2. Go to the night markets. If you don’t get to visit at least one night market, you won’t experience Taipei at all. Tonghua Night Market has handbags, men’s and women’s clothing and casual accessories. Head for its center of action – Linjiang St. And, as in all markets, make sure you make tawad!
3. Try the street food. Oh, it’s so good… I still crave that sausage that reminded me of the chori-burger in Boracay, but was still different, and the chocolate bread in different shapes – you really can’t find them anywhere else.
4. Go to the "eat streets." Blocks upon city blocks of restaurants housing the finest Taiwanese cooking. Cooks fleeing mainland China 55 years ago have brought with them their rich cooking traditions so Taiwan has a great – one of the best outside of Beijing and Shanghai – diversity of Chinese cooking. Don’t hesitate to ask around where it’s good to eat. Try eating machang – it’s like sticky rice with chicken and pork adobo-style wrapped in banana leaves – in Yongkang St., the grand-daddy of all the eat streets, with dozens of choices, all spread out over several blocks.
5. Don’t miss Snake Alley. It’s Taipei’s most famous night market. The name comes from the old days when prostitution was still legal, but now it’s an arcade of brightly-lit cheerful storefronts of clothes, toys, souvenirs and sweets. There are lots of restaurants (Tainan Tan-tsu-mien is considered to be the best). As for the snakes (paging Kim Atienza! You’ll love this place!), skilled snake handlers in storefronts show off their skills with a cobra, playing with it like a slinky! Sometimes, the snake gets chopped up to be served in soup or stir-fried veggies, and the blood is mixed with a liquor for a drink that is the traditional Taiwanese equivalent of Viagra. But don’t worry, you won’t be served snake unless you visit a restaurant specializing in it. I only went there for the sake of adventure. I’m not really into snakes…
6. National Palace Museum. This is home to the world’s finest collection of Chinese art. Mainland Chinese leaders have always accused Taiwan of stealing their collection and have demanded that they return it. It’s a long story, but in short, the collection is still there, and everyone must see it when in Taipei.
7. Go to the other museums. Before, people only went to the National Museum of History. My advice is, yes, go see it, but keep on going for the other ones. There are lots, believe me.
8. Go to Longshang Temple. If you only have time for one religious site, this should be it. At 6 to 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., crowds of worshippers gather here and chant. It’s very hypnotic.
9. Go to the world’s tallest building of the moment: the Taipei International Financial Center 101. In 2009, New York’s Freedom Tower will overtake it, so go to the very top and check out the ritzy shopping and dining along the way, and you’ll get to say you’ve been to the tallest building in the world – at least for the next four years.
10. Have your picture taken on the steps of the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. Nothing says you’ve been to Taipei more than a picture on the 89 steps of this massive tribute to Taiwan’s one-time dictator. The Memorial Hall opened in 1980, five years after Chiang’s death.