My First Trip to 101 (On April 4.2009)

Where in the World is D?

Today, I’m trying to catch up on his blog when he should be sleeping.

The next several posts with be stuff that I should have written about but either didn’t have the energy or the time.

My First Trip to Taipei was fun. It took mere 3 separate attempts to make it happen, but me and Jess finally managed to get together. (As an aside as I am prone to do, if you’re into cars and racing you seriously need to hangout with Jess; girlfriend has her own RACE CAR. How cool is that!)





Let’s begin with Taipei 101 and a question. Have you ever gotten a LOT of hype about something over an extended amount of time and then when it happened you were, well, a little disappointed. Such was the case with Taipei 101. It is a totally cool building. And only a few years ago was "The Tallest Building in the World." Interesting architecture, upscale shops that I knew existed in the world but have never ACTUALLY seen; Dolce and Gabana is real! Not just something in the movies and TV. But, ya know, there aren’t a lot of really tall buildings in Columbia, MO. There are several in KC and St. Louis. So the idea of this REALLY tall building was kind of exciting. Then I saw it. And as we got closer and closer, all I could think was, “I thought it would be taller.” It’s definitely a MUST SEE in Taiwan and Taipei specifically. The interior design and architecture ARE cool, But if I were King Kong, I don’t know if I would feel a special need to climb up. The next time I’ll go to the observatory at the top. Maybe then I’ll have a better sense of it height. But I didn’t have the extra $400NT to go up.













Speaking of monsters and big buildings, I could resisting doing some Godzilla poses outside of the Bose store. And yes, the people in the store were looking at me like, “What insane asylum did he escape from.” But I will admit to being full fledged Godzilla fan! I can’t explain it, but I love me some Godzilla!














I don’t know the name of the instrument this guy was playing, but he was, say it with me AWESOME!! And if you’re curious, yes, he is blind. I and just about everybody else standing around but some money in his can.










These young people were advertising some new TV show coming out. They totally stayed in character as everybody and their brother took pics.








































These guys …… well…… God bless ‘em…. They were trying really hard. Poppin’ and Lockin’ is BIG, HUGE here amongst young people. Let me throw a quick shout out to Nick Rodriguez in Columbia. These kids could learn a lot from you. They got the heart and passion, but no skill. I suspect that it’s is from the lack of cultural background.






































This is a status of Thomas Edison (yes, I think it looks like Colonel Sanders too.) and Dr. Yuan Tseh Lee. Sorry I don’t know who he is, but he must be important.

















































The monster eating the building was a promo for a online computer game, I think. Or maybe it was just a video game. Oh, Online gaming is also huge here, if you’re into that sort of thing.






















About a block away from 101 is a small piece of U.S. Lady Liberty, get down with your bad self! I have no idea why there is a statue of The Statute of Liberty, but I would be remiss if I didn’t take a picture with it.



























After going to 101 we went to a movie and hung out a bit. I liked Taipei, or at least this part of it. Taipei Country (Metropolitan Area) is huge. Try 10,000,000 people! (according to Wikepedia)

All in all, it was good day.