Taiwan Recommendations

Hiking

Bitan (you can do some paddle boating. green lake is nice)
Maokong gondola (pretty and cheap, good views) http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g293913-d662649-Reviews-Maokong_Gondola-Taipei.html
Beitou hot springs (i like hot springs) http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g293913-d552542-Reviews-Beitou_Hot_Spring-Taipei.html
National Palace Museum 故宮博物院: official website (Chinese, English, etc.) Louvre equivalent of Chinese art and cultural items
- MRT 士林 -> bus 紅30 -> 故宮廣場
- open 9:00am-5:00pm
Longshan Temple 龍山寺 Wikipedia on Longshan Temple
- MRT 龍山寺
DiHua Street Market 迪化街
The big Lunar New Year sales place. We’ll go time permitting and if I find out how to get there.
Shinyi area 信義區 – Taipei 101, Warner Village if we want to splurge more money on another movie, more malls, etc.
Shihlin Night Market 士林夜市
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial 中正紀念堂 official website
Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall 國父紀念館 official website (English, Chinese)
Danshui/Tamsui/silly varied pinyin spellings… 淡水 Wikipedia on Tamsui Township
- It’s by the shore. Food including 阿給 (see: Chinese Wikipedia), iron eggs 鐵蛋, and whatever we find http://theavidphotographer.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/taiwan-danshui-%E6%B7%A1%E6%B0%B4/
- Mangroves (some ppl might find this boring but it’s cool from an ecological perspective) http://orangearchitecture.blogspot.com/2013/10/new-taipei-city-tamsui-mangroves.html

ice monster (mango snow is seasonal)
Addiction aquatic development for really good cheap sushi / seafood (https://www.yelp.com/biz/%E4%B8%8A%E5%BC%95%E6%B0%B4%E7%94%A2-%E4%B8%AD%E5%B1%B1%E5%8D%80)
Sweet Dynasty 糖朝
sunnyhills pineapple cakes
鼎泰豐 ding tai fung (og soup dumplings)
春水堂 chuen shui tang (where bubble tea was “made”)
List from daph – https://maps.app.goo.gl/jH98kykL17UE9std6
此燈亮 – green onion pancakes 蔥油餅 open 11:00am-7:30pm
Northern-style meat buns & stuff places. Only go to the original!:
nearby bubbles stand (no bubble tea though!)
Near the Sogo. There are some really good dishes here, I’ll have to dig up a menu to name the ones to order ahead (I think the cured sausage rice and something else), but can’t really go wrong: https://foursquare.com/v/%E9%BC%8E%E7%8F%8D%E5%9D%8A/4b922beaf964a52091ea33e3
Around the Main Train Station One of my most favourite restaurants ever. Just fill up on oden (though the other stuff is good too): https://foursquare.com/v/%E6%B7%BB%E8%B2%A1%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E6%96%99%E7%90%86/4ccc0c2b7c2ff04d1c44967e
oden おでん/oren 黑輪 at 添財
Around the NTU area Go around the NTU (台大) area near 公館站 in the evening for a small night market and some tasty eats:
- pork buns (gua bao) – https://foursquare.com/v/%E8%97%8D%E5%AE%B6%E5%89%B2%E5%8C%85/4bc1b67fabf495213d61c193
- https://foursquare.com/v/%E8%87%BA%E4%B8%80%E7%89%9B%E5%A5%B6%E5%A4%A7%E7%8E%8B/4b9b448cf964a52044fd35e3

Taxis are quite cheap and useful. Buses are even cheaper, if you can figure them out – Google Maps has actually gotten decent for it, so worth trying out. Get a “yo-yo”(?) card for the transport – you can refill them at any 7-Eleven and the stations themselves.
High-speed rail is super convenient from getting north/south of the island, but check on local transportation – some of the stations are quite far from the city center. Tainan has a lot of tasty & distinctive food.
No tipping necessary. Service charge added directly at nicer restaurants.
Credit cards…might be accepted? I’m usually all-cash when in Taiwan. ATMs are easy to find.
The alleyways are hard to navigate sometimes, but Maps seems to have gotten decent. Ask a local if lost, but probably easier to ask by business name than address.