Things to do in Taipei

During the last decades, as the video games arrived home, the arcade playrooms have disappeared in most cities around the world. However, arcade games stand still in Taipei, as in other Asian big cities, evolving into more complex machines, hardly playable at home.

If you're one of those who grew up playing with them, you should not miss any of the many playrooms in the busiest districts, such as Ximen.

泥人吳 (Ni ren wu) is a bizarre masks museum located at the beginning of Shuqi Road in Jiufen. Mr. Wu, the creator of the museum, claims to be able to see ghosts, so he can sculpt their scary faces with mud. Believe him or not, the place deserves a visit if you like bizarre art.

A beautiful 362 steps stone stairway famous for being one of the shooting locations for "City of Sadness", including a restaurant with its name. The road and some of the buildings, along with other spots in Jiufen such as the refinery ruins, also inspired the Japanese director Miyazaki Hayao in his film "Sen To Chihiro" (Spirited Away).

Jiufen is a small mining town in the Northeast coast which became very popular since the release of the movie "City of Sadness", filmed there. The views of the cost and the Mt. Keelung are really amazing and the old streets, full of small shops, a pleasure to walk by.

There is a direct bus to Jiufen you can catch in Zhongxiao Fuxing bus-stop.

Other of that bizarre and really expensive but beautiful buildings built by the Japanese Government in Taipei. Completed in 1919, it shows a really strange neo-Renaissance style, with a 66 meters tower meant to be a watch-tower.

One of the wonderful things of Taipei is that, despite it's a big metropolis, you can scape from the noise and the traffic easily, and find good natural landscapes, including nice beaches.

One of the best and nearest is Baishawan, located in the north coast, in Temou Village. The best way to reach there is going to Dansui by MRT or bus and then take the Dansui Express Bus or the Taichi Express Bus bound for Jinshan until Baishawan.

The former US consulate building (1925) is today a great place held by the Taiwan Motion Picture Cultural Society and dedicated to Taiwanese film. Includes a screening room in the old garage, a conferece room, two fantastic coffee shops (Café Lumiere and Le Ballon Rouge) and a design boutique.

The old port town and ancien colonial center has become nowadays in a tourist oriented area, with its waterfront, its colonial buildings (Fort San Domingo, The Oxford Museum, the Mackay Hospital or the Red Castle Restaurant), its ferries coming and going to the other side of Danshui river (Bali), its souvenirs shops, restaurants, coffe shops and traditional Taiwanese snacks stores. For Taiwaneses it's the perfect place to spend the Sunday afternoom; specially for couples.