Taipei 101

At long last, I have conquered the imposing edifice that is Taipei 101! It is a building of height and beauty, and can be seen towering over the city from many places in Taiwan. It is the third tallest building in the world, and it is designed to look like bamboo.

Months ago, I had known that we would have the Wednesday of June 12th off--it was a public holiday for Dragon Boat Festival. I had asked my boss for two additional days off, the Saturday and Monday before it, so between those days, Dragon Boat Festival day, and my usual Tuesday and Sunday off, I ended up with five straight days of freedom.

Because I am a genius.

Knowing that I would be leaving Taiwan soon, I planned ahead of time to see some things during that week. Taipei 101 was high on the list, and my co-worker Nicole volunteered to go with me. We had a fantastic time. Nicole is great company, and we took all kinds of funny/cute pictures during the day.

Taipei 101 has, as its name implies, one hundred and one floors. It costs 500 kuai (about USD $16) to go to the top, which is actually quite a lot considering how much many other things don't cost. Nicole also said she remembered when she first went up, years ago, and it had cost hundreds less.

You aren't actually allowed to go to the top floor. The elevator (which had an overhead light show of constellations and starlight) takes its passengers up to the 89th floor, which has a 360 degree walk-around indoor observatory area. There wasn't much to do aside from check out the view or buy expensive food/souvenirs, so Nicole and I mostly looked out the windows and took pictures.

One thing we had both definitely wanted to see was the giant "ball," or damper, a stabilized weight that helps Taipei 101 keep its balance during inclimate weather and earthquakes. It was very impressive.

Eventually we discovered a staircase that let us go higher or lower. We went higher (two floors) and found an outdoor observation area. There were a lot of foreigners there. The area was small, but the view (what you could see if it, they were careful to make sure no one could fall off or jump through) was spectacular.

That done, we waited around the last few minutes for night to fall, and took pictures of the city in the dark. Even though the lights are artificial, there's something magical about the millions of signs and car headlights blinking in a city at night. I spent a lot of time trying to drink it all in, because I'm really getting down to the bare bones of time that I have left to really see Taipei.

When we'd seen all we had wanted, Nicole and I returned to Earth. We took the MRT to Taipei Main Station and found a food court to have dinner in. We chatted about everything and nothing. Nicole is one of the special people I've met here that I'm really going to miss.

One of my absolute favorite things about going new places is finding out how similar people are no matter where you go. Regardless of the language we were grew up speaking or the foods we're familiar with, or the cultural ideologies of where we grew up, our core selves are very much the same. We dream, we strive, we hurt, and we carry on. How anyone could ever believe that they would not find someone they identified with outside the social group they were born into is beyond me.

After dinner, Nicole took the railroad train home, and I took the MRT. Taipei 101 was more of a tourist-y interest than anything else, but everything is more special when you share it with friends. It was an excellent day.