Most people know little about the beautiful leaf-shaped island of Taiwan. It doesn’t occur to many people to visit Taiwan. It is the most underrated tourist destination. All these years of living in the Philippines, with Taiwan being our closest neighbour in the north, it never was on top of my travel list. 

Back in 2013, we bought plane tickets to visit my husband’s twin brother who lives in Taiwan. We decided not to push through with it because we got lazy. We were thinking, there’s nothing to see, nowhere to go?! Boy, were we wrong! What was I thinking?!

Last September 2014, we finally decided to finally celebrate their birthday in Taipei. My parents and my sister joined us on this trip as this was their first visit too. We were lucky to have my brother-in-law take care of us while in Taiwan. All I had was a list of places I wanted to see and restaurants I wanted to try.

We stayed in the Ximending area. Ximending is the mecca of youth culture. It is a modern night market  popular for shopping especially for limited edition shoes.

On our first day, we went to Taipei 101. The building was officially classified as the world’s tallest in 2004, and remained such until the opening of Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010. Towering above the city like the gigantic bamboo stalk it was designed to resemble, Taipei 101 is impossible to miss. 

This is the view from the indoor observatory.

Getting to the observatory was a thrill in itself. The “Ferrari” of elevators is located in Taipei, Taiwan, inside the Taipei 101 building. The 509-metre-high Taipei 101 zooms passengers from the fifth floor to the 89th floor in only 37 seconds, travelling at 60.6 km/h or 1,010 metres per minute. Each of these two high-speed elevators cost more than $2 million (U.S.).

As soon as the elevator door closes, the lights go off and you’ll be in total darkness. Stars and comets appear on the ceiling.

Before you exit, you’ll pass through the Treasure Sky Showroom— the highest jewelry store in the world.

The Tallest Gemstone Coral in the World. The coral tree is 131cm wide and 141cm tall retrieved from 200m below sea level in northeast of Taiwan. It takes gemstone coral 10 years to grow 1cm.

Admission Fee:
Adult – NT$450
Children – NT$400 under 12 years old
Child under 115cm is complimentary (should be accompanied by adult)
Group Ticket – NT$400 (for 20 persons or more)
Note: Should be made by 17:00h the previous day and no same day sale for Group ticket.

Operating Hours:
9am to 10pm daily
Last ticketing & entry: 9.15pm
Operating hours during holidays are subject to change.

 

Taipei 101 Observatory

89Floor, No.7, Hsin Yi Rd Sec. 5, Taipei 110 

Ticket Booth & Entrance are located at the 5th floor of the Taipei 101 Shopping Mall

Telephone: +886 – 2 -8101-8899  

Website: Taipei-101.com.tw