Fun things to do in Taiwan

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Is best to visit Danshui in the late afternoon before sunset, the best place to view the sunset is located at Danshui Boat wharf. You can visit the Danshui historical street, Hongmao Castle, Little White House, Red Castle, Long San Temple which is all around the vicinity.

Before we decided to visit Jiufen, we hadn’t done any information search in advance; I was just attracted by its beautiful pictures presented in travel books. So we were suggested to join the local private tour. Luckily, we met the pretty nice tour guide, Peter Lin (from Topology Travel). He provided us a fairly memorable travel experience in Jiufen. And finally, we became good friends.

I don’t really like the general “tour guide” with group tour, since those tour guides would just “talk to” you, rather than “talk with” you, and less interaction with you. While Peter did a good job on his tour guide duty, explanation of the sights, logistic arrangement, and showing his real care of you….in addition, we did have an excellent interaction with each other through our in depth talk, since he is such an interesting and energetic guy. This really brought lots of fun in our trip.

During the trip, we were taken to the place that fewer tourists would go and less people know. Only guided by the “real local” people, we could experience these “untouched” (relatively speaking) and unique sites in Taiwan, I think. Fortunately, we have Peter……What impressed me most in Jiufen was visiting a local resident’s house that was revitalized with local flavor. The antique décor and cultural ambience brought me to a simple life for a moment.

I don’t really have the passion on food but my accompanier does. Well, we weren’t worried about what to eat (eat something really special in Taiwan), since we have Peter. He took us to the local night market and to enjoy the local yummy food. And I would say that’s really awesome!

So if someone
1.who is not gonna do some information search before his trip, or don’t know what to do next after visiting lots of so-called “Must-See” attractions in Taiwan;
2.who wanna go to the places that less people know;
3.who prefers to see and experience the real life of Taiwanese;
4.who is looking forward to a “worry-free” trip (like losing your way), or really wanna be taken care of during the trip (like the transportation, the place to eat…);
Then I’ll highly recommend you to consider the private tours in Topology!

We took a free tour by Topology hoping to check out the guide (Peter Lin) that was supposed to take us on a paid tour the next day to Jiu Fen. Well, he did not disappoint. Besides the usual explanation of sights and sounds, he patiently answered any questions that we had about the attraction, the country, the university or anything we came across in our tour. In the two hours we spent with Peter, we managed to see a part of Taipei that was not so common for the usual tourist. Our resident guide at the Treasure Hill was very knowledgeable about the place. She explains the history of the place and background on the art pieces very well. In between, Peter also dished out recommendations for food to eat and things to do around Taipei. The best part is, this tour is absolutely free.

We would highly recommend Peter to anyone who wishes to arrange private tour to attractions in and around Taipei. Feel free to contact Peter at topology.peter@gmail.com if you need a private tour or wants to join any one of his free tours to lesser known places.

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Hello, Leesa:

For your questions, I'd like to give you the details from Taroko official web-site in which is the most reliable information for you.

http://www.taroko.gov.tw/zhTW/Content.aspx?tm=1&mm=1&sm=2&page=1#up

1. When you see the words in blue means "okay" to travel, otherwise is in red says "no" to you. And plus, usually we go Taroko National Park with the spots of all "blue words" places that means it's safe to travel there cuz it's announced by Taroko National Park Administration.

2. We don't have to trek and climb any of mountains you will visit cuz there's no such path for us to do so. Neither can we climb.

3. Maybe I shall say it is the best weather after summer in taiwan.

4. A bit windy.

5. Depends on how cold you can bear. If you're sweating all the time and can't stand AC is not on During 20 degrees, I'll say "forget about windbreakers".

Hope this can help!
Good day.

Best regards,
Xiao Chou tour guide in Taiwan.

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Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium in Kenting. Very high end, great quality aquarium.

Some cool notes:
they breed penguins
have whale sharks
jellyfish
many coral displays
touching tanks
lion fish
local fish
freshwater mountain species
belugas
many more.

Really, this place is awesome! especially if you cant go diving/snorkeling, you can see all the fish here!

Magazine article here: http://taiwanreview.nat.gov.tw/fp.asp?xItem=842&CtNode=119

some more ideas here: http://www.wrasb.gov.tw/sw94/english/sw/sw_01_2_3.htm

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Honestly, the hype is more than what it is. but it is a god view of the city! there is a large shopping mall (very expensive) and a great book store at the bottom!

One thing i found disappointing is you cannot go to the top. And you need to pay to go up. The elevator is really fast, really fast.

In short, this is just a place you go to say you have been there, i don't know anyone who has gone back again other than to go shopping.

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The Red Playhouse is an octagonal red building with more than 100-year history. A creative showroom and Paperwindmill Coffee Shop in the ground floor have become an ideal place where people can listen to plays, watch exhibitions, make hot tea and drink coffee.

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Taoyuan Airport or C.K.S. Airport, is an international airport located in Taoyuan County, Taiwan. It is one of three Taiwanese airports with regular international flights, and is by far the busiest international air entry point amongst them. It is the home base for China Airlines and EVA Air, which both operate a major hub at this airport. Skytrain provides free transportation service between Terminal 1 and terminal 2. Buses provide the cheapest means of transport from the airport to Taipei City. Adult single fares vary from NT$110 to $140.