It’s not particularly attractive. In fact I find it almost ugly.

But it is striking.

And it is tall.

Very tall.

You can’t miss it.

Unless of course the weather is like this

Which it is for 5 days.

And we are only in Taipei for 6 days.

But on the 6th day, the sky clears, and there it is.

Its known as Taipei 101.

Built in 2004, it was the world’s tallest building for 6 years.

It has 101 floors, hence the clever name!

It is 1,666 feet tall

That’s just a few feet shy of 1/3rd of a mile.

And for less than $10 you can go to the top, assuming that is something you want to do.

We do. We have been waiting for 5 days to do just that.

Standing on the sidewalk at the foot of the building gives you a whole new perspective

Inside, the first 4 floors are filled with what must be one of the world’s most luxurious shopping malls outside of Dubai. We haven’t come to shop, but the only way to the 5th floor and the elevators to the top of 101 is through the mall. These damn Taiwanese are smarter than they look.

The most expensive stores are only accessible by a drawbridge

You can’t even window shop without crossing that bridge. And if you attempt to, and don’t look suitable, they open the bridge and you plummet down to the ground floor where the cheap shops are. (Ed:Taiwanese Squid Games!)

The elevator takes us to the 88th floor in just over 30 seconds. It travels at 37.7 miles an hour. Fortunately there is absolutely no sense of that speed. All you notice is that your ears pop.

Once at the top the views are incredible

We are so high up we can see the men in the moon

And what men they are!

There is no need to send in your comments!!

It is spectacular until you wonder what would happen if there was an earthquake!

Or just high winds.

The answer is………

It might look like a stylish gold globe – but it is so much more.

It is a 660 ton steel pendulum ball. 18 feet tall, it takes up three floors while the entire mechanism takes up 6 floors. It can reduce the movement of the building in high winds or an earthquake by 40%. It does that by swinging up to 5 feet in the opposite direction to the movement of the building.

There are models, demonstrations, fact sheets and a movie all explaining exactly how it works, but it takes someone way smarter than me to understand it.

All I can think of is how much I don’t want to be standing where I am standing when the 660 ton ball of iron starts swinging in my direction!

……………………………….

Tomorrow we leave Taipei and Taiwan. We have loved this small beautiful island and the delightfully friendly people who are always smiling. They remain so cheerful despite living with the constant threat of a Chinese Invasion. The offical name of this island is the Republic of China (ROC). But everyone we have spoken to has told us that they want it be called Taiwan. They are Taiwanese. They are not, and never want to be, Chinese.

I wish for them, what they wish for themselves. They must not become Chinese. It would be the end of Formosa, “the beautiful island”

And with that dear readers, I leave you until our next great adventure. And I leave you with this one photo. A photo that will always remind me of the joy of Taiwan