The Palace Museum is an absolute must-do when visiting Taipei. This Met-like museum hosts some of China’s most valuable ancient imperial artifacts. With nearly 700,000 pieces, it is the largest collection of its kind anywhere in the world, which I find incredible as Taiwan is a rather small island to begin with.

Collections of coins, textiles, paintings, sculptures, vases, rare books and more were brought over from mainland China by Chiang Kai-shek, as the Chinese Civil War threatened the immediate safety of these precious items. So you can now find some of China’s oldest and most profound cultural staples, lining the corridors of this magnificent museum on the outskirts of Taipei City.

There are four floors of art and artifacts, gardens, pavilions, memorials, and common areas. Above are the sculptures, gardens, and entrance to the museum as photography inside is strictly forbidden. The Palace Museum offers a beautiful assortment of China's rich history right in Taipei’s backyard and was a perfect way to spend the afternoon.

After an insanely long day of traveling yesterday, I went NYC-Detroit-Tokyo-Taipei, I set myself up for success with the jet lag by staying up when it was day time. I arrived at my girlfriend Maggie’s beautiful townhouse in downtown Taipei and passed straight out.

I woke refreshed, and ready for the day at 8am… not too bad for day one. As I walked into the kitchen, I began to smell an incredible mix of warm rice, soy-shallot stewed pork, and garlic sautéed greens. It was miles away from the pancakes and waffles of home, and EXACTLY what I needed to start my busy day.

Maggie then explained to me that this stewed pork is a famous family recipe and was a staple of hers growing up. We poured the delicious secret family heirloom over a bed of rice soup aka congee, think of rice as an oatmeal consistency. We then poured a sweeter “breakfast” soy concoction over our over-medium eggs, added the hallow-stem greens and totally went to town.

We topped it all off with small dashes of fish floss, I know it sounds insane but it's actually amazing. Think of it as an Asian version of bacon bits, only made with fish. This was the best way to kickoff my time in Taipei and a definite must try while on this amazing island.