Taipei Things to Do Tips by yukisanto

Direction wise: We took a cab from Ximen to there, which cost us NT180 and 10-15min ride.
It's at the basement of the building, (sidetrack: there's no signal line for my cellphone). Its Chinese name is called Xiu Zhen Bo Wu Guan.

Opens from tue-sun, 10am onwards. Don't know what time it closes. Entrance fee is around NT150. But if you use the green tourist pass book, there's a discount coupon there, so we paid NT144. Erm, not alot of savings, but still...

Oh, go get the museum passport at the counter; you can stamp the booklet at the various exhibits. I think it's free. You can take pictures in the museum, as long as there is no flash (flash's not allowed)

You see mainly minature dolls and houses here. Exquisite details of the rooms. Look out for the room with the 'ghostly' phantom of the opera who appears in the mirror.

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Directions: It's not near the subway, that's for sure. Near Nanjing E Rd. I'll come back to you on the exact addy. Oh, I heard that the area is an nightlife area, that's what the cabby uncle said

If you want to see the changing of the guard, it's at around 2pm. Lasts for 10 mins.
Best to be there around 1.30pm or even earlier to take picutres of the place, since all the tour groups will suddening start appearing around 2pm and there's no way you can take pictures without crowds of people popping unwanted into your shots.

See how the guards stand guard there for hours, and how they do their stretching exercises in unison. So cute, like toy soldiers. it's so hot and stuffy inside the Hall, but at least the guards have a fan each to blow at them.

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Directions: Get off at Chang Kai Shiek Memorial Hall station, exit 5.

Don't confuse this with the more famous palace museum. This is a much smaller museum with more localised and contemporary stuff. When I was there, the special exhibition area was focused on baseball history in Taiwan, and the second floor had a photography exhibition, as well as exhibits on the ecology system in Taiwan.

Opens from 10 -5pm; Closed on Mons. Admission fee: NT20.
Located in the 228 Memorial Park. You can take subway till NTU Hospital station, which gets you to the park and the back of the museum (5min walk) or to Taipei Main Station, where you get out from the mitsukoshi building exit and walk down the street beside it (with the mitsukoshi on your left and macdonalds on you right - 10 min walk) to reach the main entrance.

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Every year, around Feb or Mar, there will be a flower festival lasting one month at Yangmingshan. A lot of people go there to view the sakura (cherry blossoms), especially on the weekends, so if you're there, try for a weekday where your photos will include more scenery and less people. There's actually alot to see, but we only went to Yangmingshan Park (the area where the cherry blossoms are) and Zhuzhihu (bamboo lake) and it already took us half a day.

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Directions: Take bus 260 fr busstop beside Taipei Main station. Think it's the north exit. When you take the bus, you pay when you get off (use the ez-card). The bus ends at the bus terminal at Yangmingshan so you sit till the end which is about 1hr plus.

You should really come here - it's an interesting musuem which touches on weather observations, space telescopes, constellations and astronomy. The exhibits are interesting and interactive - I quite like them. Also, there's the imax movie theatre and some kind of ride which you have pay separately. We didn't go coz it happened to be a school field trip day adn there were so many kids that we wanted to just get out asap.

You buy tickets from a self-automated machine. Opens from 9-5pm Tues to Sun; longer hrs for Sat till 10pm. Admission: NT40 for normal exhibits; ride cost NT70, imax show: NT100.

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Directions: Take bus red12 from Shilin mrt station. It's about 5 stops away. See the map I attached.