Taipei Day 2

After completing my second day in Taipei, I have decided that this is an incredibly civil city. This city, or country, is a little secret jewel of Asia. It's clean, modern and the bakery's here rival… nay beat out the French pastry shops.

While I was getting ready this morning, James and Vicki ran out for breakfast take out. It was really good. We had scrambled eggs, green onions with some sort of soy sauce all snuggled into a really lovely sweet roll. Vicki was our tour guide today. We headed to (via subway) Chiang Kai Shek Memorial and the National Concert Hall. We were, unfortunately, not able to get in due to some sort of Chinese reunification protest. I have some great video clips of protesters getting arrested. We watched the action from afar for a while then we headed to the Terracotta Museum. The Terracotta Museum features statues of solders made out of Terracotta. Thousands of these statues were discovered in Shaanxi, China. We then strolled through botanical gardens. Lunch was at a very sheik, hip and almost euro-french style coffee shop/cafe called Cafe Deon. It was really delicious and it was the boost we need to carry-on.

The highlight of our day was without a doubt our visit to Taipei 101. Taipei 101 is the world tallest building (for now.) We were able to travel to the 89th story. The journey to the top only takes 30 seconds via the world’s fastest elevator. The ride was actually uncomfortable. My ears popped several times during the ride. The sight from the top offers the most magnificent views of Taipei. We spent about 2 hours on the observation floor. After our 40 second descent, we enjoyed some pastries on the lower floors of Taipei 101.

We are no headed out to one of Taipei's famous night markets. The tour book states "If haven't visited at least one night market, you have not truly experienced Taipei. Wish us luck!