"Big city-Taipei" a Taipei Travel Page by kiely

*The National Palace Museum:
Taipei's National Palace Museum houses the world's largest collection of Chinese art treasures, spanning over five millennia of Chinese history. Much of the immense collection of jade, porcelain, paintings, and bronzes is regularly rotated, making each visit unique. The museum has regular guided tours in several foreign languages, including English and French. English-language tours are given daily at 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., and self-guided tape tours in English and Japanese are also available.

*The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall :
The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is the island's most impressive monument to the late president. The memorial hall's massive marble edifice dominates beautiful gardens, graceful pavilions, and placid ponds. A Ming-style arch at the main entrance is flanked by two buildings: the National Theater and the National Concert Hall.

*The Lin Family Garden :
The Lin Family Garden is Taiwan's best example of Pre-Republican Chinese architecture and gardens. Originally a Fujian merchant's houses, the garden is landscaped with exquisite pavilions, towers, cottages, bridges, artificial mountains, and placid pools, and offers views of distant mountains.

*Yangmingshan National Park :
Directly north of Taipei is Yangmingshan National Park, where visitors can find waterfalls, volcanic craters, lakes, steaming hot springs, and in the springtime, cherry and azalea blossoms. Well-maintained walkways and trails lead to the park's main scenic spots, which offer picnic and recreation areas.

*Tamsui :
A historic fort, fresh seafood, and beautiful sunsets make the quaint seaside town of Tamsui a popular day trip from Taipei. Old-fashioned shops along the main road give visitors a feel for the town's history. Oxford College and the Mackay Hospital, which were built in the late 1800s by Western missionaries, remain to this day. Fort San Domingo, which came to be known by the name "Red-haired Barbarian Fort"once it came into Dutch possession, was built by the Spanish in 1629, occupied by the Dutch in 1642, leased to the British in 1867, and bombarded by the French in 1884. Tamsui has many fine seafood restaurants with large selections of fresh delicacies on display. Some of the restaurants are built along the Tamsui River to provide diners with a riverside view of Tamsui's sunset.

*Nightmarket:
For tourists who enjoy shopping and munching on savory Taiwanese snacks, night markets are a good choice. Markets offer fun, shopping, and a lot of local color, and generally sell a variety of products, casual clothes, fruit, snacks, and novelty items. Night markets with the best bargains in food, fashions, and curios in the Taipei area include the Shihlin night market, north of the Grand Hotel; the Kungkuan night market, near National Taiwan University; the Shihta night market, on Shih Ta Road off Hoping East Road; Hua Hsi Street night market, also known as Snake Alley; Tung Hua Street night market, near the World Trade Center; Jao Ho Street night market, in the Sungshan district; and Chingkuang market, off Chung Shan North Road.