Damn you, Burj Dubai!
The blue-green bamboo-shaped Taipei 101 used to be the tallest building in the world. But 1,670 feet and the world’s fastest passenger elevator (55 ft/second) just don’t mean what they used to. Taipei 101 was completed in 2003. The Burj Dubai, already taller than Taipei 101, is supposed to be finished in December.
We visited one of the most famous places in Taiwan at sunset, where we took in a stunning 360-degree twilight view of Taipei and its velvety green hills. On the observation deck on the 91st floor, the wind whipped and whistled. Scary. The place has a luxury mall on the bottom 5 floors or so, and financial offices up to floor 101.
And how does one digest a visit to one of man’s great feats of engineering, while pondering the spectacle and hubris of modern civilization? By being forcibly led through a showroom of expensive coral and jade jewelry, of course.
