Taipei - A Trip Down Memory Lane
Posted On Saturday, June 12, 2004 at at 12:10 AM by Alvin早安台北 ! I spent many happy Summers in Taipei when I was a kid and coming back after some 20 years, it seemed that not a lot had changed - still packed with friendly people, delicious food shops, world-famous book stalls and memories of familiar streets from younger days. However, it was much more humid than I had remembered for the middle of June.
We stayed near the eye-catching world-famous landmark, Taipei 101, reputedly the tallest building in the world. Taipei 101 had a very appealing design where the subtlety of the lotus flowers symbolism was complimented and strengthened by the solidness of the stainless steel material used; very inspiring. However, strangely enough, the areas around the base of Taipei 101 were very much deserted and were not as crowded with shops and urbanity as I had imagined; so it was actually quite nice to sit around the base green park area with a beer and look up to its stunning beauty.
We also spent time climbing Yang Ming Shan (陽明山) and were absolutely soaked with sweat half way up and we visited the National Museum (故宮博物院) that housed numerous priceless Chinese artifacts such as water color paintings and ancient metal wares; we also ventured further afield to the port city of Dan Shui (淡水) during our short visit here. Now I really know what it's like walking in a steam room all day long.
