Tuesday, February 25, 2014

We ♡♡♡ Taipei Part 2

Taipei 101 (臺北101 / 台北101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a landmark skyscraper located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan.

The building ranked officially as the world's tallest from 2004 until the opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010. In July 2011, the building was awarded LEED Platinum certification, the highest award in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system and became the tallest and largest green building in the world!!

Taipei 101 was designed by C.Y. Lee and Partners (nothing to do with C.Y.Leow ;)) and constructed primarily by KTRT Joint Venture. The construction was finished in 2004. The tower has served as an icon of modern Taiwan ever since its opening.

Fireworks launched from Taipei 101 feature prominently in international New Year's Eve broadcasts and the structure appears frequently in travel literature and international media. - Wikipedia.

We were dropped in front of the Taipei 101 entrance by our free hotel van. The iconic skyscraper is so blooming tall that I was happy that I brought my Lumix 7-14 ultra-wide zoom along! You are out of luck getting the whole tower with your point n shoot, the lens is just not wide enough ;)

Seeing our desperate attempts to take a selfie together, a Taiwanese came over and offered to take a shot for us!  That is the beauty of Taiwan, the last two days we met so many helpful and courteous locals; reason number one for loving Taiwan! 

2, the place is so so clean, you notice local actually walk a distance to dispose of a small piece of a paper wrapper in the bin!

3, Taiwanese are so conscious of recycling, there are two thrash cans everywhere in the shopping area; one for recycle able waste!


 4, public toilets are very clean and they do not dispose of toilet paper in the flush bowl; there is a stainless steel bin for that :)

5, the large toilet for wheel chaired and seniors on walking sticks are absolutely spotless, able locals will not use these facilities; unlike NZ where I find young and mobile Kiwis occupying these toilets all the time!!

"Use less paper, save a tree." and a toilet seat sterilizing liquid dispenser in the public toilet. Most signs and instructions are in Chinese, bad luck if you cannot read Chinese; I have no problem ;)  But before you started pointing fingers, how many signs in NZ includes Chinese?  ;)


There are plenty of shops inside the 101 arcade, but virtually all are expensive branded stuff which we have no interest in. The only shop that I find intriguing is Liuligongfang, Liuli Gongfang or Liuligongfang (琉璃工房) is Taiwan's only contemporary glass studio devoted to the artistic Chinese glassware. Since its establishment in 1987 Liuligongfang has become known in Asia and abroad for its outstanding artistic endeavours and its high standard of craftsmanship.

I wish I can have more shots of their work but I was told photography are NOT allowed inside the shop ;)

That Buddha glassware cost NT$450,000 (NZ$17,783)!

We did not go up to the observatory floor of 101 because the ticketing lady inform us that being a very cloudy day, we are not going to see anything; talk about courteous! Kudos!



There are plenty of other shopping malls opposite the 101, the red coloured building is the famous Japanese shop Shin Kong Mitsukoshi.

What interest us more is their huge food court inside 101!! And their large varieties of Taiwanese food!



So what did we eat at the 101 food court?

I had something that I last had forty years ago! My dear dad's favorite too! Thick, juicy pieces of pork kidney in sesame soup!  The Q at that stall is so long I was given a vibrating pager to wait for the ready signal!


Twenty minutes later, it was ready to pick up!

Was it yummy?  You bet!  The big bowl of kidney cost NT$340 (NZ$13.50).

Le General had the Hainanese chicken rice, nothing to shout about; I think I can do better ;)

A candid shot at the Taipei 101 food court :)

Food In Taipei...

Delicious and cheap cooked food are everywhere in Taipei! 

We find plenty of simple but tasty and nutritious meal just by walking down the street where our hotel is!

A short walk from our hotel, we noticed this compact "Railway Rice Hall" and were served cooked rice with a stewed drumstick, egg, beancurd, 3 type of vegetable and a slice of Chinese salami; all in a thin recycled wooden box. For the price of NZ$3.00, you also get a bowl of self served soup and a bottle of mineral water!  I am speechless!  Le General have a slice of fish fillet instead of chicken, same miserable NZ$3.00!  Great value!!!!!

Or how about this spread of all vegetarian dishes at a small shop not far from the Long Shan Temple?  Yummy and super healthy, all for NZ$5.00!!

Or this two serving of flat rice noodles with minced pork and  accompanied by a plate of stewed pig's ear, seaweed, eggs and firm bean curd for NZ$4.00!

Even ready cooked food, like these stewed pork shanks for NZ$11.00 at the upmarket SOGO food court!

I hereby declared Taipei as our favorite FOOD HEAVEN!!

Taipei Part 3 - Incredible Shilin Night Market!

1 comment:

Simon Gotlieb said...

So exotic and wonderful. Thanks for taking me on a virtual holiday CY!