newbie intro

[defiantforce]

Hi everyone
I am a frequent flyer because of my work and I also love to travel with my fiancé (soon to be wife). I have travelled extensively within Australia and also to a quite a few international destinations.
I was born in Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan). I moved to Brisbane in 1999 and 4 years later became a proud Australian. Most of my family still lives in Taipei; I tend to travel there once every 18-24 months (flying China or Eva Airline). It is a amazing place and lots of things to do and place to visit, I highly recommend anyone to pay a visit to Taiwan. If you are thinking about travelling there, post down below and I will provide some information on the place (to the best of my ability of course)

.
I mostly travel alone for work and internationally with my fiancé for holiday. I have flown a number of airlines in different classes (First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy). I mostly travelled in Economy, then Business.
I hope I can contribute towards this website by sharing and discussing travel tips, pointers and relative topic in order to make the travel experience more enjoyable.
Cheers
Big Kev

 

[Hvr]

Welcome to AFF Big Kev, what fortuitous timing. I am going to Taiwan next year (Jan) and would love to hear about the place. My first visit and I'm not really sure how to start.

I have seen that the International Flora Exposition is on and am looking forward to seeing it. Would appreciate some info about some other must sees for my first visit.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Welcome to AFF defiantforce!

 

[munitalP]

Welcome to AFF Big Kev, what fortuitous timing. I am going to Taiwan next year (Jan) and would love to hear about the place. My first visit and I'm not really sure how to start.

I have seen that the International Flora Exposition is on and am looking forward to seeing it. Would appreciate some info about some other must sees for my first visit.

Welcome to AFF big Kev!

TPE is a fav city of mine, long overdue for a visit again. Food is great, the Chinese japanese fusion is beyond good...!

Here's a trip report HVR with a few nice places to see...

munitalP

 

[straitman]

Hi everyone
I am a frequent flyer because of my work and I also love to travel with my fiancé (soon to be wife). I have travelled extensively within Australia and also to a quite a few international destinations.
I was born in Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan). I moved to Brisbane in 1999 and 4 years later became a proud Australian. Most of my family still lives in Taipei; I tend to travel there once every 18-24 months (flying China or Eva Airline). It is a amazing place and lots of things to do and place to visit, I highly recommend anyone to pay a visit to Taiwan. If you are thinking about travelling there, post down below and I will provide some information on the place (to the best of my ability of course)

.
I mostly travel alone for work and internationally with my fiancé for holiday. I have flown a number of airlines in different classes (First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy). I mostly travelled in Economy, then Business.
I hope I can contribute towards this website by sharing and discussing travel tips, pointers and relative topic in order to make the travel experience more enjoyable.
Cheers
Big Kev

defiantforce,

Welcome to AFF.

I'm sure there are plenty of people waiting to pick your brain about Taiwan.

 

[defiantforce]

Welcome to AFF Big Kev, what fortuitous timing. I am going to Taiwan next year (Jan) and would love to hear about the place. My first visit and I'm not really sure how to start.

I have seen that the International Flora Exposition is on and am looking forward to seeing it. Would appreciate some info about some other must sees for my first visit.

Hi there
Here are some information i think that might be relevent to your visit there. The international flora exposition is a good start.
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[FONT=&#26032]All international flight (except some mainland China flights) operates out of TaoYuan International airport. There are a very large number of buses (nice, clean and safe too!) that can take you from the airport to Taipei City. It’s about a 1 hour trip and cost about NTD100-150 (3.5-4AUD). Taxi is also a good option but it cost about NTD 1200+ (40AUD) into the Taipei Metro City. [/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032] [/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032]The best way to get around Taipei Metro City and Taipei County is via MRT (Mass Railway Transport). MRT system is an inexpensive and easy way to get to most of the important places in Taipei. I also interconnect with thousands of bus networks. Taipei Main Station is the centre piece of the Taipei transport network. It connects the traditional national railway, MRT, buses (metro and national), Taiwan High speed railway. It is also a very important shopping area with extensive underground shopping mall and Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (use to be landmark of Taipei shopping mall, 66 floor height). There is a good camera shops district (a whole street of camera shops) near Shin Kong Mitsukoshi as well. [/FONT]

The best way to use the MRT and bus system is via purchase of an EasyCard. It is a proxy magnetic card about the size of a normal credit card. You can purchase them at any MRT station via teller or machine. It is NTD500 ($17AUD) for the initial issue of the card and it comes with NTD400 stored on it. You can recharge at any MRT station and 7-11 convenient store. It’s a multiple use touch-and-go card and you get 20% off on the already very cheap fares of MRT and buses (transfer from bus<->MRT is 60% off using the EasyCard). When you arrive in Taipei, go to any MRT station and ask the counter for an English version of the MRT map with bus transfer, it contains large amount of information on the MRT system and key place of interests and how to get there.

