taitai

Thanks to the wonderful help of Cicerone (my new favorite person on the Boards), I have the Hong Kong portion of our trip fairly well planned. I am now focusing on Taipei. We will have a couple days there before heading south. Does anyone have any suggestions on activities for young boys (6,6,7) there?

Thanks
taitai

justshootme

taitai, can I be your new favourite person on the boards?

The top two things I'd do with boys who are 6 and 7 are:-

Visit Taipei 101, since the opening of Burj Dubai earlier this year Taipei 101 is no longer the world's tallest building, nevertheless, it's worth a visit.

Visit to snake alley night market.

The other sights may not be of interest to your kids, but consider a visit to the CHS memorial and some temples.

The National Museum in Taipei deserves a visit, I am not a museum person, but I spent sometime there. Not sure if the boys will care for it.

jgmc

101 is a great idea, but I'd pass on snake alley. It is kind of run down and crummy. You might want to try the Shilin Night Market.

The Martyr's Shine has changing of the guard ceremonies every day, every (daytime) hour -- fun for young boys.

The National Palace Museum is terrific and while the boys may not last long, they can 'hunt' for dragon images while you get to peek at the treasures.

The Chiang Kai Shek Memorial has large grounds for the kids to run around and steps to climb, and another changing of the guard to watch.

If you can rent a car and driver, or find a tour company (Edison Tours is one I know of), you might want to go to Yehliu and see the unusual rock formations on the coast. You could combine this with a visit to Jiu Fen, a little village built on a hillside which is fun to poke around. You could then visit the Ju Ming Museum, the private museum of Taiwan's most famous sculptor. It is almost all outside, so the boys can run around, and it even has a children's section.

Don't miss the soup dumplings at Ding Tai Feng -- there are several. The original is near the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. And you might stop in at The Grand Hotel for tea and dumplings.

Hope this starts you off.

justshootme

I had thought that snake alley and Shilin Night Market was the same, my mistake. jgmc, or other fodorites know better. I have only been to Taipei once and my visit was brief. The snake alley/night market I am referring to has shops and restaurants with cages of snakes, that are used for some meals the restaurants prepare. Sorry, if I confused you or was wrong about the place being called snake alley.

I also wanted to add, the CKS memorial has an area where his car's are on display and the boys may like to spend some time there looking at the old cars.

jgmc

And, I should also add, Taipei has a decent zoo.

If the weather is fine, there are numerous flat bike paths throughout Taipei and its environs and bikes are easy to rent -- I have to confess, though, that I don't know if you can rent children's bikes.

taitai

Thanks for all the advice. Yes, justshootme, you are in running with Cicerone to be my new favorite person on the Boards.
I think a Changing of the Guard will be fun for the boys. Night market, too. Had not thought of TPE101 but my husband can take them. I am too afraid of heights for that one.
They have been studying Panda Bears in kindergarten so it would be great to see one. Maybe a trip to the Zoo one day would work.
Thanks again!
taitai

GraceTsai

There's Children's Gallery on B1 in the National Palace Museum. Kids will have fun there because there are a lot of activities designed for kids, such as puppets, magnetic game pieces, puzzles, bridge building kits, book printing and binding kits, and 2 animations! Your kids will love to stay there.
http://www.npm.gov.tw/children/en/center_intro.html
Enjoy your trip to Taipei!