Taipei Sports & Outdoors

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Baseball was introduced from Japan to Taiwan when the island was Japan's colony. It is one of the most popular sports in Taiwan. We have Chinese Professional Basebal League (CPBL) of 10 teams. Many fans go to watch matches regularly. It's fun to do it with a lot of people surrouding. We cheer and shout together. Especially it's a good place to relax ourselves by screaming loud and noone would stare at you in weird way. There is a baseball stadium in TienMu disctrict in Taipei city. We could take free shuttle bus between ZhiShan metro station and the stadium. In addition there is a department store next to the stadium, so after watching a match it's convenient for girls to do shopping.;)

Equipment: Bring cheer bars for making sounds!! (except you are good at screaming)

Like Japan and Korea, Taiwan has its own professional baseball league and Taipei is the best place to catch a game. You'll have to ask a local to tell you when the games are because the schedule is rarely posted in the English language press, but a good number of games are scheduled in the new Tienmu Stadium. The level of play in Taiwan is equivelent to that of Korea, and you're likely to see a few American and Latin American players on the field. Unfortunately, in recent years, Taiwan's major leagues have been embroiled in scandals associated with organized crime and gambling (some players got kidnapped a few years ago by gangsters, for example), so this has kept attendance down and affected some teams' viability.
The picture to the left was taken at the new Tienmu Stadium (Camden Yards in Baltimore it is not!). The photo is of a Japan-Australia match up in the 2001 World Cup of Baseball. It was easy to get tickets to the game and Japan won 8-0. Up until this time, I had never heard of the World Cup of Baseball, but it was played again this year and Cuba won for the 8th straight time. The level of professional participation from North American countries is the equivelent of high minor league, which is why I have rarely met an American or Canadian who knows the tournament exists, though both the U.S. and Canada had teams in the round-robin. A real Major League version of the Baseball World Cup would be great though, wouldn't it?

visiting many riverside parks from Xindian stream to Danshui river. birds sing all the way. also place for basketball/baseball/tennis/golf(?)fishing....

Equipment: bicycle