Taipei 101

It didn't look that high though....the landmark of Taipei and was the world tallest building from 2004-2010. Oh well there will be somebody taller better bigger. That's life :P

Currently the world 3rd tallest, Taipei 101 is much loved by locals and visitors around.
We were of coz amazed at its constructions and engineering. Every single details were constructed and built based on so many elements to hold it together....really amazing. Why???? coz Taiwan sits in the earthquake zone with the occasional crazy mad typhoons that claimed lives.

weather can take course so suddenly...from sunny hot and dry Taipei....the wind came and almost blew us off. and YES we are heading up there...

hmmm must be the camera angle...suddenly the tower looked 5 stories tall only...bahahahahah.

Taipei 101 is 508m or roughly 1,667 ft, constructed over 3 years it consumed USD 1.8 billion. Wow that's a lot of money but trust me, every single dollars and cent were efficiently spent.


oh dear Monkey, why so serious??? from such a eppy luffing face to this....
coz she's so afraid of heights!!!! abahahahahaha.

Impatience JS just couldnt' stand the line and throngs of tourists, he decided to purchase the Fast Pass. We were told the queue to go up is about 40 minutes. With Fast Pass, u are ushered into the elevator immediately and be the 1st on the queue.

The elevator is the WORLD FASTEST!!! u won't believe it...the ride was so smooth and only 37 seconds just to reach the top. It's not only fast but comfortable bcoz u don't feel any air pressure nor ears popping at all. Really!!! it's even smoother and better than my office lift to the 10th floor!!!! Each elevator cost about USD 2.4 million....-_-....ok okie...

featuring the world's first triple anti over shooting system, state of the art emergency braking system bla bla bla and yada yada yada. With such height, u better invest in the BEST EVER elevators!!! GAH!!!! thinking about it, I think that will be my first and only visit up there.


it's all in the mind~~~~~ I had to sit down for a bit for my legs already turned soft, no longer supporting my weight. yes It's all in the mind. I have this urgency of feel that we are falling and falling and falling and toppling off the edge. Like an old lady, Monkey needed support to walk around the huge space.

JS is the best lah....he knew how to "cure" me....BAHAHAHAH FOOD!!!!!
Taiwan is famous for their Mango shaved iced dessert.

and entertained Monkey
JS: "Hey I can see our home from here!!!"
Monkey -_-"

after much courage, it's my turn to check out our home....hahahaha
but I see a sexay chick......on my right :P
that one we don't need binoculars hahahahahaha

Taipei is huge!!!!
since they can't build high due to earthquakes, they had to spread the city out.

101 is literally the number of floors they have
but why 101 because it's better than 100!!!! hahahaha
it is also the renewal of time....like 1st of January
101 is also used in the binary numeral system in the digital technology

The building looks like a bamboo with 8 segments
bamboo for its growth and continuous learning
some says it also looks like pagoda
watever shape it is, there's a reason why it's divided into 8 segments of "bamboo"
for 8 is the most important number in the chinese history for good fortune and prosperity. Apparently number 8 also signals renewal of time for there's 7 days in each week, and each renewal = 7 + 1
where else for those who doesn't give a damn about feng shui...the number 8 is very important in digital technology too....for 8 bits equal 1 byte

the curled Ruyi symbol is seen everywhere on this tower
it means protection, healing and fulfillment
Ruyi is like a strong talisman in the chinese and Arab culture

I see a rainbow!!!!!!!!

and the other end of the rainbow. Can u see it too?
:))))))))))))

I'm so happy to have rainbows most of the time, esp when we are travelling.

The observation deck at Taipei 101 is from Level 91 to 87
we went up to 91 and it was so windy....basically there isn't much bcoz due to security, the fence is really high. Hence the view from there isn't fantastic.

Level 92 onwards to Level 100 are communication floors. It's like a huge communication tower over Taiwan with broadcast of radio and television....thing is no one knows as at now if there's any companies that broadcast from there...

and Level 101 is even more mysterious....
It was built as a VIP Private Club...until today no one knows, wat is this club about and it's so private that no information has ever been release. Hmmmm.....


The other thing that I sooooo wanted to see....even a structural engineer like JS couldn't stand me!!!

JS: "It's just a huge mass of steel"
Monkey: "I came all the way to see this!!!"

JS: "U r such a weird gal...ppl came here for the view...u came for the damper."
:))))))))))))

compare the size of damper vs the visitors
hanging from floor 92 to 87 all the way down....it weighs a freaking 660 tonne. This huge steel pendulum was built at a cost of USD 4 million. This is the largest sphere damper ever built on EARTH!!!!

My Engineer tour guide JS then explained the functionality of such damper in buildings
"ohhhhh it's such a massive huge damper."
JS: "It's a PASSIVE damper. Passive."
and continued to bla bla bla bla yada yada yada. I learnt so much from this man.

this hanging pendulum/passive damper saved many many lives and this building from earthquakes and typhoon. When the building sways it counters the inertia and offset any movement. There was a video shown on this floor, during the soulik July 2013 typhoon, this huge damper swayed so much it scared the shit outta me.....

"OMG look it almost touches the glass protection on the side."
JS by now was already so accustomed to my inquisitive questions answered me with patience.
"There's legs down there to protect its movement. It will not bang anything on its side my dear."

I was finally satisfied and happy having visited this damper...
yes the damper :P

it's huge u know....5.5 metres in diametre....def bigger than my car!!!!!

then we went down to wait for the sun to set
behind me is the famous haunted Hyatt Hotel. Apparently it's the most haunted hotel in Asia :P

JS left me there and walked over to the hotel and agreed, coz there's too many feng shui elements right in front of the hotel and lobby and by the road to counter all the negative effects. And I don't know where he got the information from *didn't know he's so kepoh* he asked around and it was used to be a burial ground during the world war.

The moment the sun sets at 5.50pm, the lights soon came up at 6.00pm sharp.
Each day there's different color of lights display

Monday = Red
Tuesday = Orange
Wednesday = Yellow
Thursday = Green
Friday = Blue
Saturday = Violet
Sunday = Purple

if u noticed, it's the colors of the rainbow
this spectrum of colors denote new beginnings and connections.

that's how we spent 2.5 hours at the observatory and waited a while for the lights display. Taipei 101 is also a world iconic display of fireworks every year at the struck of 1st January. It must been so lovely :))

I guess we were so fascinated by it, that we booked a hotel with a view of Taipei 101. Hahaha will blog about it soon, coz I made it a point to write bout accommodations that we stayed in...just like my food review.

Happy Monday folks...busy heavy week ahead for Monkey....but she will survive.