Our visit took place shortly after a state visit from the King of Swaziland, so we as we approached, we sailed through streets lined with flags of the Republic of China along with the flag of Swaziland. We drove by the front facade of the building, before making our way to the back, where we deboarded. We were each given a visitor tag and passed through a security check on the outside perimeter of the building. In the distance, we could hear yelling on a speakerphone - a protest somewhere, though I never did spot them. I have no pictures because we were told that we could have no photography in the building, and I figured that I didn't need to bring my camera. Instead, here's a picture courtesy of Wikicommons:
The Presidential Office Building
The building is shaped as the word "日", a part of "日本" - also known as Japan. Facing East, towards the Land of the Rising Sun, it shouldn't be too hard to guess that the six-story building was constructed during Japanese occupation on Taiwan - specifically in 1919. The building was originally for Japan's Governor-General of Taiwan, but became the office for the President in 1949. Major restorations were done around the same time, as the building was significantly damaged by bombing from the US during WWII.
We entered through one of the back doors (out of six possible ground floor entrances) and passed through a second security checkpoint. My travel guide says that "English-speaking guides are provided free of charge - it's not possible to tour the place without one and many exhibits have Chinese-only captions" - but our camp decided to opt for the Mandarin speaking guides, one per bus. English pamphlets did help, and the diagrams and pictures coupled with our previous knowledge did allow us to piece things together. FYI, we were kept safety away from third floor at all times (I didn't even see a staircase going up) - home to Mr. Ma and the Vice-President.
The first floor is essentially a museum, with rooms displaying information regarding the building's history, the Japanese governor-generals, Taiwan's past and present presidents, and a timeline of past events. The hallways also featured a gallery focussed on Taiwanese art, as well as a section with children's drawings anticipating next year's 100th year celebration for the ROC.
About after an hour's time (with the guide - no wandering alone in the President's building), we were led to the gift shop, and guided out the door. We were picked up by the buses, and sent back to the Jiantan Youth Activity Center for lunch, also allowing us to grab our cameras (and wallets) as we prepared for the afternoon's trip to Taipei's most iconic landmark in recent years: Taipei 101.
Before the tower and mall, we were first dropped off at the neighbouring Taipei World Trade Center. I'm still unsure of the exact purpose of the stop, but we were directed to a seminar room, given orange drink, and shown an introduction video to the TWTC complex and its services. I guess, assuming that we were graduating students/entrepreneurs, looking for a place to invest/start out, the staff were just making sure that we would remember Taiwan as an option. However, most people were fidgeting throughout the film, wanting to duck out to the mall next door to invest in a pair of shoes.
Shots of the outside of the TWTC buildings.
Left: Apparently, there was some comic-con like convention on the bottom floor. Didn't take a look though, but the line seems crazy anyways. Right: Bridge to Taipei 101!
Luckily, the video wasn't too long, and in no time, we were crossing a bridge over to Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2009, ending its reign with the completion of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. We were given free time until eight pm, giving us lots of time to shops, and potentially visit the observation deck. I had hoped (almost assumed) that they would bring us to the top (technically the 89th floor - everything above is communications), but perhaps the logistics would be difficult, while the $400 NT ($13.05 CAD) per person cost could have been a little costly. Ultimately, I didn't go - mainly because I've been before four years ago.
A brief summary of the experience though - going up from the 5th to 89th floor involves the world's second fastest elevators (yes, surpassed by the Burj Khalifa as well), at a speed greater than 60 km/hr (16.8 m/s). At the top, you'll have an amazing view of Taipei, along with a view of the building's huge wind damper. The damper reduces the building's sway, and being in an earthquake zone (ring of fire!), Taipei 101 needs to be quake-proof!
The fourth floor featured a ring of international cities! We were on a lookout for Canadian cities.
We didn't see Toronto =(... but we say Hamilton! I doubt it's my Hamilton though =/
We mainly just did a lot of shopping/browsing in the Taipei 101 Mall (first five floors plus some basement floors), and the surrounding malls, with crowds getting busier as the sun went down. For dinner, I finally had one of those MOS burgers (the one earlier still used regular buns) - this one featured the rice buns. At a cost of $65 NT (just over two dollars), the burger was okay - interesting to try, but not a personal favourite. Oh well. Still awesome.
MOS Burger! A Japanese Burger Chain, but also available in Taiwan...
famous for its soy-sauce rice buns!
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| Taipei 101 at night |
We booked a room, costing us $440 NT per person (around $14.31 CAD) for the night. That would include a moderately spacious room with its own bathroom, and a food bar outside. Options weren't great, and we weren't too hungry. Music options came mostly in Mandarin, though Taiwanese, English, and Japanese songs were available too. We sang for quite a while - well, they did - I sang just a few; most of the singers were in the level seven class (I'm in level four) so they had a wide range of Mandarin songs to chose from - but we all had a good time. We wandered out at 5:30, surprised to see the sun already up, and streets starting to fill with morning commuters. We made a stop at the 7-11, and went back to Jiantan to catch whatever sleep we could before our visit to Yangmingsan National Park in just a few hours. *Yawn*
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