Taiwan's sights & LGBTQ scene
Sights in the most LGBTQ friendly place in Asia
Another place celebrating a special Pride this year is Taiwan, which as of May is now the only place in Asia with marriage equality. Pride in Taipei, the largest city and capital, will be at the end of October.
Taipei has many different LGBTQ venues – including the Ximen area around Taipei's Red House - the central gay district. Meet up here for drinks before hitting the clubs. `Still, like everywhere now, it’s sometimes easiest to meet via online networking: Jack’d (they pronounce it Jack-dee) and Grindr (typically for expats & Asians who like Caucasians). My favorite place in on the island is G-Star – where the Taiwanese take dancing to a whole new level. K-pop aficionados spend hours every week preparing their dance moves for the club – are they paid? – No! this is a hobby. Learning complex moves to K-pop hits (like...), they put them on display all night. This makes the club atmosphere one of community and smiles and fun!
Funky Club
As for other things to do in Taipei, you can’t miss either looking out of – or even better - looking down upon Taipei 101 – one of few skyscrapers and formerly the tallest building in the world (now dwarfed by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai). The lights and architecture of 101 are magical – I walked up what's called Elephant Mountain for an incredible sunset view of Taipei with a new friend - much more interesting to see the building, but if you also want that bird's eye view of Taipei you can go up, or get a reservation to visit the Starbucks on the top!
View fof Taipei 101 rom Elephant Mountain
Also visit the large shrines and public buildings honoring Taiwan's major historical figures (Sun Yat-Sen & Chiang Kai-shek) - public space there is used for any number of activities from rap-dancing to martial arts to ballroom! If you want to see Chinese historical artifacts, the National Palace Museum is highly recommended – although I breezed through in 40 minutes before my flight! And of course, you must visit many of the Buddhist temples.
Sun Yat-Sen Memorial