What's the must-see thing in Taipei?

The National Palace Museum in Shilin district holds around 697,000 artifacts from 8,000 years of Chinese civilization. The institution traces to 1925 in Beijing's Forbidden City. Most of these pieces were evacuated across the Taiwan Strait in wooden crates during the Chinese Civil War, and the current Shilin building opened in 1965. The two pieces everyone crowds around are the Jadeite Cabbage, a 19cm piece of carved jade that mimics a bok choy head down to two katydids perched on its leaves, and the Meat-shaped Stone, a chunk of jasper that looks like a piece of braised pork belly complete with pores. The museum is cool and quiet inside, a relief after Taipei's 86% humidity. Admission runs NT$350 (about US$11). Go on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning at 9am when the doors open. By 11am, tour buses from cruise ships docked at Keelung port fill the third-floor galleries two-deep.

Longshan Temple in Wanhua sits at No. 211, Guangzhou Street, and it has been on that spot since 1738. The temple smells like sandalwood and camphor. Walk in at 6am and you'll find elderly locals burning joss paper in the front courtyard, the smoke curling through carved dragon columns that date to a 1950s reconstruction after American bombing on June 8, 1945 destroyed most of the original structure. The temple is free. Wanhua is Taipei's oldest district, and it still feels like a different city from the glass towers of Xinyi 4km east. Bopiliao Historic Block sits one street south, a preserved lane of red brick facades from the 1850s. Herb Alley runs north of the temple, where traditional medicine shops sell dried seahorses and ginseng roots from glass jars stacked floor to ceiling. Herb Alley has operated on this block for over 200 years.

Taipei 101 in Xinyi district held the world's tallest building title from 2004 to 2010. The observation deck on the 89th floor costs NT$600 (about US$19), and on a clear day you can see across the Taipei Basin to Yangmingshan's volcanic ridges to the north. The 730-ton wind damper suspended between floors 87 and 92 is the real draw. It's a gold-painted steel sphere, and you can watch it sway during typhoon season. The basement food court has a Din Tai Fung outlet where the wait tends to be 15-25 minutes, shorter than the original Xinyi Road branch. The outdoor observation deck on the 91st floor gives you open air at 390 metres. The wind up there is strong enough to make your jacket snap.

For first-time visitors, sequence matters more than the list. Start with the National Palace Museum on a weekday morning when your jet lag has you awake at 7am anyway. Take the MRT Red Line to Shilin station, then bus R30 (every 10-15 minutes) up the hill to the museum entrance. Spend 2-3 hours. After that, take the MRT south to Longshan Temple station for Wanhua in the early afternoon, when the lunch crowds at nearby Huaxi Street Tourist Night Market are thinning. Save Taipei 101 for late afternoon. The sunset light from the 89th floor between 5pm and 6:30pm is the best you'll get, and the Xinyi district food halls below stay open until 10pm.