Day 36: Deja View

DID: Spent the afternoon at the top of Taipei 101 Building. The WHOLE afternoon, in spite of the super fast ride up in the world’s fastest elevator (30 seconds to the 85^th floor). Lots of fun up there, in addition to the Chinese paparazzi who did play their usual part in slowing us down. Not the scary, stomach flipping dizziness of the Bottle-Opener Building in Shanghai - this one has a lot more open space, the windows are not quite floor to ceiling and no glass floor. There was a puppet making workshop, we got to make these little crowns out of paper flower petals. Tons of photo ops naturally, also lots of info for me to read on the building’s LEED certification (sustainability credentials). Is it me or should they get negative points on their certification for having the entire building lit up at night with the words ‘LEED’ and ‘Green On’?!

Then up to the 91^st floor for the outdoor viewing platform. 91 floors apparently not high enough for one kid who was climbing up the barrier around the platform (would you believe it was a security guard and not the parents who finally yelled at him to get down?!)

More to do on the 84^th floor but we didn’t stop as it had already been 3 hours and the pool at Scott’s was beckoning. Spent an hour splashing around and then headed out for dinner and a visit to the night market (see ATE). Had to call it an early night (at midnight!) in anticipation of taxi’s 5am arrival to take us to the airport.

ATE: Breakfast @ Mudon. Jason watched as they made eggs with ‘dashi’ (Japanese fish-based powder), steamed dumpling bread, and fermented bean paste (Taiwanese vegemite?) Potato-guava salad on the side. The boys got vanilla cake.

Lunch @ Taipei 101 food court. Another tall building, another meal at Din Tai Fung for me! Soup dumplings had the same flavor but not the same delicate texture as the Shanghai restaurant. Fried rice was good. Boys had a special meal – happy meals from McD’s. Jason had a chicken noodle soup and prawn tempura.

Dinner @ Taiwan Beer Brewery. Hofbrau Haus Taiwan style, complete with great bbq sausages and people dancing on wooden tables. Birthday group at the table next to us was there to p-a-r-t-y. Rhys was stage diving, Gavin was singing to Black Eyed Peas covers.

Post-dinner @ Raohe St night market. Jason (and Scott) finally had stinky tofu. It is so rancid, I don’t know how they managed it. They said it was good with the addition of chili sauce, but not so good that they would seek it out again. We were so ripe after the experience that we ALL had to take showers back at the hotel.