# What To Do In And Around Taipei? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 21, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-and-around-taipei/361587 "2006-06-21T16:07:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-and-around-taipei/361587/1 "2006-06-21T16:07:06Z")
I will be there for several days in the next couple of weeks (assuming the China Airways flight makes it – yikes on their safety record). What to do, and what are some good 1-2 day day trips? My Mandarin doesn’t exist but my companion can squeak by. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-and-around-taipei/361587/2 "2006-06-21T16:13:58Z")
The National Museum is amazing. It’s a must see. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-and-around-taipei/361587/3 "2006-06-21T21:51:56Z")
The zoo was pretty good, but then, I always visit the zoo when I’m traveling. If you go, be sure to go into the bat cave. Totally awesome Formosan flying foxes flapping over your head in the dark! ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-and-around-taipei/361587/4 "2006-06-21T22:15:34Z")
Excellent. I’ve also heard good things about hot springs (not necessarily in June). How do they compare to the Japanese versions, if anyone’s been? ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-and-around-taipei/361587/5 "2006-06-22T04:18:38Z")
Spent over seven years there. The Taroko Gorge highway outside of Haulien on the east coast is worth seeing. Stay at a place named Tien Shang along this highway. Just up the road is a nice hot springs. Its not a nice as some of the ones I’ve been to in Japan, but I think you’ll like it. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-in-and-around-taipei/361587/6 "2006-06-22T14:56:48Z")
The Taroko Gorge is well worth seeing. Catch the train and don’t drive the “highway” yourself, it’s pretty hair-raising. The little temple is lovely and the tunnels and gorge are spectacular. The human cost of building that road beggars belief. The local Polynesian (sic) culture is worth checking out, too. It was freaky to hear the locals singing in harmony exactly like Tongans. The National Palace Museum is _amazing_. If you go, I’d love an answer to [this question](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=126248) I asked here in 2002. That came up in searching for previous threads on this topic, which yielded [this one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=193814), which is full of good stuff.