Taipei is divided into northern and southern districts by Chunghsiao Road, site of theTaipei Railway Station. Chungshan North and Chungshan South roads slice the city into eastern and western portions. One of the city’s easiest landmarks is the Grand Hotel. Located atop a ridge at the northern end of the city, this 530 rooms hotel looks somewhat like an ancient palace, built in the classical imperial style of old China. The massive multi-story new wing is crowned by the largest classical Chinese roof on earth.

East of the Grand Hotel about half a kilometer is the Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine on Peian Road. It is open daily and the entire complex is built in the palace style of the Ming dynasty. Each structure attempts to reproduce a similar hall or pavilion in Beijing. Dedicated to the fallen heroes of China’s war, the arched portals of the main gate open onto a vast courtyard, past guest pavilions, drums and bell towers. Two gigantic brass-studd doors open onto the main shrine, where the names of the heroes are inscribed beside murals depicting their feats.

To the southwest of the Grand Hotel is Kong Miao, the Confucius Temple, on Talung Street. A tranquil retreat compared to the city’s other places of worship, absent are the throngs of worshippers supplicating their gods with prayer and offerings, the cacophony of gongs and drums, and the gaudy idols. Absent, too are images of Confucius. The tranquility is fitting, Confucius preached the virtues of peace and quiet. The architecture of the temple is subtle yet exquisite and highlighted by magnificient roofs.

 Nestled in the foothills, several kilometers to the northeast of the Grand Hotel and past the Martyrs’s Shrine is the most important attraction in Taipei, if not all of Taiwan. An imposing complex of beige brick buildings, topped with green and imperial yellow slate roofs, houses the National Palace Museum. The building is impressive, and the treasures within are unimaginable. Next to the museum is a small but perfectly styled and very attractive , chin-shan-yuan Chinese garden, is worth a stroll. Displayed in the Palace Museum the exhibitions change from time to time are some 6,000 works of art representing the zenith of 5,000 years of Chinese creativity. And these are just a fraction of the more than 700,000 paintings, porcelains, bronzes, rubbings, tapestries, books and other art objects stored in nearly 4,000 crates located in vaults that are tunneled into the mountain behind the museum. The National Palace Museum opened in 1965. But the history of its treasures can be traced back more than 1,000 years, to the beginning of the Song dynasty (AD 960-1279).

The best place to begin a downtown walking tour is from the Taipei Railway Station. This is not just a station but an impressive and spacious palace, with four floors below street level. Close to the railway station are the bus terminals, South of the station stands the Taiwan Provincial Museum, eye-catching in its Greek Revival style on Hsiangyang Road. It is less fascinating that the national museum, but it offers important displays of minority group handicrafts, clothes and artifacts.
Behind the museum is Taipei New Park, which opened in 1907 and featuring ponds, pagodas, and pavilions. The best time to walk the grounds of the New Park is at dawn, when thousands of the city’s residents stretch, dance, exercise and move through various forms of taiji, shaolin and other disciplines. To the east of the park are most of the important government ministries and offices. Most prominent is the Presidential Building.

 A massive monument to the late president, the Chiang Kai-shek Cultural Centre is located at Chungshun South Road. Dedicated in 1980, the fifth anniversary of Chiang death, the enormous 76 meter high Memorial Hall dominates the landscaped grounds. Inside is an imposing 25 ton bronze statue of the late president. The main entrance to the Memorial Hall is a magnificent arch, in traditional Ming style, that towers 30 meters high and stretches 75 meters across. One feature of the memorial are the 18 different styles of traditional Chinese windows, at eye-level along the entire length of the perimeter wall. Part of the cultural centre complex and standing amidst beautiful grounds are the National Opera House, built in Chinese Palace style, and the Concert Hall.

West of the Chiang Kai-shek memorial and near the river is the oldest and most famous of Taipei’s myriad temples, Lungshan or Dragon Mountain, a reference to the large collection of toothsome creature on its busy roof. It was built early in the eighteenth century to honor Taiwan’s patron deities, Kuan Yin and Matsu. The building was inadvertently hit by an Allied air raid in 1945. So intense were the flames from the incendiary boom that they melted the iron railings surrounding the large camphor-wood statue of Kuan Yin. The hall was totally destroyed, yet the wooden statue of Kuan Yin somehow withstood the searing flames. The main hall was rebuilt in 1957, enveloping the statue that gazes with unceasing equanimity at worshippers from its spot on the main altar. In addition to the Kuan Yin statue, the temple is renowed for its fine stone sculpture, woodcarving and bronze work. Especially striking are the 12 main support column that hold up the central hall. They appear to come alive with their dragons hewn from solid stone.

Only a few minutes’ walk from Lungshan temple is a district called Snake Alley by tourists. The Western sobriquet stems from the nature of business conducted by some of the street’s vendors. Their shop stack with cages of hissing snakes. Customers watch as the chosen snake is strung live on a wire, stretched taut and literally unzipped open before their eyes with a small knife. Blood and bile from the squirming snake are squeezed into a glass containing potent spirit and herbs.

For customers who are keen on seeking additional "kick", the vendor will even add a few drops of poison venom to the mixture. Other than the snakes, the alley offers countless fortune tellers, vendors of herbal portions, tattoo parlors, fresh fruit stalls and hawkers of baubles and bangles.