Taipei 101

We breezed through customs, grabbed our bags and found our guide with no issues.  Before leaving the airport we checked to see if we won the travellers lottery and walked away with a Easy Card loaded with $5000 Taiwanese dollars (roughly $160 US) that we can use for taxis, the metro and 7-11. An auspicious beginning!

We arrived at our hotel around 7:00 a.m. to drop our bags, and I almost cried when they said we could shower at the sauna. The sauna consisted of lockers, a hot dry sauna, a wet sauna, cold and hot pools, showers, fully stocked dressing tables and more. We all found it heavenly after the 14-hour flight, even if Romi was slightly freaked out by the old naked men.

We headed to the hotel breakfast, and while it was a bit meat- and shellfish-heavy, we found plenty to enjoy, and a few items we didn't recognize. I am in love with steamed milk corn buns.

Clean, happy and fed, we then headed out to master the metro. With the help of the very kind locals, we managed to make our way to Taipei 101. The public transportation here is clean, easy, and cheap! But best of all, it's designed for Kelley-sized people. It was lovely to be able to reach everything.

Our first view from the bottom of Taipei 101 did not disappoint. The building is breathtaking, with beautiful details. 

We got there just as the shops in the lower floors were opening. It is the quintessential bougie shopping mall, complete with Starbucks, but a tad disappointing with a heavy preponderance of watch and jewelry stores. The food court was the most compelling part and even had an upscale grocery store—think Whole Foods but with a robot navigating the aisles hawking stuff to buy.

We eventually made our way over to the observatory, where we were whisked into the elevator and launched up to the 89th floor. It took less than 40 seconds to go up a bit more than 1200 feet. (That's almost a quarter of a mile.) I can't even begin to describe the sensation but that is some seriously impressive technology. The trip lasted less than a minute but we still managed to make friends on the way up with a lovely family visiting from Northern California. (Romi hasn't stopped texting 15-year-old Chloe since they met.)

The views of Taipei are impressive, as are the floor-to-ceiling windows, interactive maps, and tasty pastries in the cafe in the sky. 

We also checked out the magic damper, which keeps the building steady in high winds, storms and earthquakes.

The damper

We got ready to leave, but before we could make it out of the building, a Tucson-monsoon-worthy rain broke out. We wandered the now very crowded food court, even running into our new friend Christbel before finding a bank with the most helpful tellers ever and dashing through the downpour to the metro.

We returned to the hotel to check in and clean up before Shabbat. Our rooms are lovely. They have actual doorbells, and we can play music in the bathroom through the TV.

We are off to celebrate Shabbat as we continue our global exploration of Romi's multifaceted identity!