong Gondola(cable car).


• Ximen Ting(fashion area) offers a lot of modern shop(s), Cinema,Fast food restaurants. You can see many teenagers here in weekend.


• Yangming mountain(for hotspring and hiking). Yangming mountain also named as "Taipei's backyard". You can experience different beautiful scenery and good activities in four seasons. There are flowers festival in Spring,hiking in Fall and hotspring in Winter.


• Tamshui Fisherman wharf(in my hometown). Many singers hold a concert here and you can see the street artist performance in weekend. Of course, many couples date here; thus, it is a good place for couples or tourists to date or visit. We get there by car or ride a bicycle or go there by bus after you leave the Tamshui Station of MRT. It is not recommended to get here in wintertime due to the strong blow and low temperature.


• Cafe Culture. Most of Taipei people are glad to help foreigner(s). You should order Tea, coffee is ok too. There are a lot of drinking stands in corner and you can choose many kind of beverages you like. Of course brushing up on your Chinese Chess will give you a way to have some local interaction in certain cafes. Chinese tea(black tea or green tea) is the most common in Taiwan. Coffee is popular in Taiwan. You should try "Pearl milk tea" in the drinking stands in corner.


• Social Spaces. There are municipal libraries, sports facilities, chat room etc in community activities center. The adults can read, work-out or talk in there. Some community activities centers have playground for children.I would like to recommend the Taipei sports centers. Taipei city government set up several sports centers in Taipei. You can play basketball, badminton, squash, table tennis etc or workout, some sports centers have swimming pool. Most of important, the fee is cheap. Other social space are the parks and temple squares.

Keep In Mind

• It is crowded. You have to watch out the motor scooters on street, the pavements are occupied by motor scooters, street vendors, and government facilities.


• There are pickpockets in crowded areas.


• You need a good map when you visit Taipei due to the confused street sign.


• Avoid driving since it is very hard to find a parking space. MRT(like subway)and bus is fast and cheap. MRT is like subway but you can't eat any food including chew gum. So, it is very clean.


• Fall is the best season to Taipei. Mid-autumn festival or Chinese new year is good holiday in Taipei


• Socio-Political Climate- Taiwan is struggling with the relationship with Mainland China. As you know, China treat Taiwan is a part of it, but Many Taiwan people don't think so.


• Respect your parents and the older is important in my culture. A lot of locals are sensitive in political issue(not me :-) )

Around The Web In Taipei

Visit The Old Prison Via Jiayi (Chiayi) Old Prison
Tucked away on Weixin Rd, Jiayi (嘉義) is the old Jiayi prison. Of the five Japanese style prisons that were built in Taiwan, Jiayi prison is the only one still standing today, although the last inmates were moved out in 1998. Construction began in 1919, and the prison was opened in 1922. Built of cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa var. formosana) sourced from Alishan (Mt Ali 阿里山), it features a central control hub with three long cell blocks radiating from it.

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