Even without an alarm, we start off early-ish (for us) as we’re both really excited to see more of Taipei after our taster session yesterday evening. We’ve got a little itinerary through the centre of town planned today, culminating in a visit to the Taipei 101 tower - something that I’ve wanted to do ever since I first learnt about the building through the Artemis Fowl series. First though, we head towards the old Wanhua district for a bit of general sightseeing - an easy walk from our central location right next to the main station.
It’s a slow, enjoyable stroll as we are still revelling in the Taiwanese pedestrian amenities, and enjoying every Chinese sign and cute shrine. We walk next to a picturesque brick building, the Bopiliao Historical Block, a preserved reconstruction of an old trading hub - unfortunately it’s closed on Mondays (like a few other things here) and we can only peer over the barriers. On our way, we stop at a recommended breakfast spot for some traditional pastries, which turn out to be dry and rather disappointing: we obviously didn’t pick the right shop! The bao bun and sausage on a stick from next door are delicious though. On that same street, we spot a covered market entrance and duck in for a quick look. Most stores are still closed but the shutters lining the passageway are prettily decorated, and the few open shops bring light and interest - it’s a nice quiet peek into local culture as we spot a massage parlour with a few early patrons getting their backs sorted.
We finish our underwhelming pastries on the esplanade in front of Longshan temple, one of the oldest temples in Taipei, before going in. The building is gorgeous, and slightly incongruous in the middle of the city, its intricate tiled roofs full of carved dragons providing a colourful contrast to the tall apartment blocks surrounding it. As we walk in, we are greeted by two pretty water features on each side of the front courtyard - but the real spectacle is the many pavilions in the complex, all beautifully decorated and painted. We walk around admiring the pagoda roofs, the little shrines, huge bronze bells and giant painted lanterns, soaking in one of the grandest Chinese-style temples we’ve seen since Penang, Malaysia.
Once Ollie manages to drag me away from this red and gold bonanza, we continue through the town, to a different neighbourhood this time: our next stop is the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial hall. The Generalissimo is an important figure here, as the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan and retained it while mainland China passed to Mao and the communist party. We’ve heard rumours of the monument’s grandeur, and indeed as we approach it’s hard to not feel dwarfed by the gigantic Liberty Square Arch framing the entrance. In striking white and blue and covered in carvings, the gate feels like it touches the clouds - especially if like today they are quite low! With the beautiful red and green pavillons of the National Theatre in the background, it’s quite an awe-inspiring sight, and brings back echoes of the mythical Asia that pops up in European fiction.
After suitable goggling, we enter the square itself, and begin the long approach to the memorial proper - a gigantic building sitting at the top of a flight of endless stairs. The climb up forces a slow pace, but we get lovely views back towards the gate and square as we go. The building on the other hand is literally too big to see this close up! A huge opening lets us into an immense square room hosting a large statue of the man himself. More interesting however (and drawing a crowd) is the changing of the guards ceremony that we accidentally stumbled on with perfect timing. In crisp navy and white uniform, two new guards are coming in relieve the ones currently guarding the Generalissimo, under the direction of their commandant. As you’d expect, there’s a lot of military pomp and very codified marching around - but what we weren’t prepared for is a whole session of synchronised gun-twirling (quite literally) to mark the change! It’s a very different concept of what a threatening soldier would look like than what we have, but maybe it’s better that way.
Quite delighted at the spectacle, we head back down the many steps and start our journey towards Taipei 101. It’s now lunchtime, and we were hoping to find a hole-in-the-wall, or some street food, but we’re obviously in the wrong neighbourhood. Not to worry - we happen to walk right past Michelin-starred dumpling specialists Din Tai Fung. There’s a crowd in front of the restaurant, but with characteristic Taiwanese efficiency they have set up a sleek electronic queue which lets you know on your phone how long you have left to wait. The pessimistic attendants tell us it should be about an hour, and so we head over to the nearby Daan park to while away the time. But luckily, we end up only waiting half that duration before being summoned back to get in - a good thing since the park wasn’t that fascinating!
The restaurant is a multi-storey industry, but as we’re now at the tail-end of lunchtime, we end up getting a whole little wood-panelled dining room to ourselves. With free delicious tea refills, we’re off to a good start even before tasting Din Tai Fung’s specialty, xiao long baos: small pork dumplings filled with stock as well as meat. They are, as advertised, very tasty - and so are the many side dishes we indulge in, for a total cost of less than £30. Unbeatable value for money for a Michelin restaurant!
Stuffed full, we start again towards the skyscraper - it looks like we timed our lunch perfectly to avoid a little downpour as well, which is good as Taiwan is much, much colder than Vietnam. Luckily, there’s a metro line straight there, and we got local electronic travel cards the minute we arrived (following many travel blogs recommendations). We are certainly being consistently amazed by how sleek, efficient and straightforward every little bit of infrastructure in Taiwan is - after the chaos of South-East Asia it’s an incredible contrast. Here everything seems to always work perfectly, with minimal hassle - even for clueless tourists like ourselves!
After just a few stops, we arrive directly under the tower - and following a fruitless attempt to take it in from the ground (it’s just too tall!) we head towards the entrance to the observation deck. We hesitate a bit before going up: as with most skyscrapers, there’s a fairly steep fee to get in, and it’s certainly not the best day for the view between the low clouds and the continuing drizzle. But really the main thing I wanted to see was the tower’s balancing system: the tuned mass damper, an impressive bit of engineering that’s only on show in a select few locations - and crucially, is inside the building. Up we go then, and although the view is indeed misty, from that height, it’s still rather impressive. Taipei stretches away to the limit of our view - although there’s a big forested hill right next to us.
The observation deck is full of set-up instagram spots - and we have fun trying a few of them, from pink angel wings, to rainbow flower arches, to life-size, roaring lion plushie. Finally, it’s time to head to the heart of the tower: the tuned mass damper. This is a massive, 660 tons steel pendulum suspended from the building. When Taipei 101 is subject to sideways pressures, in strong winds or earthquakes, the swing of the pendulum helps counteract any movement. While most skyscrapers have dampers this is one of the very few open to visitors - and while thankfully we’re here on a still day, there’s very impressive videos of the damper in action swinging more than one meter during a recent typhoon.
Back at the foot of the tower, we can’t resist browsing the very fancy adjoining mall - and we do find a couple more cold-weather items we still needed. We get out at nightfall, and once more Taipei comes to life with pretty lighting in the streets and on the buildings. Our skyscraper in particular is quite striking and we make sure to get enough distance to actually admire it this time. A short jaunt on the underground and we’re back at the main station - just in time to grab a bento box from one of the many food stores in the main hall. That’s dinner sorted, and for a cheap, on-the-go meal designed for commuters, it’s unexpectedly delicious - a happy conclusion to a fulfilling day.
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