This will be my third trip to Asia in the spring, my partner has a conference in Taipei for a week, then I'll be joining afterwards, I should have about 2 weeks. From experience, what is a good 'loop' to do while there, it will be in May or June, so I'm sure the weather will be pleasant- thanks in advance!

http://202.39.225.132/jsp/Eng/html/t...earch_list.jsp

Try this out for some options. The trains/metros are good and many kids can speak English. You might get lost, but you will get to where you need to go. I have NEVER rented a car and have always had a driver, but . . . .

The National Palace Museum is a must see. The Temples are pretty neat, for instance Lungshan Temple in Taipei, but it is in a now seedy part of town, but very close to Snake Alley and it's must see night market. You can take a couple days just touring Taipei, sightseeing and shopping. The electronics are not cheap so don;t expect great buys.

Be aware that the weather may not be "pleasant' bit might be very hot, like 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity. You walk outside and just start dripping, but everyone else is dripping too, so you get back into air conditioning and get a bottle of water. In fact, my favorite activity is mountain climbing (well high hill climbing.)

The government has created great trails through the hills and mountains/ Yangminsan for example) that if you get up early and hit the road by 6 am to beat the heat, you can be well up the mountain by late morning (only to meet dozens of elderly Chinese doing TaiChi or ballrooom dancing). You won;t be alone all the time, and you will sweat profusely, but that makes the drinking/afterward even better.

Taroko Gorge and Hualien are very nice as is the east coast. I enjoyed Yeliu and its rock formations on the coast. There are hot springs thoughout the island. The people live on the west cost (high density, high pollution.). The east coast is less developed, but you need to get around. fwiw, I would drive in the east, but not in Taipei. Getting to a place where you are comfoortable to drive is another question. The street signs are almost all in Mandarin, but some are in English.

Sun Moon Lake is supposed to be nice but took a bad hit in the earthquake in 2001(?). There are some offbeat things like the Chiang Kai Shek burial place. You wait in line to pay your respects, then notice the 25 or so statues of CKS that are spread around the grounds. Kind of odd, like Windows on china. Recommend it???? Well, it is part of the tour. Will you tell all your friends??/ no way The dragon boat festival may be going on when you are there. Is it worth it??? Sure, Will you rave to all your friends? No way.

There really aren't totally developed tourist facilities, but if you try to get into the flow, you will be allright. Try the food (again and again and again, don't worry about what it is), go to a tea house, preferably with someone who knows the tea ceremony. Eat the fish you pick out of the tank in the restaurant. Make sure you use lots of chili sauce. Sweat and sweat some more.

Thanks for the question! I'm going for a week in early January, so this will be helpful to me as well. I'm going with a business group, so maybe not a lot of downtime, but helpful info

Well, it's been a while but...

OB one is correct about the museum. Awesome. After that I prefer the more "local" experience. Take the train south through Taichung and keep going to Kaohsiung. Interesting port city. Work your way back up through Keelung and back to Taipei. Don't miss the mongolian barbecue restaurants just down on the river from the Grand Hotel.

According to my cousin, who lives and works in Taipei, the National Museum has the most significant collection of ancient Chinese treasures and artifacts - all of which were seized by Chiang Kai-shek and taken to Taiwan when he fled the mainland in 1949.

I visited Taipei in April this year, but only for five days, so I decided to stay most of the time in Taipei; so I only can give information about Taipei.

I get several information by the Taiwanese Tourism Bureau and the office in Germay, I am not sure, but I think they have an office in Canada as well


To travel in Taipei, one could best use the MRT and buses. In the MRT one could buy a single day ticket or choose a value card, which has a discount of 20% and is rechargeable. Also it could be given back at the information desk in every station and one gets paid back the rest of the value; several information about the MRT and the point of interest near every single MRT Station are available in the MRT Station. The MRT is very clean and a good way to travel in Taipei, announcements are made in English, but sometimes it is crowed.

To get a first impression, I started with the Mitsukoshi Tower opposite the main station. It is the second highest building in Taipei and up to the finishing of �101� the highest building one could visit as Tourist. Next year 101 should be open to public.

The Provincial Museum in the Hsin Yuan Park (Park of the 28th February) is closed because it is undergoing renovation in the moment, but the park is worth a visit during the day, as it is a green place in the city. I looked after some new cameras in the photographers alley right next to the Mitsukoshi Tower, but they are not much cheaper than in Germany and as one gets only a Taiwanese Guaranty I did not bought a new one.

Then visit also Dr. Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall. There were several exhibitions, I visited, but most visible was the Changing of the Guard at every full hour. A very interesting process of military discipline.

Go to Huaxi Street Tourist Night Market, also known as Snake Alley. The street and the neighbourhood is crowed by people, mostly Taiwanese People, but also some foreign tourist. Very interesting the snake presentations and I spend two hours in this area. As usual for such visits, I only have a small amount of money and no credit card with me, as I do not want to spend more time to look after my money than to look at the stall. Btw, the criminal rate in Taipei is not very high, it is a very safe place, but one should be aware of pickpockets.

Another point of interest is the National Palace Museum. Also it could not be reached by MRT directly and one has to take a bus, this is not really a problem, as there are some information at the MRT station Shilin which bus to take. Unfortunately the museum is undergoing a renovation, starting at the 1st April 2004 for the next two years. So only a few rooms are opened.

The Baoan Temple is also worth a visit and on the UNESCO List. Nearby is the Confucius Temple and the Fine Arts Museum The Taipei Fine Arts Museum. offers some quite interesting view to Taiwanese Contemporary Art and is in my eyes worth a visit. Very interesting for my point of view, the fact, that some Taiwanese artist paint in the traditional Chinese Way, other paint in the European or international way. Also, there some interesting art installations and some artworks are � let�s say - strange. It is closed on Monday

Outside of Taipei I only vitsited the hot springs of WuLai.

Hope this helps a little

Jan

P.S. I get parts of the information out of it from my trip report

some claim seized, some claim rescued