Taipei 101: The Tallest Building in The World

When I was in Taipei a couple of weeks back, I went to visit the tallest building in the world... the Taipei 101 (named that because it is 101 storeys tall).

I must say that at first glance, I didn't think the building was particularly beautiful... and nowhere near as beautiful as our Petronas Twin Towers. Yet, just like the "Smelly Tofu", the tower must've been an acquired taste.

After looking at it long enough for many days, I began to take a liking to the building and it's rather odd (or unique) design. So I made my way to the 4th floor of the building where they had an elevator that took us all the way to the top (or near the top).

And as usual, Taiwan never fails to surprise me.

Selling me my ticket to the top floor was this nice Taiwanese lady standing behind a counter.
With a cute furry halo above her head. Now I boarded the elevator prepared for a long and smelly ride since a chubby lady in front of me farted just seconds after the elevator doors closed.

But to my surprise, we reached the top before the lady's "scent of love" reached by nose.

And all that was possible... because we were in the World's Fastest Elevator.

A little screen in the lift showed us everything from the speed we were moving and the time it was taking us to reach the top. At the top of the building was a very wide space... with a breath-taking view.
This is the view from the tallest building in the world (look hard enough and you might see Penang in the distance).
Funny thing about having the tallest building in the world is... you can only have it for a few years... sooner or later someone else is going to have something bigger, longer and better... (sort of like having the longest penis in the world).
Now, right in the middle of the observation desk was a big steel ball supported by hydraulics weighing 660 metric tons.

This giant testicle is apparently used to stabilize the building from strong winds.

When the wind blows the building to one direction, the ball is designed to move in the opposite direction to counter the force of the wind hence keeping the building pretty much stable (perhaps some of you engineers out there could elaborate a bit more on this).

Anyway, after checking out the view and the ball, I climbed some stairs to get to the highest spot that a tourist could get to on the building.

The area was "open-aired" but with grills so high that even giraffes couldn't jump off the building if they wanted to.

So there was nothing much to do there... but take a picture.

At the very top... my father who was with me mentioned
"Son... you know I always have this theory.. that if you piss down from the top of the Empire State Building in New York during winter, I bet your piss will turn to ice by the time it hits the ground".

If you're going to test that theory... please don't tell anyone that you got the idea from this blog.