Taxi in Taipei is cheaper than Australia and there are millions of them. 99% of them are nice, clean and very new model of Japanese cars. The starting price is NTD75 (2.5AUD) and NTD5 for every kms. It is best to know where you are going before you hop into a taxi as most of them speak little English.

I have composed a list of places I visit every time I go back to Taipei:
[FONT=&#26032] [/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032]National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, National Concert Hall and National Theatre[/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032]All of the above situates at Liberty Square which is a huge playground with mixture of Chinese garden surrounding each of the building above. The Republic of China Military Police (ceremonial) does the national flag raising every morning at Sun Raise. I use to attend it every morning when I live next to the place. You can checkout the National Concert Hall and National Theatre website for upcoming events, they usually have excellent international events on throughout the year.

Presidential Building[/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032]The building itself was constructed during the Japanese occupation period and it is not very far from National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, good for a few photo shoots.

National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall [/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032]This is similar to National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall but has a different flavour to the place.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032]Museum (if you are into museum stuff)
National Palace Museum is the one of the MUST VISIT places of Taipei. It situates at the outskirt of Taipei city. However is well worth the trip. Depending on the time of the year, it has different exhibition on display at the NPM. Due to the fall of China to the communist I 1949, ROC manage to transfer and preserve a overwhelming majority of the Chinese artefact through out the entire Chinese history. It is said that the collection hold by the NPM is so large that only 2% of the artefact can be physically on display at any given time. I have been to NPM a number of times through out my life and I have yet to see the same artefact on display (besides a few centrepiece).
Taipei Fine Arts Museum: is a new addition to the museums of Taiwan (1993 I think). It features modem contemporary arts around the world and throughout Taiwan.
National Taiwan Museum: is another addition to the museums of Taiwan. It main focus on the Taiwan history and cultural (instead of mainland Chinas)

[/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032]Shopping area[/FONT][FONT=&#26032]
Taipei 101 and surrounding area are considered to be the high light of Taiwan’s economic achievement. It consist of a number of [/FONT]Shin Kong Mitsukoshi shopping halls, Taipei 101 (of course) and the Taipei City hall. If you want to buy international brands and enjoy good shopping experience. This is the place to be. You can also take the elevator up to the top floor (NTD 400 entry fee?) of Taipei 101. [FONT=&#26032]

[/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032]GuangHua Electronics/computer market[FONT=&#26032] is a good place to shop for computer parts, laptops, games and visual/audio components. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032] [/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032]Hot Spring[/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032] Taiwan hotspring are a good place to visit for relaxation and generally there are good restaurant and small market near these hotspring for shopping and dining. I recommend ther following two regions near Taipei:[/FONT]
Beitou ([FONT=&#32048]北投[/FONT]) and Wulai ([FONT=&#32048]烏來[/FONT]) [FONT=&#26032][/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032]You can reach these places by MRT transfer to bus. [/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032]
Night markets:[/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032]Night market in Taipei is another MUST VISIT places on your itinerary. Shilin Night Market in the Shilin District is the biggest and most popular night market of them all. Things you MUST try are the deep fry chicken fillet, Stinky tofu,[FONT=&#26032] oyster-egg pan cake, pearl milk tea and lots of shopping. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032]
[/FONT][FONT=&#26032]Ximending[/FONT][FONT=&#26032] district[FONT=&#26032]:[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032]A popular handout place for young people and outdoor event. Lots of shops for shopping and lots of restaurants for a good meal. There are a large number of watch shops (genuine one, fake watches are illegal in Taiwan), if you are in the market for a good brand watch, you can bargain for a good price up to 50% of the original price in the watch stores. This is also a good place to get a style haircut and beauty stuff [/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032]There are other night markets throughout Taipei such as Taiwan University Night market. You can find most of them on the MRT map. [/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032] [/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032] [/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032]Other places that you might want to visit:
[/FONT][FONT=&#26032]Yangmingshan National Park[/FONT][FONT=&#26032][/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032]Taipei Zoo[/FONT]
Confucius Temple ([FONT=&#32048]孔廟[/FONT])[FONT=&#26032][/FONT]
[FONT=&#26032] [/FONT]
A good website for information is www.taiwantourism.org

I hope these information helps. If you want more/specific information, post them down below and I will try to answer them in due time

Cheers

Big Kev

 

[JohnK]

Welcome to AFF!

Thanks for posting the useful information on Taipei.

I have not been past the Novotel at TaoYuan airport. Next time I will venture into the city.