Taipei - Day 3

Disclaimer: This was written after a long day, late at night, by some one whose writing is, under normal circumstances, not very good. Read with caution and understanding.

So, if it were not for this blog, I would be sleeping right now...But since this blog must me updated, endure.Alright, today was another great day in Taipei! Today consisted off going to Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraperin Taiwan, and, of course, more night mraket stuff.Taipei 101 is about fifteen or twenty minutes away from where we are staying. We took the metro down to the TaipeiCity Hall stop. We walked the rest of the way, about 10 minutes, to T101. We got there around 10:00am. Since it wasSaturday, everything was just barely starting to open when we got there, it was bustling around 11:00 though. Thefirst thing we did was be tourists, and go up to the highpoint in the building. So, after paying an exorbidant entryfee, we sailed up in what is the world's fastest elevator to the 98 floor in 37 seconds, reaching a max speed of 1100m/m
The view was quite nice! Unfortunantly, the day was not as clear as it could have been, but it was still amazing. Therewas also a coral exhibit going. So, there were some amazing carvings on display. After all of that, we headed down into the basement to get some lunch. We ended up having some soup, fried rice, and a juice drink. One thing about Taiwan is that pure water is precious. The water has bacteria and whatever else in it, so it must be purified or boiled before we can drink it. So, restaurants serve tea for the most part, and if they give you water, it is in a tiny little shot glass. Becuase of that, we have learned to drink juices and tea...
After lunch, we wandered around the mall for around two hours. This is a world mall, so all of the big names you would expect to find, along with their big prices, were there. There were no real local shops there, only name brand stuff. We didn't buy anything. After window shopping around, we had a little desert and headed back home.
After some rest, we went out to a different night market. This market was waaaay more crowded than the one we have gone to for the past two nights. There were two parts to it, the inside "food court," and the many shops on the roads. We had dinner in the food court place. Unlike the open air market, this food place was all inside a building. So, ontop of the already hot and humid climate, we went into a non-airconditioned building jamed full of heat producing bodies... After wandering around for a little bit, we ended up at a place where they cook your food infront of you (a stir fry of sorts, with meat and some vegitables) and you eat it with rice. That was very good, but we could not wait to get outside into some fresh air!
Out side we went to quite a few shops along the main streets. Danny found an airsofting place with all sorts of guns on display. That was the first non-girl oriented shop we have been to bassically. Looking around was pretty cool, as all the guns have full trademarks (there aren't many laws about stealing trademarks in Taiwan) and looked just plain awesome. After that interlude, we set out in search of a hair salon for Katherine (she has been wanting to get her hair cut for the past three days). After a while (it seems everything happens after awhile) we found a salon and Katherine and my Mom went to get her hair cut. Dad, Danny, and myself wandered around outside for the time being.
This is seeming pretty long, so, to make a long story a little bit longer, Katherine got her hair cut, and we all went back to our apartment and went to bed. The End.
I think I'll be able to get some videos up tomorrow, so I'll let them do the describing of the night market. Suffice to say though, they are crazy!



Us infront of Taipei 101












A few from the top.












Here is one fo the carvings. The detail and artwork are just so amazing.














Another carving. This one is of the Great Wall.














The family infront of some tourist wall.














Inside the mall. There are a few levels below that you cannot see in this picture. It was really cool to look down all the levels inside.













Art at it's best.














This was a cool chamber. There were projectors on the ceiling, and mirrors on the walls.














Taipei 101 from the outside.




















Part of the atrium of T101.



















Another view inside. You can kinda get a feel for the height here.

Inside the Metro. Anyone for broadsiding?