Things to do in Taipei

Don't miss the National Palace Museum, Taipei's No1 tourist attraction. Although it is invariably crowded, it is well worth putting up with the squash to see its amazing line-up of Chinese artefacts.

There are free guided tours in English. Not as well known and therefore quieter is the garden in the palace grounds. Created by brilliant artist (and superb forger) Chang Ta-ch'ien (1899-1983), it has an excellent bonsai collection.

• Take an inexpensive (about NZ50c) ride on one of Taipei's spotless metro trains to the outer suburb of Beitou. A short uphill walk from the station is a museum in what was once a Japanese bathhouse. Hotels offer hot spring baths from the sulphurous waters that bubble under Beitou. Weekdays are quieter and travelling on the metro during rush hour is not for the timid.

• Gawp at the Grand Hotel's Chinese-style facade and wander into its sumptuous lobby. Chiang Kai-shek built the hotel in the 1950s to impress foreign guests. Sited on Yuanshan Mountain, where a Shinto shrine stood during the Japanese occupation, it was restored after a 1995 fire that caused extensive damage.

If you want to stay there, room rates start at about $NZ400 a night, but special deals are sometimes available at less than half that. Make sure you get a room with a river view.

• Whizz up to the 89th floor of Taipei 101 at 1010m a minute for an incomparable 360-degree look at the city.

When it was built, Taipei 101 was the world's tallest building at 508m. If heights or the high cost of the lift (about $NZ15) aren't for you, there is a food court in the basement and posh shops on the next four levels.

• Take in some history at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, the National Museum of History with its thousands of Chinese artefacts or the Martyrs' Shrine, which remembers Taiwanese who died in wars.

• Visit a night market. Shilan is probably the best, but Snake Alley (Huaxi) is famous for its reptiles. Thankfully, they are no longer skinned alive for the entertainment of bemused tourists.