"Welcome to Taiwan!" the melodious voice of popular singer AMei, Taiwan's ambassador, rings out from television sets in commercials heralding the arriving visitors.
The commercials, in Chinese and English, featured A-Mei in beautiful locales in her native country, learning the aboriginal dance and enjoying Taiwanese cuisine.
Taipei may seem like just a busy commercial centre but, in fact, it has a rich cultural scene.
The city has a significant number of museums as well as smaller galleries managed by businessmen who want to give something back to the community.
One of them is The Miniatures Museum of Taiwan at Chien Kuo N. Road which houses over 150 dollhouses and room boxes from all over the world.
Founded in 1997 by Lin Wen-Ren and his wife, it is one of the city's most fascinating small museums.
Some of the 'household items' in their collection are quite amazing: Can you imagine real whiskey in a tiny 1 cm bottle, a TV set the size of a postage stamp that actually works, or a classic chandelier with 40 light bulbs the size of rice grains
The models are all built to scale at 12:1, 24:1, 48:1 and even 120:1 by artists from the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Taiwan and Japan.
One of the most prominent pieces in the collection is the the Rose Mansion. Built by American miniaturist Dr. Reginald Twigg, the 12:1 scale model is of a former landmark of Los Angeles, a luxurious mansion named after businessman Leonard John Rose.
Dr. Twigg took almost four years to research the architecture and complete the model.
The largest exhibit is the Colorado Mountain Street, which depicts a thunderstorm-hit village in the American West in 1912 while the Discovery Centre of Taipei at City Hall on Shifu Road takes visitors back 100 years in time to discover the city's past and present.
On the first floor is the Taipei Impression Hall which presents, through photographs, illustrations and monitors built into walls, what Taipei means to locals and foreigners.
The City Discovery Hall on the third floor has life-sized models of old archways and takes visitors on a tour of early Taipei and the changes to its major streets and neighbourhoods. For some, shopping is an integral part of an enjoyable vacation. Taiwan is known as a shopper's paradise with its large shopping complexes and department stores offering branded fashion wear, high-end merchandise, fine food, books, and local goods. At the Miramar shopping mall and entertainment park, you get to see the country's largest Ferris wheel, which has a vertical length of 70m and horizontal length of 100m.
Weighing some 600,000kg, the wheel is located on the mall's rooftop. This Ferris wheel can accommodate up to 288 people in 48 carriages, and takes about 17 minutes to complete a round.
The shopping experience at the night markets in Taiwan is unforgettable The Shihlin Night Market is one of the largest in Taipei. Located between the Yangmin Theater and Tsicheng Theater, the night market began way back in 1899 and is famous for various snacks like "large pancake enfolding small pancake", "hot pot on stone" or Shihlin sausage. There are also special areas for furniture, clothing, photo shops and pet shops.
Almost every city and county in Taiwan has hot springs, except for Changhua, Yunlin and Penghu counties.
So it is not strange that Taiwan is also known as the "Hot Spring Kingdom".
The Yingge City of Pottery, a global centre for pottery is a must visit for those wanting to see the old Taiwan. The old street that houses Yingge is at the junction of Jhongjhen Road and Jianshanpu Street, and boasts many pottery shops selling thousands of pottery and ceramic products of various shapes and sizes.
Taiwan may have the image of an island of industry but it has much to offer as a tourist destination.
