National Palace Museum and Shilin Market

The National Palace Museum is a must-see. The museum houses the emperors' treasures that were saved from the war. The entrance fee is about $160 NTD and $80 NTD for students. The museum is pretty big but there is a free English tour every hour, which I would highly recommend. We actually only stayed for the tour but it's very informative and you learn a lot about Chinese and Taiwanese history and culture. The tour guide takes you to all the "must-see" exhibits and tells you things you wouldn't normally learn from the placards. You walk around with these headphones so that you can hear the guide speak over all the screaming children. It's definitely worth it.

After a day of learning, we headed over to the Shilin market. This market is one of the busiest but I think it is also one of the better markets in Taipei, after going to a few already. The food court, which is underground, will overwhelm you but there is something of everything to try there. We had stinky tofu, minced pork with rice, shaved ice, fried buns, and a scallion pancake roll (pork floss wrapped in scallion pancake). If I had more time in Taipei, I would go back again. I also bought about 5 boxes of this amazing pineapple cake. It's one of the shops near the entrance - I can't remember the name but the brand of the pineapple cake is Hsu's Bakery. Yum.