Taipei's Night View from Taipei 101
We are finally going to the landmark of Taiwan, Taipei 101. Yeay!!
I know it can be considered a sin not to visit the landmark of a country when you are living in the country but late is better than never right? Hehehe. Fyi, with the latest MRT line, you don't have to walk from Taipei City Hall station to Taipei 101. Simply alight at Taipei 101 Station. Cool!!
Did you know that Taipei 101 is used to be the world's tallest building? It was beaten by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai though. If you notice, whenever there is a new year celebration, fireworks are always launched from Taipei 101.
Taipei 101 serves as shopping mall, financial centre, office and observatory tower. Since we are here mainly to see the night view of Taipei city, we proceeded to level 5 directly. There are signs everywhere inside the mall so you will not get lost.
The ticket for the observatory tower costs us NTD 400 with student ID. It costs NTD 500 for non-students though. Yes, it's pretty expensive.
But the expensive cost did not deter tourists from coming to the observatory though. As a matter of fact, we were queuing for nearly two hours. Oh my legs. O_O!
At the end of the line, you will ride the fastest elevator in the world. You will be transported from level 5 to level 89 in 37 SECONDS!!! If you don't believe me, you can count inside the elevator. In fact, if I remember correctly, there is an indicator of time inside the elevator.
37 seconds later...
Awesome night view of Taipei, right?? ^^
You must make sure the weather is not raining or foggy when you are visiting Taipei 101 though. Wait, we all know that there are a lot of typhoons (in the summer) and earthquakes in Taiwan. But, why are they still insist on building a skyscraper?
If you happen to be up here and there is an earthquake or typhoon, you don't have to worry because Taipei 101 is designed to withstand the earthquake tremor and typhoon winds. Thanks to this steel pendulum (which is also known as the mass-damper). This pendulum is hanged from the 92nd to the 87th floor.
The damper has become Taipei 101's mascot too, in different colors!! Hahaha. They do look cute.
Gonna close off this post with a picture of Taipei 101 during night time. Yup, it's fully lit up at night. =)
