I applied for my South Korean working visa in Taipei and the Korean embassy is situated next to the second tallest building in the world, the Taipei 101. The 101 used to be the world’s tallest skyscraper until the completion of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010. The Taipei 101 was completed in 2004 and has 101 stories at 510 meters.
The 101 skyscraper has the highest viewing point of all skyscrapers. Visitors are able to view Taipei from the 90th story – an awesome sight.
I bought my observation ticket and stood in the line with the hundreds of other visitors. The elevator is the fastest of its sort and took us to the viewing deck in under 45 seconds where I was treated with spectacular views. The city was slightly polluted as most big world cities are and I could almost see across the whole of Taipei.
I only spent one day in Taipei as I wanted to travel to the East coast by train.
I decided to go to the Taipei International Cycle Exhibition held in Taipei. So the following morning I took the subway to the exhibition hall just before my East coast departure. Getting into the exhibition would be a different story as it was only open to exhibitors and influential people. I looked around and soon figured out my move. I walked to the registration desk and told the lady that I had forgotten my business card at my hotel (as you need one as proof to enter). I then said that I was travelling in Taiwan and the newspaper I work for back in South Africa asked if I could come to document the event as they knew I was in Taipei. She handed me a form to fill out and my handwriting was terrible, so next moment she handed me my pass that read: Albert Redief. Along with the pass was a free meal and fruit juice – Score!
Inside was crazy. There was too much cycling products to view in the limited time I had. I just wanted to see BMX products, but finding them was hard, so I decided to rather just claim the free meal and head back to the main station.
