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Taipei Travel

DISCOVER TAIPEI Jul/Aug 2012 Vol.90

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Taipei Summer Time 

Green-Life Touring






High summer, you may have noticed, is upon us. Make Taipei your choice to get away from the heat! 



Our theme this issue is ''Taipei Summertime Green-Life Touring,'' and inside we tell you how to travel around the city in mid-summer at an easy, green LOHAS pace.

When the heat settles in, head for the hills. As it happens, Yangmingshan is this very moment awash in fluttering butterflies, and the air is filled with cicada song. A cool walk in the high hills, exploring the wonders of the natural world, is a great way to spend a summer's day. Taipei, an international city, is well aware of the perils the world faces as the global-warming threat slowly takes hold, and has embraced eco-protective green building concepts. Green markets stressing healthy and natural food and drink have also taken root, welcomed by an ever more eco-aware public. We take you on a tour of the city's green-living highlights, which will by happy circumstance also shield you from, and make you forget, the blazing summer heat.



In our Taipei New Images section we check out two of the city's old architectural venues given fresh new looks: the Taipei Circle and the Shuiyuan Theatre. Over in the In-Depth City Culture Exploration department we invite readers into the esoteric realm of Chinese Qigong, and have asked a master to teach you the basics of this art of self-cultivation. Our Taipei's Best Foods & Gifts unit tells you where to find delicious fresh 

salads that will reawaken your appetite on steamy, sultry summer days.



In our Mapping the Taipei Lifestyle gallery we've mapped out a breezy and easy bicycle excursion through the Gongguan riverside area, during which you can enjoy the waterfront's natural scenery as well as the many cultural attractions. We also take you down Taipei's culture-rich lanes to show-off the city's beauty from a different angle – on a quest for the city's prettiest bookstores.



Another cool way to hide from the heat of the summer sun is to dive into the air-conditioned venues of the city's exhibition scene, where its creativity and artistic energy is on show. The bold, untrammeled imaginative powers of Taipei youth are showcased at the Taipei National University of the Arts and at the current ''Good Young Design Festival'' at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park. Other happenings showing off the city's artistic side are the Taipei Children's Arts Festival, Taipei Arts Festival, SEER Special Exhibit, and Mobile Forest and Illustrating Taipei – The Past, Present and Future exhibits.



As you explore Taipei in July and August, you'll find this is a city bursting with green, with green ideas, and with splendid aesthetic allure.
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