The news last evening and this morning kept reminding us of the approaching typhoon called 玉兔台风 or Jade Rabbit that is expected to pass by Taiwan from Guandao. Therefore some rain and storms are expected. It suddenly connected to me when I wrote this piece of news on my notebook that I had eaten a rabbit bun for breakfast at Debao Hotel and was gushing about how cute the white and pink bunny was. How symbolic was that? This white fury of a bunny isn't atal cute...
Miaoli Fruit Picking$ 苗栗果园
101 and the national palace was great.101 Building 101大楼
Not everyone went up to 101. In the end only 7 out of 28 people in our tour group went up. Took the elevator to the 5th Floor to purchase tickets to the 89th floor. Used the student pass we applied on day 1 to get NT$50 off admission fees. They are bundled with discount coupons for souvenir photos on the 89th floor and $15 off ice-cream at the Sky Cafe but we didn't make use of them due to the lack of time. The open air observatory on the 90th floor was initially closed due to bad weather but later on it opened to allow visitors onto the platform. As we had spent most part of the half hour oohaahing over the scenery, the additional NT$100 for 5 mins on top wasn't that worth it so it had to be shelved.*pouts*
Four Points by Sheraton 福朋喜來登飯店 Very lovely hotel with a business center and a fleet of well trained staff; although I did think the PCs there were a mite slow when we transferred 10gigs worth of photos to storage. The staff were conscious of our safety and recorded down the particulars of the cabbies that they booked for us. Excellent buffet breakfast in the Red restaurant. I think it has a theme of some sort going but I can't recall now. It is perfect for people staying in for a late breakfast or a lazy morning after a late night, which unfortunately isn't the case for us :< The only peeve I have of the hotel? I would say none but while we were on the cab, the cabby asked: "为什么你们会住在这鸟不生蛋的地方？（Why did we stay in such an offbeaten place?）" so I guess its location away from the city center might put people off.
The tickets come in 2 designs with the Daytime and Night time view of Taipei 101.
After purchasing the tickets, we queued up in front of a barrier before a special elevator which will take you up to the 89th floor with a travel speed which is supposed to reach up to a max speed of 1010m/min. We didn't notice how fast the lift was but from the pamplet it takes 37s for the elevator to reach the 89th floor and for a fact that the elevator took about 45s to travel down from the 89th floor to the 5th floor. For different people have varying sensations during the ride so it is hard for me to say what is the exact feeling but I only feel a minor compressed feeling when i rode up and a kind of 'my stomach in my lungs' freefall feeling when coming down. Perhaps the dimming of all lights in the elevator helped alleviate the sensations.
To talk about the obvious, look at the exterior. The design concept of that place was the sections of bamboo to mean bu bu gao shen meaning to rise at every step you take. Every 8 level is one section of the bamboo(eight represents fa cai prosperity), there is one Ruyi (jade emblem) and the sign of the the ancient coins with a square hole in the middle.
There was some fog but we could still see into the distance. Noticed the route that we travelled from the tunnels on the right then we tried tracing the roads that we travelled by looking out for landmarks. We could see the muzha incinerator plant and the big and small bridges that we passed as well as the deserted miramar park with the ferris wheel. In the distance were the faint blue roofs of the National palace Museum at the end of a long straight road that we will be going to later.
National Palace Museum 故宫博物馆
It happened to be the open house day where admission is free. It was great.
Weather Conditions
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