Let me start with the obligatory forgive-me-if-this-is-too-far-off-topic, but I hope the Skritter community will indulge me by helping me plan a short staycation in Taipei at the end of May. I'm indecisive, and so I've decided put my planning in the hands of others. In return, you'll get entertainment, vicarious travel, and hopefully some cool new vocab.

What I'm doing is taking suggestions about cool things to see within Taipei City (including cool things people would want to visit if they had a chance to visit), then choosing the best 50 ideas and building a 5-day itinerary.

I'll blog (& moblog) throughout the 5 days, including photos, videos, sound recordings, & thoughts on the experience.

The daily blogs may be of special interest to Skritterers because I'll be posting the Chinese names and links to related Chinese sites wherever possible, and also including any interesting new vocabulary I pick up throughout the day. Actually, I'm really looking forward to using this project as an excuse to talk to strangers and learn/reinforce vocab at the same time. Hopefully others will be able to benefit from this aspect as well.

Even if you've never been to Taipei, I hope you'll consider contributing. I've set up the blog here:

http://5daysintaipei.wordpress.com

And I'll be glad to credit you in name or with a link to your own blog or site. Thanks, Skritter!

Get the MRT to the ximen station, get out at the red theatre exit. This area is like a young people hang out. Streets and streets of market type shops, food, cinemas, and usually very packed at night. This is where you will find the Modern toilet, the shop where you sit on toilets and eat out of toilets, its a must do (: It is hard to find, so ask someone how to find it.

If you like bush walking / nature. Get the train line to the zoo, from the last stop there is a cable car up the mountain, walking tracks and so on.

Also you must ask this question on forumosa.com most 外國人 who live in taiwan are on that forum.

Thanks for the suggestions, 董雅各! Actually, I live in Ximending, less than a block from the toilet restaurant, and yet I've still never eaten there - so this is definitely going on my list. Also thinking about the gondola, though I've always been kind of wary of it.

As for Forumosa, I'm not a huge fan (I think of it as 4chan for Taiwan expats), which is a big reason I wanted to post here - I figured I'd end up with more serious responses from Skritterers than I'd get from Forumosans! :)

Thanks again. And if any other users have any ideas, I'd be glad to hear them!

I am not recommending the gondola as such, but the walking tracks around it, if you are so inclined to do that sort of thing (:

Your right about forumosa, most of the posts are just pointless arguments and/or crass remarks, however there are so many people with so much knowledge there its sometimes worth enduring (: