Taipei 101, Torrential downpour again, Sogo Department Store, and Shida Night Market

Monday, July 16^th

I woke up excited this morning because it looked like it was a going to be a good weather day.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t as lucky as I had hoped. 

Jackie #2, Kelly and I headed out this morning to Taipei 101.  We decided to walk there and it took us a good hour to get over to East Taipei.  The building is massive.  It is the second largest building in the world behind Dubai’s Burj Khalifa at 508 meters, which is 1,667 feet.  It has 5 underground floors which house fancy stores (think Tyson’s on steroids) and a huge food court that you could get lost in, and 101 floors above ground. 

 

Taipei 101 incorporates many elements of Chinese culture.  It was building to resemble a bamboo stalk and a traditional pagoda.  It was includes Chinese emblems of the ancient coin and the ruyi symbol.  Every emblem has special meanings in Chinese culture and society.  In addition, every night the building is bathed in a different color of the rainbow.

It was also built with a wind damper (don’t really quite understand it) to withstand typhoon winds and earthquakes.

To top it all off, it has the world’s fastest elevator which takes you from the 5^th floor (ground level) to the 89^th floor in 37 seconds!  I felt lightheaded when I got off the elevator. 

Unfortunately, the 91^st floor observation desk was closed to due weather…..a sign we should have seen coming, so we were pretty disappointed but the views from the 89^th floor were amazing of this expansive city. 

The elusive Sun Yat Sen Memorial from Taipei 101

We had lunch at the food court and then were planning on heading to the Sun Yat Sen Memorial, but as we walked towards the doors we could see the rain cascading down in sheets.  I guess if we had to be stuck inside anywhere at least we were in a mall!  We even made our way over to the nearby Sogo Department store via taxi.  It’s unfortunate that we have all these sites to see and keep getting foiled by rain, but we made the best of it and shopped for a little bit before coming back to the hotel for a rest. 

Before making our way home, we did stop by the Hello Kitty Sweets bakeshop for a photo op.  Hello Kitty is definitely popular here.  I mean, I arrived in Taipei on EVA Airlines Hello Kitty plane complete with Hello Kitty pillows, utensils, and everything Hello Kitty you can imagine – even toilet paper! 

The rain finally let up, so Jackie #2, her Mom and I headed over to the Shida Night Market which is famous for its clothing deals. 

On our way there, we ran into a popular food cart with a long line, so it must be good.  A line is always a good sign for any food vendor in this city.  Jackie #2 and I had fried onion pancakes.  It was absolutely delicious.  It tasted more like a thin crispy onion hash brown.  I am sure my description does not do it justice. 

At the market, we had a light dinner of cold udon noodles, seaweed and cucumber.  The seaweed was delicious.  It was marinated in garlic and sesame oil.  I never thought I would like seaweed that much, but I did. 

 

Unfortunately, the weather is not looking promising the rest of the week - 80% chance of thunderstorms, so we are planning on getting an early start so we can check out some outdoor sites before checking out the Paper Museum.