The morning began, on one of the four days left before we fly back home, very similarly to many of the other days before it. I supposed it’s only natural for fantastical surroundings to become more mundane as you become accustomed to the environs. Our time is rapidly drawing to a close here in Taiwan, and there are a few major sights left to see. One of them is the Taipei 101 skyscraper. The plan was for my dad and I to travel out the 14 stations to the Sun Yet-san memorial station to tour the area and stay the night at my now empty Aunt Ellen’s apartment. As the morning moved towards noon, I realized that my dad, although appearing on his way to recovering his strength was still not able to make the trip. Despite suggesting we get a taxi to save on walking, we decided it was best for him to conserve and build his strength for the arduous plane ride home. Although he might have been more comfortable in my aunts place, the energy expenditure might have been more detrimental than the rest would have recovered. I packed overnight necessities and reluctantly left my dad in the care of his brother.
The cloudy weather wasn’t ideal for sight seeing from high places, but it made for effortless traveling. I think I can expect the same kind of conditions for the rest of the week. After dropping off my extra baggage at the apartment and reconfiguring my camera bag, I set off for the next station over, that would take me close to the skyscraper. A few blocks south of the station, I could see the tower piercing the cloud cover, looming above the city. The base of the building was swarming with tourists and shoppers. The first four floors of Taipei 101 was made for shopping, housing many high end clothing and accessory stores. The combination of vendor and sight seeing attractions makes for a chaotic lobby, but before I waded through the crowd of tourists, I had a mission objective across the street, as my GPS pointed.
I planned this morning to finally get my first Geocache in Taiwan and drop off one of my two travel bugs. There are a few caches within easy walking distance to the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT i.e. train), but one specifically placed near the Taipei 101 destination. My GPS pointed me to a small park across the street from the skyscraper and the accuracy, combined with the clue led me to my hidden treasure. The cache was hidden under a brick in the bushes inside a tin used to store tea leaves. Glancing around to make sure no one was watching, lest they think I’m some foreign spy, I quickly made a log entry and swapped my travel bug for a geocoin from Switzerland. The later will accompany me back to Michigan to be placed in a cache there, fulfilling it’s desire to travel around the world. Now on to the spire.
Taipei 101 gets its name from the 101 floors that reside above ground. It also has 5 levels below that house parking and food courts. It was the tallest building the world from 2006 to 2010. I passed by the shoppers lazily flitting from store to store, and located an elevator that would take me to the fifth floor where the ticket sales resided for a trip to the observation level on the 89th floor. There’s actually a higher observation level on the 91st floor but it was closed due to weather. The elevator up the 1,258 ft takes only seconds since the 101 boasts a very quick, pressurized lift. Despite the pressurization, my ears had to pop a few times on the way up. The ride was so quick that I didn’t have enough time to get my camera out and record a video, but I was prepared for the ride down. The 89th floor observation level seemed to be right at the cloud level, as I could see some parts of the city while parts further out on the horizon were obscured. This floor boasts a 360 degree view of the surrounding city with another of the 101’s attractions in the middle. The wind dampening system. The view was still spectacular, even though it was slightly obscured by the clouds. The pre-festive decorations and music fortunately did little to detract from the surroundings.
The wind dampening system consists of a 660 metric ton spherical mass hanging from four steel cables. Should the tower sway from wind or earthquake, the inertial mass of the system will dampen the swaying oscillations of the building, preventing it from collapse. The sphere is viewable from two levels, the 89th, and one below accessible by stairs, on the 88th. The 88th floor also houses a gallery of coral and jade treasure, along with high end souvenirs.
The gallery boasted magnificent sculptures carved from enormous solid pieces of ox blood jewel coral and emerald jade. While some of the smaller pieces are for sale, the price puts the items well out the means of normal people. The gift shops inhabiting the 88th floor, while having more reasonable prices than the works of art, still boast high end jewelry. Decorations of red coral, jade, pearl, gold, and diamond glittered in the multitude of cases. The rarity, or perhaps the markup, of the pieces made even the most innocuous looking item beyond immediate reach. Luckily, some smaller items were available for purchase, and I acquired some minor treasure for friends at home. I’ll have to reserve more shopping for locations more at my economic level, unfortunately.
After perusing the lofty treasures of the 88th floor, I took the rapid elevator back down to earth and descended into the basement levels for a bite to eat. Subway would be my dinner tonight and watched with pleasure as the sandwich maker tessellated the triangular slices of cheese on my sub. In America, they overlap the cheese, long side always facing the same direction, creating cheese-less bites. The mayonnaise also tasted different; sweeter with some other flavor. Also, although I ordered a foot long, the individually wrapped the sandwich in six inch sections, which allowed me to save half for later. How convenient.
Fulfilled, I headed back to the quiet apartment. We’ll see if I sleep in with the sound of motor vehicles being far below and my back resting in a softer bed. I hope to see a few more sights in the morning before heading back to my Dad.
Since I have the luxury of using my aunt’s internet connection, I’ll be uploading a backlog of videos I’ve taken over the trip on my YouTube page.
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