I don’t know what it is about tall buildings and tourists but undoubtedly Taipei 101 is one of the top tourist destinations for visitors to Taipei.

Having come to Taiwan with long-term living ambitions, I put off a visit to Taipei 101 for as long as possible. I figured with so much else to see and write about in Taiwan and Taipei 101 not going anywhere, there was no real need to hurry on down to see it.

Earlier this year though I had a visitor from overseas and sure enough, when you’re thinking of what to show a visitor to Taiwan who’s only here for a day… inevitably Taipei 101 makes your shortlist.

So, here it is – a trip to Taipei 101.

Coming in at 101 stories high and 509 meters tall, from a distance Taipei 101 can be clearly seen from pretty much anywhere in Taipei and its surrounding mountains.

Night or day, I’ve more than once used 101 as a landmark to gauge where I am in Taipei if I manage to get lost navigating the mess of windy roads here.

And especially at night, 101 serves as a handy reference point when viewed from any one of the numerous mountains that surround Taipei City.

Throughout the year, marking various cultural holidays in Taiwan and the like, Taipei 101′s nighttime light design also changes each day of the week, indicating that it’s somewhat programmable.

On Double Ten Day for example, 101 displays two + signs at the top of the building (as ++ signifies Double Ten day), and around New Years (both Chinese and western) Taipei 101 displays a rotating message (which was ‘loveheart symbol’ ROC) most recently from memory).

Walking up to 101 it’s easy to feel dwarfed by the sheer size of the building:

Walking inside, you immediately enter a large upmarket shopping area.

Obviously designed to cater to the rich tourists the building owners expect to flock to see 101, personally I found it a little boring. I mean, if you’ve seen the inside of one mall you’ve pretty much seen them all.

Getting closer to the base of Taipei 101 though, architecturally things got a bit interesting.

Nestled in with all the department stores, which are actually built around Taipei 101, you can actually see the building cut through the surrounding mall as it extends five levels underground.

A building within a building if you will.

Following the signage, eventually you make your way to the Taipei 101 ticket desk.

Taipei 101 tickets cost around $450 TWD (~$15 USD) which was a bit on the pricey side, but again Taipei 101 is very much aimed at the more upmarket visitors to Taipei.

Oh, and if you don’t have the cash 101 is one of the few places in Taiwan that is happy to accept credit cards (international or otherwise) too.

Mostly office space, Taipei 101′s indoor observation deck is situated on the 89th floor. To get there, you step inside one of two of what are currently the second fastest elevators in the world (60.6 km/h).

As you go up in one of the $80 million dollar elevators, the above display inside gives you a statistical analysis of your 37 second long journey to the 89th floor.

Once there, you’re free to walk around Taipei 101′s indoors observatory.

Here you can take in the view of Xinyi District and greater Taipei City:

There is some glare problems with the windows here but there are dark enough spots to get a clear view if you hunt around.

Being a financial district Xinyi has some interesting buildings to look at and of course there’s the landmarks of the city itself to try to spot. Each side of the observatory has the direction you’re facing printed on one of the windows so that you can ascertain which way you’re facing.

In the middle of the 89th floor observatory sits the giant Taipei 101 tuned mass damper:

This tuned mass damper (currently the largest in the world) is designed to protect Taipei 101 from typhoon winds and earthquakes.

Moving on, you take two flights of stairs up to the outdoor observatory, located on the 91st floor.

Up here on the 91st floor of Taipei 101, they’re evidently a bit more anal about the rules:

These signs were everywhere and whilst some of them made sense… I wasn’t quite sure why they didn’t want me to lean on their poles.

As you can see, the poles were quite chunky and heavy-duty metal like looking, so I’m not too sure what the fuss was.

Don’t tell anyone… but I did actually briefly lean on the pole to see what would happen. Amazingly Taipei 101 didn’t fall down, although I suppose I might have just been lucky.

I also jumped on the spot once or twice without result, so evidently there’s a bit of give and take with the 91st floor’s strict rules.

As for throwing substances… I guess drug raids must be a common occurrence for outdoor observatory patrons? Not that we had anything on us, but we managed to escape 101 without being searched.

Phew.

Personally I enjoyed the outdoor observatory much more than the indoor one. With big thick panes of glass in the way you kind of feel like what you’re looking at is not quite real.

Out here the views of Taipei City seemed much more real and looking through the giant bars I truly got a sense of being 91 stories up in the sky.

If you feel so inclined, there’s also binocular stations set up,

although personally I felt you didn’t really need them (unless you wanted to try your luck at catching someone nude in one of Taipei City’s numerous apartment blocks).

Looking up from the outdoor observatory was also a nice surprise…

probably a close view as any most people will get of Taipei 101′s glowing upper most spire.

Heading back inside from the outdoor observatory and down a flight of stairs, you walk through this star trek like corridor

before entering the final stage of your Taipei 101 journey,

a walk through a jade statue gift shop.

Stuff here was pretty expensive and I guess mostly geared to rich Chinese tourists who appreciate jade.

Personally I felt a little annoyed having to walk through the area (which is quite large) but I suppose they have to recoup the $1.6 billion it cost to build Taipei 101 somehow.

After the jade statues it’s another elevator ride down to the ticketing floor (don’t worry, the elevators are pressurized so your head doesn’t explode when your ears pop).

And there you have it, a visit to Taipei 101.



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