I saw you posted my thoughts on giant Taiwanese spiders so I had to comment. I never saw spiders like this in Taipei but I did see them quite frequently in Hsinchu (another large city in Taiwan) and out in the country. They are supposedly harmless and eat cockroaches and small birds. But I know how scary they look and believe me, as much as I loved/love Taiwan, I did not love these things at all! Just so you know, Taiwan also has giant bumblebees (I saw one the size of a golf ball once in my apartment in central Taiwan) and giant grasshoppers, among other things. Giant fruit as well. The spiders are freakishly large but unless you startle them they shouldn't attack. But again, I understand, as I'm pretty petrified of spiders myself. Maybe you will get lucky and not encounter any. A lot of Taiwanese people said they hardly ever saw them. I was just a spider magnet I guess.