ProleOnParole

The hotel is a good pick. Mandarin Oriental is on Dunhua N Rd, a tree-lined avenue with wide medians landscaped into a park. Alongside Ren'ai Rd, it's easily one of Taipei's most elegant thoroughfares. Assuming sufficient soundproofing, you can't go wrong with a room facing Dunhua Rd.

On the opposite side of the hotel, the quieter and also neatly landscaped Qingcheng St crosses diagonally through Taipei's Euclidean patchwork of streets, and takes you to the nearest MRT station, Nanjing Fuxing, where brown and green lines intersect.

To the northeast, alongside Minsheng E Rd Sec 4, is the upscale neighborhood of Minsheng Community. It is primarily residential and much calmer than the Taipei standard but also sports some decent restaurants and hipster cafés (a big thing in Taiwan that evolved perhaps as an antithesis to the traditional Chinese dining experience, where you are expected to finish without undue delay and promptly vacate your table for the next paying customer).

The nearest night market is on Raohe St (MRT Songshan, green line to its eastern terminal) but for more Taiwanese food and better overall experience, I'd recommend to go to Shilin Night Market instead (MRT Jiantan, not Shilin, on the red line, take green line towards Xindian or Taipower Bldg and transfer at Zhongshan for a train to Beitou or Danshui). Both night markets start at about 5 pm.

Taipei's hot springs are in the Beitou area, even farther north along the red line. Transfer at MRT Beitou for a train on the branch line to MRT Xinbeitou, then walk uphill along the park.

The following afternoon, for a change of climate you can visit the tea gardens at Maokong and perhaps have some tea the traditional way: the number of steps that need to be taken in the right order to properly prepare the beverage might seem intimidating at first but the staff explain everything patiently and are always there to assist you, while the final result more than makes up for the effort. There are many kinds of tea leaves to choose from, I'd recommend going for the locally-grown Wenshan baozhong.

There are some 20-30 gardens to choose from, the best places are in the open air, either with a view on Taipei 101, or in secluded gardens, surrounded by vegetation. Generally, the nicest ones are a little farther from the cable car station, as the immediate surroundings have become overdeveloped. Google listings with photos and ratings can help to make the right choice.

To get there enjoying some stunning views on the way, take the Maokong Gondola cable car (closed on Mondays) from the southern terminus of the brown MRT line at the Zoo. The long line is for cars with transparent floor, the regular ones are just as fine without the wait. This trip is best timed so that you arrive just before the sunset. Maokong tea gardens, some of which never close, are also very nice at night but then you'll have to depend on a taxi.

A good place for all kinds of souvenirs in one place (if that's what you meant by "shopping") is the government-run Handicraft Promotion Ctr at #1 Xuzhou Rd by the NTU Hospital, best visited at the same time as the CKS Mem Hall, which you'll probably want to see as well.

To get to the hotel you can take bus 5502 ("Freego") from the airport. Get off at Changgeng Hospital, which is opposite the hotel across Dunhua N Rd.

Hope you have a nice stay.