Taipei 101

So, I headed over to Taipei 101, the world largest building and the site of what my guide book described as Taipeis best food court and a great shopping mall. While I can confirm that the food court was excellent (I had an excellent New York stake for just under £5), I’m afraid I have to warn you that the mall is NOT the right place to look for single-use hiking shoes. It was definitely upmarket, with plenty of Jean-Paul Gaultier, Versaci, Gucci etc. but no £10 roughing-it shoes. The cheapest shoes I found were an outrageous £50.



The mall itself was really impressive. The fourth floor gave way to a massive space that almost gave me vertigo as I looked upwards. It was a really cool feeling as I came up the escalators and was suddenly treated to this splendid experience of space. Speaking of upwards. My neck is still hurting… Walking towards 101 from the underground and looking up at the top of the building- it’s given me a really sore neck. It really is a huge building and you really need to strain your neck to take it all in.



Of course I took the elevator up to the top. from 5th floor to 89th in 37 seconds. A bit disorienting, you walk in close to the ground and you come out to a view of the world similar to what you see from an airplane as you are about to land.



Cool sign in the stairs up to the outdoors observatory on the 91th floor.