| C Spencer-smith |
20 October 2004 |
Stayed at Landis Taipei, The - Taipei, Taiwan.
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Taipei 101 is pretty impressive, although it's not possible to get to the top yet. Most of the centre of Taipei is rather dreary, so it's worth taking the train to Danshui and stopping at the Shilin night market on the way back.
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| C Chow |
08 October 2004 |
Stayed at Riviera Hotel, Taipei - Taipei, Taiwan.
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TPE is a relatively a more expensive city amongst Asian cities. It is a very convenient city if you are able to converse in Mandarin or have your destinations written down in Mandarin for you. Despite being a Metropolitan, we find the people friendly and warm. We went to an alfresco night food market near the hotel and the stall operators even insisted that we bring back leftovers of a dish we barely touched. I am an avid traveller and past experience is normally that they would be glad if you vacate your seat as soon as you finished your food! The Shilin Night Market is a good experience and Yangming Shan was a breathe of fresh air. Transportation around TPE is conveniently served by its good MRT coverage and efficient bus services. Even the bus company staff are extremely helpful to travellers. I am a Mandarin-speaking person but I would suggest that all carry your hotel names and addresses in chinese as the names are very different in chinese (not direct translation from English).
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| M Johnson & yuko yamahana |
26 September 2004 |
Stayed at Fortuna Hotel, Taipei - Taipei, Taiwan.
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I recommend chiang kai shek's memorial monument and martyr's shrine and the museum and another temple near one of the night markets which was open at night ( cool atmosphere in the evening! ). Also, the grand hotel is worth a short visit. There is a place about 45 minutes NE of taipei which is famous for tea shops etc (lots of movies are filmed there). It's called chufen or chofen. I enjoyed a half-day there. Use the metro, it's excellent and cheap. but if you're tired, just hop in a cab -- they are very cheap ( never more than $5 ). For food, there is a street with a bunch of steamed dumpling restaurants ( your guide book should have it ). we ate some great food here! For a nice dining experience I recommend the more expensive Kiki's for szechuan food -- very tasty!
for massage there is a place near the north end of shinrin night market which was reasonable and quite good.
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| K Ng |
06 September 2004 |
Stayed at Chinatrust Hualien Hotel - Hualien, Taiwan.
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As the location of the hotel is good - there isn't any problem to take a taxi to any places. My wife and I, had travelled to Antung Hot Spring and Chincheng Flower Mountain, and other scenic locations as well.
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| A Trigg |
11 July 2004 |
Stayed at Cosmos Hotel, Taipei - Taipei, Taiwan.
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Only had a weekend in Taipei but liked what I saw. Definitely recommend the Longshan temple and surrounding night market for an impression of "traditional" life. Took the MRT and bus out to the National Palace Museum which is most impressive and free if you can show you are a foreigner. That may be a special promotion. For a view of new Taipei went over to Taipei 101, the new very tall building and associated shopping centre. One thing to be aware of is that English is not widely spoken even in the places that look like clones of American outlets. The signs may all look familiar but don't assume people speak English. Wish I'd worked harder on my Mandarin!
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| D Sytnikov |
26 June 2004 |
Stayed at Grand Hotel, Taipei - Taipei, Taiwan.
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There are not so many tourist attractions in Taipei. If you came for business and don’t know Chinese a taxi is just a way to move in the city. The business located mostly in the East. It is full of modern offices and you definitely find lots of familiar names on it (of course if you ever used computer:)). Go to the South city to see colors of traditional Taipei. Necessarily visit Chai Kan Shi mausoleum. Not far from there is presidential palace.
Constructed in 2003 skyscraper “Taipei 101” is third biggest in the world (ignoring antennas in Kuala-Lumpur building). The second tallest skyscraper in Taipei called “Shinkong Observatory” is open for visit. At down floors there is huge trade center. Local prices: Taxi from Airport to Taipei 1300 TWD. Good dinner 150 – 200 TWD. Cheapest mobile phone 960 TWD (BENQ). Trip to the last floor of Shinkong Observatory (twice as big skyscraper in Taipei) – 150 TWD.
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| A Phua |
25 June 2004 |
Stayed at Howard Plaza Taipei - Taipei, Taiwan.
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From the Airport, you can actually take the Air-Bus (B) service to Howard Plaza hotel which will cost you NT$140 compare to about NT$1000 plus via Taxi. Not far from the Hotel, there are many restaurants near SOGO shopping malls where you can try out some Taiwan delicacy. The MRT Train station is nearby where you can go to Shaoling Temple station to visit temple, night market, XiMengTing & many shops nearby. You can also take the train to Taipei city station and hv the opportunities to see many shopping malls like World Trade centre, 101 building, XinQuanSanYe etc.
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| P Button |
28 May 2004 |
Stayed at Santos Hotel, Taipei - Taipei, Taiwan.
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Taipei is just another big city -- but you must see the History Museum and CKS Memorial. Before going, I read on a number of web suites that a speacial MRT subway ticket gave you a free bus trip if used within one hour of your subway trip. But, could find no reference to it at the stations and the station staff appeared ignorant of the deal. A dearth of tourist information offices, so make sure you get all the information you think you will need from the tourist desk at the CKS International Airport.
The whole country appears to have blindly followed the US and Australia down the politically correct path and there's no smoking in most cafes, all restaurants and on trains and buses. Took the train down to Tainan (5hrs south) which was a refreshing break from the noise and polution of Taipei. Tainan is equivalent to the "Kyoto" of Taiwan -- it was the original capital under the Dutch and has over two hundred temples, or so they say...I didn't bother counting. Hotel prices dropped away dramatically once outside Taipei and I found Tainan to be a lot more relaxing and pleasant in its general ambience. Even the local food stalls seemed cheaper and offered better quality and value for money.
Alternatively, if you want to get out of Taipei but not travel so far, then I suggest Taichung which is about halfway down the west coast. Busier than Tainan and more modern, but makes a good base for day trips into the mountains. My first trip to Taiwan, and will certainly visit again, if only to see the east coast, which apparently has wonderful scenery.
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| D Gula |
26 May 2004 |
Stayed at Le Petit Sherwood - Taipei, Taiwan.
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Domestic air travel at reasonable prices is very easy from Songshan Airport in Taipei city; traveled to Tainan and Kaoshiung. The one non-business day my wife and I had was spent at Yingko, the ceramics and pottery center of Taiwan, less than an hour's drive from Taipei. There is an interesting Ceramics Museum worth visiting, and the "Old Pottery Street" features many shops.
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| M Krajci |
23 April 2004 |
Stayed at Cosmos Hotel, Taipei - Taipei, Taiwan.
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Near the hotel there is Shin-Kong building (46 stories) with an observatory at top. Nice view from there.
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Traveller's Tales: Places to go and see in Taiwan
