Words: Neil Bowen

My first trip to Taipei was a few years back and I hardly had time to see the place. This time I was determined to take time to experience all Taipei has to offer.

GETTING THERE

Taipei is only a short one hour 15 minutes hop by plane from Hong Kong. With a number of airlines flying including China Airlines, Eva Airways, Dragon and Eva Airways and Cathay Pacific, prices aren’t bad.

SLEEP

As you would expect with a large city, Taipei has accommodation options to suit all budgets and tastes, from five star luxury to budget accommodation. Do book well in advance during busy periods – when arranging our trip, all our preferred hotels were full. We surmised that this was partly due to the fact that Bangkok was overrun by red shirt protestors at the time and all sensible holidaymakers were opting for other destinations such as Taipei.

Grand Regent Formosa Taipei, A Four Seasons Hotel
41 Chung Shan N. Road, Section 2, Taipei
Tel: 886-2-23215511
www.grandformosa.com.tw/EN/

Taipei’s premier hotel offers luxurious accommodation and peerless service. For a genuine experience choose the Tai Pan floors which offer generous room sizes and access to the Tai Pan lounge. Mingle with celebrities and foreign dignitaries in the lounge bar and many popular high-end restaurants (Jay Chou is a regular).

Sheraton
No.12, Zhongxiao East Road. Sec.1, Taipei
Tel: 886-2-23215511
www.sheraton-taipei.com

Fairly well located in the centre of town, very close to a metro station, the rooms are comfortable and clean though a bit tired. An average business class hotel. Free Wi-Fi at hotel lobby.

Qstay
No.42, Sec. 2, Changsha St., Wanhua District, Taipei
Tel : 02-2331-4506
www.qstay.com.tw

The gay guesthouse located in Ximen, the trendy gay area of the city. There is a wide varity of rooms, both big and small, at affordable prices. Each room is equipped with a desktop computer and free internet connection and webcam. The computer’s MSN automatically links up to all the other rooms, so you can meet, chat and get to know the other guests. It could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

EAT

Dining out was the highlight of our trip to Taipei – top quality food at prices less than half of Hong Kong.

Din Tai Fung
No.194 Second Section, Xinyi Road, Taipei
Tel: 02-2321-8928
www.dintaifung.com.tw

Traditional Xiang Long Bao at its best. Din Tai Fung is the most famous restaurant of them all when it comes to steamed dumplings filled with a soup base and meat or vegetables. They actually have branches of this restaurant in Hong Kong. It can be very busy and you will usually have to wait to get a table especially at peak times.

Dozo
No 102, GuangFu South Road, Taipei
Tel: 02-2778-1135
www.dozoizakaya.com

A Japanese restaurant with a lively atmosphere, Dozo has thumping dance music and a spectacular drumming show during dinner. The food is fantastic and great value for money.

Cheers
No. 17, Lane 236, Sec. 1, Dunhua S. Road, Taipei
Tel: 02-2778-3460
www.kanpai.com.tw

Cheers is one of the hippest Japanese barbeques. A “cook your own food” style of restaurant, Cheers’ top quality ingredients, friendly staff and cheap prices more than made up for the half hour wait. A younger crowd definitely frequents this venue. Uniquely, you can get to have a photo taken of you kissing your dining partner and put on the wall to receive a complimentary beef dish. Restaurant staff make a big deal about this kiss (and lots of noise) so it’s quite amusing to watch. We were too shy to give this a go!

SEE

Happily, getting around Taipei is very easy as there is a well-connected metro system and cheap and plentiful taxis.

While Taipei is more renowned for its food and nightlife than its tourist sites, there are a few sights worth checking out. Top of our list was Taipei 101, formerly the world’s tallest skyscraper until the completion of the Burj Dubai earlier this year. It still holds the record for the world’s fastest elevator ride– 89 floors in 37 seconds– so hold on to your handbags. The viewing floors give a spectacular panorama of the city and surrounding country as well as the chance to see the 730 tonne damper ball (an earthquake and wind damper) the reason they were able to build such a tall skyscraper in an earthquake and typhoon zone.

Also worth checking out is the Palace Museum, home to the world’s largest collection of ancient Chinese art. It was rather amusing to see one of the most precious and famous treasures was a jade carving of a cabbage! The range of art- from paintings to sculptures to carvings and furniture is vast and engaging. You could spend hours here and still not see everything on display.

Taipei is also renowned for its hot springs. Visit Beitou and spent a lazy afternoon in the confines of Villa 32’s luxurious hot springs. Acidic and bizarrely slightly radioactive, the hot springs are famous for their curative properties. This was a wonderful and relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

Other than these sights, we were rather disappointed with the other places we chose to visit, Danshuei and the Maokong Cable Car and would not recommend them.

NIGHTLIFE

Another big highlight of the trip to Taipei was the nightlife. In my opinion, it’s far better than Hong Kong’s own humble offering.

Red House Square, Ximen

We started each evening in the area behind the Red House which has dozens of gay bars vying for your custom. The bars are all next to each other in a large pedestrianised courtyard away from the bustle of the nearby shopping zone and busy streets.

G Star

B/F 33 Songjian Rd

People said this is the new version of Funky Club (the most famous club where the boys dancing cha cha music). The DJs spin Taiwanese and Korean pop music all night long. Learn the steps of the big hit “Nobody” before you come to this club for maximum fun.

Jump

B1 No. 8, Sec 1, Keelung Rd

Various clubbing options are available for party animals. Our trip coincided with the monthly gay circuit party Follow Me, held at Jump. This was great fun with pumping dance music and lots of hot guys dancing with their tops off.

Of course there are also the usual host of other venues for fun, including gay saunas and gay hot springs. Just remember to play safe!