Ben's Guide to Taipei and Taiwan

Toucheng 頭城 is located on the east coast near Yilan 宜蘭 and in Yilan County 宜蘭縣. From Xindian 新店 follow Highway 9 towards Pinglin and Yilan to the coastal flat land. When you cross the mountains and are on the coastal flat lands you will follow the signs to the north (left) away from Yilan which is to the south. Once in Toucheng another clearly marked road sign will direct you to the Toucheng Seaside Park. It is roughly 60 km so allow at least 2 hours from Xindian if traveling by scooter or car. From Taipei go South on Roosevelt Road. When you cross the river into Xindian, the name will change to Bei Xin Road but the road remains the same. Where you would turn right to go to Wulai, you will continue straight and the road will become Hwy. 9. Once you are out of Xindian you will start to climb the mountain hills. Roads can have dangerously sharp curves. Much of the road has little or no shoulder to drive on. The beach is not the greatest for swimming or sunbathing but it is ok for wading

English-Chinese-Pinyin online dictionary: http://www.mandarintools.com/worddict.html Mandarintools zhongwen.com Pinyin-Zhuyin Conversion Chart: pinyin.info Pinyin Tone Numbers to Tone Marks Conversion: pinyin.info Pinyin-Zhuyin Conversion Chart Pinyin-Zhuyin Conversion Chart Podcasts Convert Chinese to Pinyin or Zhuyin: www.pin1yin1.com Convert Pinyin with numerical markers to Pinyin with tone markers (zhong1 becomes zhōng) http://www.foolsworkshop.com/ptou/ Freeware tutorial http://chinese.yuehan.net/ http://www.inputking.com/EN/index.php Type Chinese characters using Pinyin input without installing software or altering settings. http://www.pin1yin1.com/ converts Chinese to Pinyin (and Zhuyin / bopomofo) http://babelfish.altavista.com/ machine translations, also translates websites. http://www.romanization.com/ List of Taipei and Taiwan place names in Chinese and Pinyin http://www.mandarintools.com/ http://www.mandarintools.com/worddict.html DICTIONARY http://www.csulb.edu/~txie/onli

My Top Picks: Pinyin & Chinese for Cities, Counties, Trains, Taipei streets, etc: http://www.romanization.com/ General Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei Maps to Points of Interest in Taipei: http://wiki.forumosa.org/wiki/index.php?title=%5C%27Mosa_Maps Mapping site set to Taipei City: http://www.maporama.com Maps and tourist infomation: Tourism Bureau MRT clickable route map: http://home.trtc.com.tw MRT Pinyin route map Classified Ads: Tealit.com Forumosa.com www.taiwanho.com Bulletin board forums set up for expatriates in Taiwan. Taiwan Railway Administration or Taiwan Railway Administration train schedules Websites: www.ait.org.tw American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto embassy www.amcham.com.tw American Chamber of Commerce, promoting business ties in Taiwan. They have a bulletin board, some useful information, and links to more sites. www.boca.gov.tw Bureau of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs www.btco.org.tw www.britishe

See Taipei from a birds eye view. Links to an image of CKS Memorial Hall. 中山紀念堂 Zhong1 Shan1 Ji4 Nian4 Tang2