Taipei

In the downtown of Taiwan's largest city, a soaring building called Taipei 101 holds the title as the world's tallest building -- it's an international financial center meant to resemble a bamboo stalk. Taipei itself blends the natural with the man-made in like fashion: It's one of the greenest cities in the world, where forest preserves flourish within city limits, and it's a burgeoning, bustling commercial center marked by high-tech and high ambitions. That frenetic industrial velocity hasn't overtaken the city's rich historical and cultural heritage. While there's no shortage of massive shopping malls (with names like Asiaworld and New York New York), they coexist with 100-year-old markets, Confucian temples and art museums. The Shilin Night Market is a buzzing neon circus and a gastronomic adventure. The National Palace Museum is the grande dame of Taipei's many fine museums, showcasing the world's largest collection of Chinese art. Smog and congestion can overwhelm here, but an oasis is never far away, whether it's a hillside tea farm or a leafy preserve like Yangmingshan National Park, where volcanic fumaroles and swallowtail butterflies eclipse the din of downtown.