Growing up by the Sears Tower, yes I will never ever call it Willis Tower, I am very critical of architecture and skyrises. It’s hard to compete when you live near what was once the tallest building in the world. Taipei has that same clout that Chicagoans have surrounding their building, Taipei 101. Taipei 101 stands tall against the short sky line of Taipei. Situated close to fault lines and the large amount of magma close to the surface, Taipei 101 is an anomaly and represents so much more than Taiwan’s international business sector. Taipei represents its independence from China and its strength as a developed island.
Why am I going on a long tangent about what Taipei 101 means for Taiwan you may ask? Well I finally took the trip to the top on Valentine’s Day because there was finally clear enough weather to make the trip worth it. I had been putting it off knowing I really only wanted to pay for the 30$ USD trip once. It really couldn’t be that much different from the top of the Sears Tower with its glass boxes off the side of the building to look down. Going to the top of the building was a little departure from our plans of a picnic and reading in park, but I was all for it.
First of all when we did get to Taipei 101 I was surprised. I had only passed through the lowest level of the mall that is situated at its base. To get to the entrance of the observation ticket area you have to go through 4 floors of the mall. My college was near King of Prussia, a well known mall for its high end labels outside Philadelphia, but it has nothing on Taipei 101’s mall. You walk through an atrium with a skylight that is maybe 3 floors in of itself filled with stores boasting of Burberry, Dior and Courtier. The center of the atrium had a plane you can rent a ride on this fake plane in which an attendant will serve you as if you were on a private plane while a professional photographer takes your picture for an hour. They even photoshop the windows to appear to be in the sky. I thought the even idea of such a thing was a riot brought by the love of Instagram.
The Dior Store was my favorite, but I can't say I'd never buy the "private plane" because I am seriously curious how that works out
At the ticket booth I was faced by another surprise, the ticket prices. The price board was in English, Chinese, and Japanese. It was all clear. Children was x amount, adults 600$ NTU (30$ in the US), and then there was another option called studio 360. Studio 360 sounds fancy and the price backed that up, it was 100$ USD or a whopping 3,000 in New Taiwanese dollars. I couldn’t find what it was. I was reading all the fine print and nothing. I was having fun thinking off all the ideas of what studio 360 could be to warrant being priced like that. I was convinced it was just a souvenir picture of some sort on the top because people here would definitely pay for it. I found out only later through pictures advertising the opportunity that it was the chance to go on the outside of the building on the roof, hooked up obviously. I actually am considering that. Being able to say you have been on top of a building like that is a ten times better experience than paragliding which you can do anywhere with mountains. I also feel like it’s a little safer because you can’t have a news headline: Fulbright ETA from the US falls to her death off of the top of Taipei 101. That would just be bad press on their part.
We took the elevator up to the observation floor and it took only 38 seconds to reach the top. My ears were popping the entire way. That in of itself was an impressive industrial feat which made the visit worth it. The floor to ceiling windows showed the mountains surrounding the whole city. It was interesting looking down and seeing the areas in which new development has taken place versus areas of dilapidated tile looking buildings, representing pre-developed Taiwan. It was also interesting to see the souvenir shops at the top boast of “aboriginal” crafts by the different tribes. For all the years of hardship from the government, which is still ongoing as the Bunun tribe still doesn’t have legal rights over their ancestral land, they still take the opportunity to commodify the culture.
There were two parts of the observation deck that sets Taipei apart from Chicago: the ball and the drinks. The Sears Tower dates back to 1970 (pretty recent when you think about it), and the architecture displays that in its box like creation. Taipei 101 got creative. As a result of common earthquakes (both big and small) and typhoon winds, typically buildings were built shorter, closer to the ground to act against the moving ground. Taipei 101 uses a ball that offsets any and all changes in the ground, swinging back and worth usually in small movements. Unlike other buildings that employ this form of technology, Taipei 101 made their ball on display, a part of the art of the building. So not only does the building depict the strong nature of bamboo in its design, but it has a large gold ball that it beautiful and strong. I think Sean and I spent 30 minutes watching the video that had playing on loop depicting different weather events and its past impact on the movement of the ball and just staring at it as it stayed relatively still on the clear day.
Failed attempts to take selfies with the ball because when we asked a fellow tourist they never pushed the camera shutter button enough so we have no real photos- probably the first time it wasn't something lost in translation, but was just a mistake
Yes, I did a photoshoot with the bubble tea I got and annoyed Sean as I snapped pictures of his food as I tried "patiently" to wait for him to finish eating (trying being the key word)
To exit Taipei 101’s observation deck they force you to walk through a jewelry store using only coral in its design, really Sean’s hell. Having researched coral, he found it absolutely painful to see all the pieces on display. Then you walk through a nice café/bar area where we stopped for a drink, or in the case of Sean- a noodle dish. I got what was called the Royal Bubble Milk Tea and when I say it was solely created for social media, I am not lying. It came out in a large goblet like cup with a puff of cotton candy on top symbolizing the clouds surround building. I have to say Taipei has the photographical moments down to a science.
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