Spirit in the Sky

I can now say that I have been to Taipei. I haven't "officially" been here this whole time, because I hadn't yet visited Taipei 101. Today, I did. I had to take the MRT to get there, and I even had to make a transfer, (ooh exciting!), but everything went smoothly. Even when I left the MRT station and had to walk a couple of blocks to 101, I managed to do so without getting lost, (surprise surprise). I even got to take some really cool pictures of the incredible buildings in the area.

Some robot sculptures in a small park

A stone lion outside of the
Taipei Discovery Center

  However, my fabulous map reading skills can only take partial credit for that achievement. The real reason that finding the building from the MRT station was so easy is because it is so tall.

Adjoining Taipei 101 is a large mall:

It is from the mall, that one can gain access to the famous elevator that reaches the observation deck.

This is the fastest elevator in the world

This is a screen inside of the elevator that
 showed how quickly we were ascending

The elevator goes all the way
up to the 89th story in 40 seconds

  The elevator is designed with a pressure equalizer to lessen the effects of the rapid pressure change, but even so, an automated voice told everyone to "swallow to release pressure in your ears" as we ascended.

There is this cool LED light display on the ceiling of the elevator

Once at the top, I was given access to a free audio guide, and told to walk in a clockwise direction around the observation floor to follow along. I have been to the top of the Empire State Building, so when they said "observation deck" I pictured a small balcony with a high fence, and having to elbow my way to the guardrail just to see an underwhelming view and be unable to take pictures because of said fence. Boy, was I wrong. This was completely different. They had opened up the entire 89th floor, and filled it with gift shops, and cafes, and informational displays. Then they replaced the exterior walls with picture windows. You could stay up there taking pictures as long as you wanted, and there were even displays on two other floors that you could see. The tickets to go up to the observation deck cost about $15 US, but I think that it was well worth it. 

Here is an example of one of the informational displays
Most of the tour consisted of Taipei's history

This is a design feature that is on all four
of the exterior corners of the tower

Here is one of the cafes

The observation deck

A display discussing the various design aspects of the building

Then, you could go to the 91st floor to go outside on an observation deck that is more like the Empire State Building's definition of the word. 

Here is the top of the building as seen from the top of the building

See, observation deck

THEN, you could go down to the 88th floor, to see the building's damper. The damper is what prevents the building from swaying too much in high winds or during earth quakes. (side bar: Taiwan is a volcanic island, and it sees a lot of seismic activity throughout the year. Most of the earthquakes are very small, and are easy to miss. There was actually a small earthquake my first week here, but I completely missed it. My cousin's told me later, and I was so bummed that I had been unaware of it's occurrence  Two days ago however, there was another small earth shake and I was awake to feel it. It was very subtle, like standing at the connection point between two train cars while the train gently takes a curve. It was a neat experience.) This damper is the only one in the world that is on display for the public to see. Most dampers are built inside of buildings and only accessed for maintenance. Please enjoy this informational video that I filmed on my camera for you:

                                 

Here are some pictures of the 88th floor and the damper!

The damper has a few mascots called the
 "Damper Babies" so they are everywhere.
They were the things that narrated the video.

This was a hallway that had an LED screen, or something in
 the floor and down one wall. It kept changing to show scenery from all over Taipei

The other wall was lined in mirrors. Selfie Time!!

Here is the damper in all of its massive glory

Look at the size of those cables

the pistons

Further explanations of a damper

I have enjoyed sharing Taipei 101 with you all, and I hope you enjoyed it as well.