Taipei Botanical Garden
A lotus pond in the middle of the city, in full bloom in summer
A fuller guide to this place, built from 3 sources, is written in Traditional Chinese.
Being there
Walk round the lotus pond and look for the red Qing-dynasty office hall in the grounds. In the mornings you'll meet photographers with long lenses waiting for birds.
The story
More than a century ago the Japanese opened a nursery here to trial tropical plants, and it grew into a botanical garden. Deep inside stands a Qing-dynasty government hall moved here whole, older than the garden itself. In summer the lotus covers the pond; in winter the flowers are gone but the benches are still full of people playing chess, chatting and photographing kingfishers. It has always been the neighbourhood's back yard.
