Night market capital of the world — beef noodle soup, bubble tea at source, and the most walkable city in Asia
Taipei is the most underrated major city in Asia — safe, cheap, extraordinarily well-organized, and with a food culture that punches above almost any city its size. The MRT is one of the best metro systems in the world (reliable to the minute, air-conditioned, food-ban enforced). Beef noodle soup (niú ròu miàn) is the city's signature dish and a religion: every neighborhood has two or three competing beef noodle shops and people have strong opinions. The night market culture is unmatched anywhere — Shilin, Raohe, Huaxi, Shida each has its own character, its own specialties (oyster omelette, s…
Taiwan was annexed by Japan in 1895 following the First Sino-Japanese War and remained a Japanese colony for 50 years — the colonial infrastructure (railway, public health systems, planned urban grid) shaped modern Taipei's bones. Japan surrendered Taiwan to the Republic of China government in 1945; when the Nationalists lost the Chinese Civil War to the Communists in 1949, the ROC government under Chiang Kai-shek relocated 1.2–2 million soldiers and civilians to Taiwan, bringing the entire imperial art collection of the Palace Museum. The subsequent martial law (1949–1987 — the longest in re…