The Taipei Astronomical Museum (TAM) is right across the street from the National Taiwan Science Education Center (NTSEC). That makes it a no-brainer to head in this direction – two for the price of one (though you couldn’t possibly see all the exhibits at both places in one day).

As far as attractions go in Taipei, the TAM is pretty laidback. It opened in 1996 and I imagine the luster has worn off. I saw very few people there on my visits, and those were almost exclusively families with young children. I imagine that most people think of astronomy as something that is “good for you” – like exercising or taking vitamins – but perhaps not a lot of fun. We lucky few who know different (thinking about you, Terry) get to have the whole place practically to ourselves.

On my first visit, I bought tickets to two shows in the 3-D theater in the basement. There’s not a lot of polish and pizzazz down there in the basement, but the people running the theater are very nice, and if you leave a piece of ID as a deposit, they will give you an IR receiver with earphones to listen to the English soundtrack to the movies. Otherwise, you just get the Chinese version over the speakers. The 3-D glasses are the cardboard kind that you can keep as a souvenir if you choose. Ask the women at the counter to show you how you can fold your glasses into the shape of a pretty convincing mouse.

The 3-D theater itself belies its humble exterior and entrance. It’s very modern and high-tech with a massive screen and comfortable La-Z-Boy style chairs. My eyes and brain aren’t very good at decoding 3-D images, but I think that it’s best to sit very high up and in the middle to get the full 3-D effect. Note that every movie is followed by a 10-minute short on astronomy. In the 3-D theater, it was a short lesson on the planets in our solar system. In the Imax theater, it was a brief look at the stars and constellations in the night sky (complete with live commentary and a laser pointer).

I also saw two movies in the IMAX theater. You can buy tickets to the IMAX theater, the 3-D theater, and all the other attractions at the TAM from automatic vending machines. I think those machines are a delight. They are located both outside and inside the museum. There are English and Chinese instructions and it’s a breeze to follow the instructions, select the show you want to see, and put in your NT$100 per movie. Your fancy ticket pops out of a slot at the bottom.

The IMAX theater is right on the main floor and has a much fancier entrance than the lonely 3-D theater in the basement. Simply head in at the main entrance to the museum and turn left at the first big hallway you come to. The IMAX theater is at the end of the hall. The women at the IMAX theater were just as nice as the ones at the 3-D theater, and they got a bit flustered as I approached. There happened to be a big sign in English on the wall, and the woman was eager to point that out to me. She gestured to the sign with a big sweep of her arm, and her ticket puncher went flying out of her hands, sailed across the room and hit the wall.

The IMAX theater also has an English soundtrack available. To listen to the English soundtrack, you have to sit in the top three rows of seats. The seats are light blue, so it’s easy to find them. Sitting in the top three rows is not a hardship, since these seats have the best view of the screen. It’s the largest dome theater  in Southeast Asia, and a good IMAX film will be all around you and fill your entire field of vision. These types of films always have the scene in which you are flying over a cliff in an airplane, and your stomach lurches as you go over the edge. You actually find yourself leaning to the left and right in your seat as the plane turns.

In the 3-D theater, you use a special IR receiver to hear the English soundtrack. In the IMAX theater, you use special headphones, which are tucked into the armrest of the chairs in those 3 rows of light blue seats. The headphones are big and comfortable with great sound. The volume control is kind of hidden on the front of the armrest. It might be a bit of a struggle getting the headphones out of the armrest, since the cords get all tangled up. I had to use the flashlight on my keychain (my MacGyver side coming out) to see inside the armrest and untangle the cords.

Getting in and out of the IMAX theater is an experience in itself. After you get your ticket punched (watch out for the ticket punchers flying through the air), you go down a long and curving hallway. It felt weird because my sense was that the theater was right at ground level. Anyway, you go down and down and down. Then you emerge at the very bottom of the theater, and to get to the light blue seats with the headphones, you have to climb all the way back up to the top. When the movie is over and the astronomy lesson is over, the lights come up and you exit through doors at the top. From there, you go down some stairs and end up in a maze of rooms and stairways that seem to lead nowhere. Someone was asleep at the switch when they designed the exits for the IMAX theater. It took me a while to figure out how to get out of there. I seemed to be trapped.

So, there you have it: the Taipei Astronomical Museum. In addition to the two theaters, there is another big attraction: The Cosmic Adventure. For NT$70, you can go on a tour of the universe. The rest of the museum (which I haven’t seen yet) consists of the exhibit halls with temporary and permanent exhibits on astronomy. According to their website, it is the largest astronomical display in the world, with exhibits titled Ancient Astronomy, The Earth, Space Technology, Celestial Spheres and Constellations, The Solar System, The Galaxies, Cosmology, Stars, and more. All that for only NT$40. I’m looking forward to checking all that out next time.

These are the films currently showing:

3-D Theater:

Sharks

A sea turtle takes you on a tour of the ocean and introduces you to all the different species of sharks from Great Whites and Hammerheads to the biggest fish in the ocean, the Whale Shark.

Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia

This show focuses on the paleontologist Rodolfo Coria and his work uncovering dinosaur bones in Patagonia, Argentina, including some belonging to the largest herbivore and carnivore that ever lived. Be prepared to say “Awwwww!” when you see the baby dinosaurs.

IMAX Theater:

Sea Rex

This movie is a whirlwind and very in-depth history of dinosaurs (on land and sea), as well as of the people who study them. It’s a bit cheesy in structure and uses the conceit of a young girl talking to the ghost of a Victorian paleontologist. (See if you can guess who it is…) However, there is a ton of great information in it (if you can keep up with the details) and lots of awesome dinosaurs.

Mysteries of the Great Lakes

For me, this film was a pleasant surprise. I grew up beside the Great Lakes in North America, and it was weird to be sitting in Taipei in a theater and learning something new about the lakes. The film was oddly low key for an IMAX theater. It felt exactly like one of dozens of educational films I saw in grade school and high school back in Canada. I had a big smile on my face when Gordon Lightfoot’s “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” started playing. What Canadian can resist that song?

The TAM is open from Tuesday to Sunday (closed Mondays) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Saturday, there are extended hours until 8 p.m. Movies at both the 3-D theater and the IMAX theater play every hour. The Cosmic Adventure ride is available all day and takes about 12 minutes.

The closest MRT station is Shilin Station. Simply go out the north end of the station (Exit #1) and turn left (west) on the main road right there – ZhongZheng Road. Go four or five big blocks and turn right (north) on Jihe Road. The TAM and the NTSEC are huge buildings two or three blocks up Jihe Road. You really can’t miss them. The TAM is on the right and the NTSEC is on the left. It’s about a 15-minute walk, so they’re not right beside the MRT station. However, it’s not that terribly far.

Tags: Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia, Great Lakes, Mysteries of the Great Lakes, National Taiwan Science Education Center, NTSEC, Sea Rex, Sharks 3D, Taipei, Taipei Astronomical Museum, Taiwan, TAM