Travel Forum / Destinations / Asia / January 2006

Thanks for your reply.

Is Christmas anything special in Taipei?  

(We have seen Christmas in Hong Kong, where the skyscrapers are all
lit up, and families and teenagers throng the waterfront promenade in
Tsim Tsa Tsui, Kowloon, to view the lights.)

Thanks,

Walt Bilofsky

We stopped in Taipei for two days on our way to Bangkon and Myanmar,
and were quite glad we did.  Apparently Taiwan doesn't get a lot of
American tourists, but we thought it was very worthwhile.

Taipei is spread out, so we needed to do a bit more work organizing
our day than in a city with a concentrated "old town" or tourist area.
But it was easy to get around using the map that the government Taipei
Tourism Bureau here in San Francisco mailed to us.  It had all the
tourist points of interest marked on it.

For our two day visit, we started with the excellent suggestions that
Jessie gave us on this group (below).  We visited the Sun Yat-Sen
Memorial instead of Chiang Kai-Shek, and also went to Lungshan Temple
and the Jianguo Jade Market.  We enjoyed everything.  Getting around
was a cinch on the MRT, with an occasional reasonably priced taxi.

The second day was a car and driver tour toward the North Coast.  We
particularly enjoyed Jioufen, a mountain town with a long, interesting
shopping street.

We stayed at the Grand Hotel, which is truly a grand, huge old Chinese
hotel with magnificent grounds.  The flavor of the place more than
made up for the slight inconvenience of having to take a shuttle to
the MRT station.  We got a view room, although we found that the
skyline was not Taipei's best feature and could have just as well done
with a view of the hills behind the hotel. or a lower room overlooking
the grounds.

When going from the U.S. to Asia, we like to stop off somewhere and
relax for a few days after the long flight.  Having been to Hong Kong
several times already, and not wanting to go anywhere very cold in
December, we thought Taipei was just right.

- Walt Bilofsky