Sightseeing in Taipei
Sightseeing in Taipei is the capital of Taiwan. After a 10-hour flight we land at the airport and are already looking forward to all kinds of greeters with various offers. The time difference is deadly and we hurry to check into the hotel, which looked a little different from the photos in Booking. Anyway, the first day we slept through it completely.
We have noted in advance which sights in Taipei we will visit. We will save you the historical reference of the island, but we will remind you that China dominates here. We still couldn't figure out if the Taiwanese wanted to be Chinese or not. Of course, we only visited the shiny part of this country and we will not tell you about the poor suburbs. Transport is very well organized, subway, buses, trains.
I can responsibly say that Taiwanese do not know English. Even those who should be able to speak, and they do not know it. It's good that the phones and GPS navigation are otherwise you totally lost. It is good to have cash because credit cards are rarely accepted in stores. It struck me that all the streets were very clean. Hygiene in Taipei is at a very high level. And after this brief information we start our tour in this eastern capital. First we want to tell you about the old part of town.
Lungshan Temple is located right in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by residential buildings. It's hard to find, especially if you use buses. All the streets are terribly similar and the signs are in Chinese. I tried to memorize a few characters, but to no avail. Naturally, there was a ceremony in front of the temple, which we did not understand what it was like. 
Sightseeing in Taipei photogallery
What can we see in Taipei
We continue to the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. The square after the construction of this monument is used for mass military gatherings. There is a park, the National Theater and a Concert Hall nearby. Another interesting landmark is the National Taiwan Museum. The central facade of the museum is very similar to a European building from the early 19th century. I don't know why they decided to build it during the Japanese rule in Taipei.
The truth is that this is the oldest museum where you can see interesting collections of objects from Taiwan's past. Fortunately, we visited it and spent the whole day looking at things that were interesting to us. Taiwanese temples are very colorful and well decorated. They are not inferior to those in Japan and China. They are used both for worship and for ceremonies.
They are a collection of the world's greatest religions - Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Other popular temples, some of which we visited and explored from the inside, are: Qingshui Temple, Songshan Qiu Temple, Tianhou Temple and Confucius Temple. We took some pictures of the iconic Taipei 101 skyscraper. In fact, it can be seen from anywhere and will serve as a guide if you get lost.
We have often seen it and can compare it to the Eiffel Tower in Paris as a starting point. Be sure to climb the tallest building in Taiwan and see the city in all its glory, especially in the evening. The last thing that impressed us were the extremely clean toilets, which are free and equipped with everything you need for disinfection. I can't say the same for their fast food restaurants, although we were afraid to eat from there.
The food is extremely tasty and nutritious, often fried, with the risk of getting intestinal infections. Taipei have their own brand of beer, on my scale about 7 on the ten-point grading system. However, their coffee in restaurants is expensive, as in Europe and below.
In general, the destination is not expensive for a European and we highly recommend it. Our advice, however, is to have a local guide or someone who has already been to Taipei to save some of our trouble. Now that I think about it, I can tell you a lot of funny stories.
