TAIPEI TRAVEL GUIDE

Taipei, capital of Taiwan, an island off China's mainland, is a city on the move. The high-tech industry and commercial center, for which it is known worldwide, balances nicely with contemporary restaurants, parks, and the wonderful Asian sense of yin and yang, an antidote to the rush of commerce prevalent in all busy, prosperous cities.

Thirty years ago, rice paddies stretched for miles. Now, they've been replaced by glass-faced, high-rise office buildings, luxury condominiums and modern department stores that tower majestically over serene, tree-lined boulevards where the movers and groovers frequent the top names in couture.

A 16th-century Portuguese seafarer discovered the beautiful island of Taiwan with its towering peaks and verdant forests and named it Ilha Formosa-the beautiful isle. A mainland Chinese farmer first settled here in the 18th century.

Large-scale migration with armed clashes over control of the regions followed, and people settled on the banks of the Tamsui River. A prosperous community led by trade in tea and camphor, developed, and the infant city of Taipei emerged with the river as its commercial artery.

The Japanese occupied Taiwan for 50 years from 1895 when Chiang Kai Shek, Taiwan's hero, liberated it and shaped its future. Chinese geomancy influenced the design of early Taipei with walls to the west and east, a body of water in front and the city still purrs with Eastern charms.

Beginning at dawn, from the Chiang Kai-shek or Sun Yat-sen memorial halls to the city parks-when the air, so Chinese believe, is densely charged with vital energy, chi-thousands of Taiwanese practice tai chi, the ancient art of balancing their energies. At sundown fitness enthusiasts crowd gymnasiums and health centers.

In between, in many quiet teahouses across town, and away from people busily going about their day, traditional tea ceremonies are in progress, where some make time to savor the flavors of this ancient act and honor assembled guests. People pause from their work to make a time to measure tealeaves, develop flavors and literally stop and inhale the aroma.

Arts, opera and music also proliferate, handed down for thousands of years but still a living, vital, part of Taiwanese daily life.

In the National Taiwan Junior College of Performing Arts, Taipei, groups of children learn to do acrobatics that steal your breath. Girls balance dozens of teacups on the ends of sticks held in their mouths, and cyclists make human pyramids that dash around the stage in circles, leaving everyone gasping in amazement.

Neon signs light up the city like artwork while underneath them warrens of tiny street stalls sell every computer component invented, and this hardware spills onto pavement where torn vendors and waffle makers do a roaring trade to those passing by.

The night markets at Shrlin, and Gungguan, and at Huashi and Tunghua streets, prove popular for visitors and locals alike. Much more interesting than typical shopping malls, they are vibrant, social places, where bargaining is fierce but fun, and with an enormous range of goods for sale.

Vendors hawk fashions and curios, as well as bicycles, mobile phones and radar scanners. If you need a snack, try the delicious toffee-coated tomatoes or fried bananas, and if you feel adventurous for something not usually on your culinary agenda, boiled chicken feet, snake blood, or sugar coated scorpions offer something to tell the folks about back home.

Try swinging with the youngsters to the hip-hop music streaming from stalls selling CD players, while enterprising, entertaining vendors liven the nighttime show with shouts of goods on offer and hilarious showmanship.

Shuangchen Street, close to the Ching Kuang Night Market, has many pubs and clubs. Why not wander the streets and just pop into a few that take your fancy?

Taxi drivers know the city like the back of their hands, so sit back and enjoy the ride to your destination far more quickly than you could drive yourself- unless you can read Chinese characters on road signs. The impressive, new Mass Rapid Transit offers a fast, functional public train for efficient cross-city travel.

Signs are in English, fares are low and speeding across town gives a wonderful view of the residential areas.

Underneath Taiwan's pulse, lives a religious, cultural and social soul. Taiwanese are proud, helpful, friendly and very hospitable, and most go out of their way to assist in every way they can.

The Lung Shan Temple, the city's oldest and the most revered in the land, affords one of Taiwan's finest examples of temple design. Devotees worship various gods as women and children buy bristles of incense, red candles and lotus flower offerings to the Goddess of Mercy, the Goddess of the Sea, or the God of War and Business. It's a wonderful place to sit back, relax and watch the Taiwanese doing what they love most.