Taipei

Taipei

I had a few days to spend in Taipei by myself before Kristen would arrive. So naturally, I need to go find cool stuff to do. Something I am GREAT at.
I would like to add a side note...I slept in almost every day. I thought that after my 5:30am wake-ups in Thailand that I have turned into a morning person. Not true, I slept in almost every day while in Taipei.

Day #1

I went to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall.

Me in front of the main gate for Chiang Kai-Shek

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall

GIANT bronze statue of Chiang Kai-Shek

When I say giant I mean it. I would liken the size of it to the size of the Zeus statue in the movie Hercules. If you do not understand this reference, I feel sad for you. Inside the building was a wonderful space that held exhibitions, classrooms and the CKS museum. I stumbled upon an exhibition of handmade dolls, they were just adorable. Each piece had so much detail in it, I was in such awe. Sadly pictures were not allowed. 

I snuck this photo

On the bottom floor of the hall was the CKS museum. It was very well done, I even learned something. Chiang Kai-Shek started out as a general in the Chinese army. He led China in many wars. A civil war broke out between the Chinese Nationalists and the Communists. The communists won and he retreated to Taiwan during the Chinese civil war and ruled Taiwan as the President of the Republic of China until his death. 

A pano shot of his office. This is an exact duplicate of his office and even uses original furniture. The time on the clock is set to 11 o'clock, because that is the time that he died. 

While walking through the exhibit I realized that I must be a special kind of stupid, because I had forgotten to eat all day and I was pretty hungry. So, I left and went to find some food. On my way back to the metro...because I am not in a hurry to get anywhere and I should stop to smell all of the roses; I stopped to watch a man feeding the squirrels. I then came across a beautiful pond with some fish and birds just hanging out. There too, I stopped. I saw a giant golden fish statue, so I went to investigate. 

This golden fish dispensed fish food for 10NT (25NT=1CAD$)

So I decided to feed the fish too. This place was still in the gardens of the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. I could have continued to explore that place for a while, but I wanted to see more things.

Taipei 101

Taipei 101

Taipei 101 was the tallest building in the world until 2010. It has a Guinness world record for the fastest passenger elevator. Less than 40 seconds to the top.

I did not take a video of the elevator going up, so I pulled this from youtube. It's crazy how fast it goes.

It is famous for its use of the wind damper, which helps to stabilize the building during strong winds and earthquakes. Being that this is Asia, they have turned the damper into a cute thing...

                                

View from the 89th floor

You wouldn't know it, but that is Taiwan in the background