On Monday, July 6, I went to the Taipei 101 skyscraper, which holds the record for the tallest completed skyscraper in the world. It will give up this record in a few months when the Burj Dubai opens, but that doesn't make it any less impressive. The observatory is on the 88th-91st floors, and it offers an incredible view of the city and the mountains.
A few pictures.. The first two are composites. I've been playing with the photomerge feature in photoshop CS4.
Eastern Taipei.
North Taipei.
Western Taipei. The black arrow points to where I'm living.
Southern Taipei, and the mountains.
View from the street.
While I was in the outside observatory, I overheard a conversation between an American and what I assumed was his Taiwanese girlfriend. I'm guessing they were on vacation, to visit her hometown and tour around the area.
"I dunno. I mean, I like your town, it has culture. But this is just a city. I mean, I live in a city, and I hate it there."First off, if you're on the 91st floor of the tallest skyscraper on earth, then you really don't have the right to complain about anything.
And second, I've heard this argument about cities vs towns or how someplaces have culture and some don't, and it just rings so hollow. This city is full of culture. You probably wont see it from your hotel room, or through the window of a taxi, but I promise its there. Every city has culture. Real culture, not somebody dressed in their grandfather's clothes making clay pots on the side of the road to sell to tourists for ten times what they're worth. Get of of your taxi, walk down the street, cram into the MRT train, go to a temple, buy a bowl of octopus soup from a guy on a street corner. Watch people haggle at a market, or do Tai Chi in the park. There is culture everywhere, its just not wrapped in plastic waiting for you to buy it.
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